Sorry, Alpha. You’re Not His Dad Anymore

"Aria, the delivery room needs a healer." When the nurse pushed open the door, I was coaxing fever medicine into Theo's mouth. His temperature had reached 104°F. He lay curled up in the pediatric ward at Blackthorn Hospital, his gray eyes bloodshot from the fever. "I'm okay, Mom." Theo struggled to swallow the medicine, then tried to comfort me instead. "Go save the baby. I'll be good and wait for you here." My hand tightened around the medicine cup. "Who's the lead surgeon?" The nurse hesitated. "Alpha Damian." Damian was the Alpha of the Blackthorn Pack and the finest surgeon in the hospital. He was also my fated mate and Theo's biological father. No one in the pack knew about either of those things, though. 6 years ago, the Moon Goddess awakened our mate marks. Damian, however, saw the bond as punishment for him and his first love, Celeste. In private, he had no problem sinking his teeth into the back of my neck and using my scent to survive his ruts. He also had no problem keeping me beside him in the operating room, the healer who worked in perfect sync with him. But he refused to acknowledge me in public—or our son, Theo, at all. "A woman who can't even take care of her own body isn't fit to be Luna." Those were the words he had spoken the night Theo was born. From then on, Theo was only allowed to call him Alpha. Theo was only 3 the first time he called Damian Dad. Damian made him stand in the snow for an entire hour, correcting him. I carried my shivering son into Damian's study and bared my wolf claws at him for the first time. He merely looked up at me. "If you still want him to stay in Blackthorn territory, teach him the rules." To stop Theo from crying, Damian added, as an afterthought, "When he turns 6 and attends his moon-naming ceremony, I'll consider giving him a place in the pack." Damian forgot those words the moment he said them. Theo remembered them for 3 whole years. I kept lying to myself, believing that one day, Damian would look at his own child. Then, 3 days ago, Celeste returned carrying the child of a rogue werewolf. Her mate had run away, and the conflicting bloodlines put the fetus at constant risk of suffocation. Damian never took obstetric cases, but he made an exception for her. He even pulled half the healers from the pediatric ward. Including me. "Dr. Bennett?" the nurse urged. "Alpha Damian said you're the only one who can stabilize both strains of wolf blood during surgery." I looked down at Theo. His fever was so high that he could barely open his eyes, yet he still released the hem of my coat. "Go, Mom." I placed the emergency call button in his palm, summoned the nurse on duty, and hurried to the delivery room. 4 hours later, the baby girl was born safely. Celeste lay weakly on the hospital bed. Damian removed his gloves and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "The baby's fine." I stood behind them, my hands still marked by the wounds I had taken while stabilizing the baby's bloodlines. Damian didn't spare them a glance. The baby was moved to an incubator, and he followed the entire way. I was about to return to the pediatric ward when a sudden warmth flowed through the mate mark on my back. It was a tenderness I had never felt from him in all 6 years of our bond. I stopped. Through the glass, Damian gently brushed the baby girl's cheek. He took the moonstone from around his own neck. Only those of Blackthorn's direct bloodline had the right to wear that crest. "Little Moon," he murmured with a smile. "From now on, call me Dad." My wolf, Lyla, let out a mournful cry inside me. 6 years ago, Theo had been born barely breathing. I had held my blue, motionless baby and knelt before Damian, begging him for a single paternal Alpha blessing. He hadn't even touched Theo. "Don't use a child to force me to acknowledge this mistake." Now he had freely given another man's daughter the name Theo had begged for 6 years to use. Something tugged softly at the hem of my coat. I turned, my entire body stiff. At some point, Theo had pulled out his IV and walked barefoot into the freezing hallway. Blood trickled down the back of his hand, leaving a trail of red drops across the floor. He looked at the incubator, then tipped his face up at me. "Mom, do I have a little sister now?" I crouched and tucked his icy feet beneath my healer's coat. "No. It's your Alpha who has a daughter now." Theo nodded as though he only half understood. "Then we shouldn't bother him." I lifted my son into my arms and walked away. This time, Damian never noticed us behind him. And I never looked back.