He placed a tender hand on Jasmin’s stomach, acting like he couldn’t see me or Cayden standing just a few feet away.
“Yeah, I’m finally going to be a father.”
Finally?
A sharp pain shot through my heart.
Beside me, Cayden had his little hand tightened around mine as he asked in a trembling voice, “Mommy, what is Daddy saying? Am I not his child?”
His soft voice made the entire room go silent.
Then, Leo’s relatives sneered. “He’s just an illegitimate child, but he actually dared to speak up here.
“If people find out the Alpha of Blazetooth Pack has an illegitimate child, do you know what that’ll do to our reputation?”
“A lowborn woman and her brat trying to claim the heir’s position? You can only do it over my dead body!”
“There’s no way we can let anyone know that kid is Leo’s!”
Patricia scoffed and looked at us with pure disdain. “From now on, we’ll say the child is an orphan we took in. As for Mia, she’s just a maid Leo hired to take care of him.”
I gripped Cayden’s hand tighter.
I had always known Patricia hated us. She was the one who first suggested that Jasmin should carry Leo’s child.
“I’m not an orphan! I have a mommy and a daddy…” Cayden’s eyes turned red as he held back his tears, protesting in a small voice.
“Mom, isn’t this going too far?” Leo let go of Jasmin’s hand and took a step toward us.
But before he could come any closer, I saw Jasmin reach out and pull him back.
He hesitated for a few seconds. Then, he fell silent.
“Fine. I agree with your plan.”
I stepped forward with Cayden and faced Leo and Patricia head-on. “My child is not an orphan. He doesn’t need to be adopted.
“From this day forward, Cayden is mine alone. He has nothing to do with Leo.”
I kneeled and fought back tears as I whispered to Cayden, “Baby, don’t call him Daddy anymore, okay?”
Leo froze. He knew it was all because of Cayden that I had agreed to return to Blazetooth Pack and accepted his relationship with Jasmin. He promised to give Cayden a rightful identity.
And now, I was giving that up myself.
He stared into my eyes, trying to read my emotions.
But I looked away.
He would never have my heart again.
Cayden was too young to understand everything that was happening. He cried so hard that his eyes were swollen.
I just wanted to take him home and comfort him, but Jasmin blocked our way. “Mia, I heard Leo gave you a ring that represents his family’s status.
“Since I’m his Luna now, and my child will be the heir of the pack, shouldn’t you hand it over?
“We wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea if they saw you still wearing it.”
So, that was it.
This was the real reason they brought us here. It was purely to humiliate us.
I turned to Leo and asked coldly, “Is this what you want as well?”
That ring had been a token of our love, the very first thing he had given me the night we became mates.
He had told me he was giving me everything—his name, his title, his entire life. He had promised I would be his one and only mate.
I had abandoned my family, hidden my true identity, and given him my heart because of that promise.
Now, faced with my question, he avoided my gaze. “Mia, it’s just a ring…”
“Fine.”
I looked at the deep red marks on Jasmin’s neck planted by him before pulling off the ring without hesitation.
Seeing that she eagerly slid it onto her own finger, I even smiled and congratulated her. “You’re a much better fit than I ever was.”
Leo’s expression twisted in shock as I turned away, took Cayden’s hand, and walked out without looking back.
