Chapter 4
I thought leaving the hospital would make it easier to breathe, but the cold air only sharpened the scents around me as Lila held my hand toward the car, my mother following silently behind us without asking about the divorce, and for that, I was grateful.
Lila was too young to understand the weight of what had just happened, and I refused to let Damien's betrayal become the memory that shaped her young wolf or her place within the Silvercrest clan.
I opened the car door for her.
"Mommy?" I looked down.
"Yes?"
"Are we going home?" I forced a smile.
"Yes, sweetheart."
She climbed inside, and I closed the door before standing there for a moment, staring through the window at my daughter, my firstborn, the child Damien had once held against his chest and promised to protect, yet whose future within the Silvercrest Clan he had slowly pushed aside.
My wolf gave a low warning growl as my phone rang, and when I glanced at the screen and saw an unknown number, I almost ignored it, but something in my instincts told me to answer.
"Hello?"
For several seconds, there was only silence. Then a soft laugh came through the speaker.
"Did you really think you could just walk away?"
My blood went cold.
"Selene."
"You're quick."
Her voice sounded completely different from the woman who had been pretending to tremble in the hospital.
There was no fear, no apology, only amusement.
"What do you want?"
"I wanted to talk."
"I have nothing to say to you."
"But I have something to say to you." I gripped the phone tighter.
"What?" She laughed again.
"You really don't know, do you?"
"Know what?"
"About Damien." My jaw tightened.
"I know enough."
"No."
Her voice became softer.
"You don't." I looked toward Lila. She was watching me through the car window.
I turned away from her.
"Just cut the chase and say what you called to say." Selene was silent for a moment.
Then she said, "Do you remember the night Lila got sick?"
My entire body froze as the memory came rushing back, and of course I remembered because how could I ever forget the night Lila had been burning with fever?
Her little body had been shaking against me while I rushed her to the hospital, terrified that something was wrong with her wolf.
Damien had been gone, claiming he was handling pack business, while I called him again and again, only to be met with silence.
I had driven through the night with Lila in the back seat, listening to her weak cries while my wolf screamed inside me.
I remembered carrying her through the emergency doors.
I remembered shouting for a doctor.
I remembered thinking I might lose my daughter.
And I remembered doing it alone.
My fingers began to tremble.
"What about that night?" Selene laughed softly.
“Alpha Damien wasn't handling pack business. He lied to you. He always does, and you were just too blind to notice.”
After everything that happened at the hospital today, I should have seen this coming, but no matter how I try I closed my eyes.
"Where was he?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she asked, "Do you really want to know?"
"Yes."
"He was with me."
My chest tightened.
My wolf gave a low growl as I listened to Selene's heartbeat through the phone, slow and steady, as if she were enjoying every second of my pain.
"You were driving your daughter to the hospital," she continued, "and Alpha Damien was with me."
My breathing became uneven.
"What do you think we were doing?" She asked, then another laugh.
I couldn't speak.
"Damien told me he couldn't stay away from me that night."
She continued, my hand curled into a fist.
“He said you would manage. He said he doesn’t care about your daughter. Your little bastard isn't his heir.”
The words echoed through the phone, and I waited for the pain to fade, but they only hurt more because they were about my little Lila.
Something inside me snapped.
"You knew my daughter was sick?"
"Of course I knew." Her voice held no remorse.
“You were always calling him. He told me Lila had a fever. I’m pretty sure he even wished your daughter dead.”
My stomach twisted at her words, and my wolf snarled in response.
“You knew my daughter needed him, and you still kept him there.”
My tears threatened to fall, but I held them back, refusing to give Selene the satisfaction of seeing me break.
"Why wouldn't I?"
Heat rushed through me as my wolf fought against the control I was forcing it to obey.
"Because she was his daughter."
Selene scoffed. Her voice changed.
"His daughter only by blood."
She emphasized the word.
"Not his future." I went completely still.
"What does that mean?"
"You really are slow." My eyes burned. I waited for her to speak again.
"Damien wants a son." The words struck deeper than they should have.
I glanced at Lila through the car window, watching her smile at my mother, completely unaware of what was happening or that her own father had chosen another woman while she had been fighting to breathe. Selene continued.
"That night, Damien told me he was tired of pretending everything was fine with you."
My throat tightened.
"He said Lila would always be your priority."
A pause.
"Not his." I felt something inside me die.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you need to understand something." Her voice became almost triumphant.
"Damien chose me. He chose me over you."
My wolf roared inside me, but I forced it back as Selene let out a soft, mocking laugh.
"You were alone at the hospital because he wanted to be with me."
I remembered the emergency room, the fluorescent lights, Lila's tiny hand wrapped around my finger, my desperate prayers, and the empty chair where Damien should have been, and I had spent that night blaming myself for not noticing her illness sooner while believing he was protecting the pack, only to learn he had been with Selene while our daughter was sick and I was terrified of losing her.
My hand trembled as I let out a shaky sigh, forcing a smile despite the tears burning behind my eyes.
"Selene…" I whispered.
"What?"
"Thank you."
Silence filled the line, and Selene's voice soon returned, laced with confusion.
"What?"
"You just gave me something I needed."
"What are you talking about?"
I looked at Lila again.
My daughter.
My life.
My family.
"You reminded me exactly why I'm leaving him."
Selene laughed. "You think leaving will change anything?"
"No." I wiped the tears from my cheek.
"It changes everything." My voice was steadier now.
"You wanted me to be angry."
"I wanted you to understand."
"I do." I looked toward the hospital behind me.
"I understand that Damien didn't abandon me that night." My hand tightened around the phone.
"He abandoned his daughter. And I'll never forgive him for that."
I ended the call and sat still for several seconds before my wolf awakened with a clear purpose, making me realize I had spent years protecting my marriage, Damien's reputation, and the pack's peace while ignoring the truth that this wasn't only about a husband who betrayed his wife, but a father who abandoned his daughter and tried to erase her rightful place.
I opened the car door and sat beside Lila, who looked up at me.
"Mommy, are you sad?" I took her little hand.
"No, sweetheart."
I was hurt and furious, but despite the pain, something stronger took hold, because I had spent years protecting my family by staying silent, and now I would protect my daughter by fighting.
And if Damien wanted to take Lila's place in the Silvercrest Clan away from her, he would have to go through me first.