I could hear him shouting from the corridor. My father. His voice was hoarse from rage. I struggled to follow him.
"Father, please—!" My voice broke as I stumbled down the hall, my feet bare, my hands trembling. "Please, don't take him away from me!".
They took my son from me. They took him while I was sleeping, thinking I would not notice. They pulled him out of my hands, his gut-wrenching cries twisted my stomach.
I saw my mother take my baby from my father's hands. She was all smiles, she did not even notice how her long, sharp nails were piercing his skin.
"No!" I screamed, throwing myself forward, but my father blocked the path.
"Enough, Serena." His tone was calm in a way that only made the fury behind it more terrifying. "You've shamed this family enough."
"I'll leave," I begged, falling to my knees. The cold floor bit into my skin. "I'll disappear—no one will ever see me again. Just… Please, give him back. He's all I have."
They put me through everything: verbal abuse, physical abuse, and calling me the family shame. I did not think they would stoop this low. Just as I thought they ran out of ways to hurt me…
It all started on the night of my Age of Coming ceremony. I stood beneath the first full moon after my thirteenth birthday, and waited for my wolf to emerge. Everyone watched, waiting for me to shift. But nothing happened. My father's face hardened. My mother's smile turned brittle. Lyra's eyes glittered with hatred and satisfaction.
"She must be cursed. No one from the Ashbourne family had ever faced any issue, she is the first one." Whispers spread among the guests. I wanted to run and hide, but my mother dragged me by my hand and made me bow and apologise to the guests one by one.
"I am sorry for wasting your time. I am a disappointment." I had to say that almost a hundred times to people I don't know. At one point, I started to believe it.
I heard my father 'joke' trying to lighten the mood as he ushered the guests out, "Well, in the olden days we could've gotten rid of her, haha. But now we live in a modern world." He shrugged. He talked about killing me in the open.
They stopped calling me their daughter, I was disowned. I was the source of only one thing: shame. That was what they told me. Wherever I went, I brought nothing but shame.
I became their servant—fetching water, scrubbing floors, polishing Lyra's shoes while guests laughed at me.
"If you can't even be a proper wolf, you have to make yourself useful somehow. Serving your talented younger sister is nothing to feel ashamed about."
"Get off!"
His voice brought me back to the present. He shoved me so hard that I fell to the ground. I used my hands to break the fall. Everything hurt too much, but the adrenaline coursing through my veins kept me moving.
My father's gaze didn't waver. "That child belongs to Lyra now. You've caused enough damage. Try fixing things for once, you worthless woman."
The world tilted. His words sliced through me. Lyra? My sister, who had everything, Callen, our parents' love, the pack's admiration, and now she wanted my son too?
"Please…" My voice cracked into a whisper. "He's my son."
"Just shut up! You ruined enough things by being a failure your whole life. For once in your life, be useful. This baby will save her marriage. He will have a better life than anything you can provide."
Before I realised what was happening, my vision blurred. I was going to lose my child. I was never going to see him again, hear him again, he would never cry for me, and he would eventually forget I existed. And in my place would be my sister.
I heard him cry harder and push my mother away. He looked at me and tried to reach for me, but the distance kept growing.
Annoyed by his cries, my mother pinched him and yelled at him.
"Just shut up! So whiny just like your mother."
His wails only grew louder, and I could do nothing but stand and watch.
How long will I keep my head down, thinking one day… Just one day, they will speak to me with love and care. In that moment, I saw his future. He would be treated just like how I was. I might have suffered in their hands, but I refuse to let him suffer the same fate. I will fight.
My father turned away, like I was a nuisance, something that needed to be removed. I felt the last thread of restraint inside me snap.
"Can't you shove something in his mouth? His cries are irritating me. If you don't make him shut up. I will." My father started to walk toward him.
"Don't you dare!" I screamed, lunging at him. My nails tore into his arm, blood splattering against his sleeve.
He didn't flinch. He didn't even look human anymore.
"You've always been a disgrace," he growled, gripping my hair so hard I thought he'd tear it from my scalp. "You should've never been born."
I clawed, kicked, bit, I didn't care if he would hit me again, I had to fight. But my father was stronger. He dragged me through the hall, my knees scraping against the floor, through the open doors, out into the cold night air.
My son's cries faded little by little as I was dragged away from him. I tried to fight, but it was a failing battle.
I can't give up… I promised him… I promised I would keep him safe.
The scent of wet grass filled my nose as he pulled me toward the lake. The lake beside our estate had always been beautiful, and still, surrounded by silver lilies. People used to call it the Goddess's mirror.
Tonight, it would become my grave.
He threw me forward, and the world went cold. The water swallowed me whole. I screamed, bubbles escaping from my mouth as the weight of it pressed down on my chest.
I tried to swim, to breathe, but if I resurfaced, he cruelly pushed me down with his foot. He wanted me dead, and he would make sure of it. My limbs grew heavy. The moon above blurred into a soft white smear. I could not fight anymore.
Is this it? I can't die… He will be left all alone.
The water filled my lungs. My chest burned. I wanted to scream, to fight, to beg the Moon Goddess to give me a chance, just one chance to fight harder.
After everything, cursing me, leaving me wolfless, you owe me this… If you are the powerful, merciful Goddess everyone says you are, give me one chance!
The darkness crept in, soon it was illuminated by a light. I followed it, there was nowhere else to go. I reached towards it and then-
Music.
I blinked, gasping for breath, but instead of cold water, there was warmth.
Golden chandeliers. Laughter. The sound of glasses clinking.
Someone touched my shoulder. "Serena? Are you all right?"
I looked up and saw Lyra. Smiling. Radiant in her engagement gown.
And then I realised where I was.
The night of the engagement ceremony.
My fingers trembled as I looked down at the untouched glass of champagne in my hand. The same one that had been drugged before.
"Serena," Lyra said sweetly, "would you give the toast?"
I was reborn.