Chapter 2

Five years ago, Ironwood Pack was the crown jewel of the North.

Luna Seraphina was my only true friend. She is a regal woman who treated a human servant like her own blood sister.

Beside the Alpha King stood his younger brother, Kael, the kingdom’s deadliest wolf.

When Hagen’s rebels breached the gates, the air filled with the blood.

"Run, Elara!" Seraphina had gasped, thrusting a silver-wrapped bundle into my trembling arms.

"Protect him. He is the last Alpha heir. Never let Hagen find him."

I watched from the shadows as she and the Alpha Lord shifted, their massive forms standing ground against a tide of darkness until the pristine snow turned crimson.

I ran until my lungs burned like fire, clutching baby Lior to my chest.

He lost his memory that night, the trauma locking away his wolf.

To him, I wasn't the servant who saved him. I was simply "Mama."

But now, in the principal’s office, the wolf was scratching at the door.

"Lior!" I interrupted, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"We had a deal! You cannot hurt your classmates, no matter what they say."

The "busy Dad" he imagined was a shield he'd built for his own heart, but I knew the truth.