The Broken Mother Became the Alpha’s Mate

Chapter 2 I Slapped Him

Sophia’s POV

“Sophia, how dare you slander me?” Derek said.

“We’ve been mated for seven years. I gave everything to you and this family, and now you accuse me like some jealous Omega?”

Everything for this family?

Something inside me snapped.

I raised my voice. “You’re still pretending? You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing these past few days?”

I pulled out my phone and shoved it in his face.

A friend had sent me the pictures.

In them, Blair sat on his lap in revealing clothes. He fed her alcohol with soft, heated eyes. By a late-night bonfire, he draped his coat over her shoulders with infuriating tenderness...

Derek’s face flushed red at once.

A sharp pain shot through the mate bond and stabbed straight into my heart. I could barely stand.

This wasn’t the first time. Lately, every time I came across proof that Derek was with Blair, that pain came back.

But seeing betrayal right in front of you was different.

There was no room left for denial. No room for hope.

The heartbreak was so brutal it made you want to ask the Moon Goddess why she had tied you to him at all.

Then Derek lifted his chin. The guilt vanished from his face like it had never been there.

“So what if we did those things?” he said, shameless as ever. “We’re just good friends who ran into each other and went into the mountains to relax.”

“Relax?” Tears burst from my eyes. “Derek, the two of you were naked together in a private hot spring. Is that what you call relaxing?”

My wolf let out a broken howl deep in my soul. Once, she had been strong and full of hope, dreaming of meeting her fated mate and building an unbreakable bond.

Now?

Now she had been worn down to whispers.

She barely even had the strength for anger.

I tapped one of the photos, my fingers shaking. “Derek, while you were flirting with that woman in a hot spring, do you know what your daughter Olivia was doing? She was screaming in agony from inhuman treatment!”

“You wouldn’t even come back to see her once. She only wanted to see you before she died... and you wouldn’t even give her that!”

My heart pounded wildly. My whole body shook.

And all I got back was a harsher roar from him.

“Stop the act, Sophia!” Derek snapped. “The only reason I didn’t answer your calls is because every time you open your mouth, it’s a lie!”

“Olivia was obviously fine, but you had to act like some jealous, poisonous b***h and use that disgusting excuse to get my attention. What kind of mother curses her own daughter with a terminal illness every day?”

I froze.

The pain in my chest was unbearable.

Everything seemed to go quiet. My wolf let out one last hopeless whimper, then curled into the darkest corner of my mind and went still.

How could he...?

How could he say that?

What vicious excuse had I ever used?

He didn’t believe me.

He didn’t believe his daughter was dying.

He was stingy with his love—and even stingier with his trust.

In that moment, every scrap of warmth I had once cherished in the mate bond died.

My heart turned to ash.

I put away my phone and looked at him without expression.

“Derek, let’s break the mate bond.”

I didn’t want one more second tied to this disgusting man. He didn’t deserve to be called Olivia’s father. From now on, he had no right to know anything about our daughter.

But Derek only frowned harder, looking at me like I’d gone mad.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Sophia? Over something this small, you want to joke about the mate bond? Fine. I’ve ignored your tantrums before, and I can ignore this one too. Go bring Olivia to the medical wing. Lyra’s wolf spirit is weakening. She’s still waiting for the match.”

“Lyra?”

Only then did everything click.

Back in school, Lyra was the fake name Blair used most.

So that was it.

It wasn’t just her daughter’s name.

It was some filthy little memory between them.

The whole thing was so absurd I almost laughed.

But I didn’t even have the strength for that.

I looked at him coldly. “Why should my daughter save Blair’s child? Didn’t you say that once we recognized each other as fated mates at the academy, you cut her off completely?”

Derek still looked perfectly righteous.

“That’s right. Before I recognized you, Blair and I were in love. But after we became mates, I ended it with her. Running into her at the border this time was an accident. Before that, I had no idea she’d become a single mother, and I didn’t know her daughter was sick.”

“As someone I once loved deeply, I just want to help her. Am I supposed to stand there and watch a mother lose her pup?”

Someone I once loved deeply.

Just want to help her.

The ache in my chest twisted so hard it dragged a laugh out of me.

Of course.

He had already prepared every excuse.

Looking at that self-righteous face, I wanted to tear it apart.

When I only laughed coldly, Derek lost patience. He strode toward me, Alpha pressure spilling off him and crashing down on my wolf. He was using Alpha aura on his own mate.

He grabbed my arm hard, not caring when I hissed in pain.

“Enough. Put away your pathetic jealousy. Don’t let jealousy cost a child her life. Go get Olivia.”

“And if you insist on saying I haven’t been good enough to Olivia, if you insist on fighting over my time and attention, then fine. I’ll take Olivia to the amusement park first. Once she’s had enough fun, I’ll take her for the marrow extraction. Happy now?”

Jealousy.

Possessiveness.

Fighting over his time and attention.

Rage flared back to life in my hollow chest.

Even now, that was how he saw me.

Even with our daughter sealed beneath the sea, he was still obsessed with taking her marrow for his mistress’s child.

I couldn’t take another second.

Half a month of grief and despair exploded out of me. I screamed and lunged at Derek.

Smack!

The c***k of my palm rang through the living room.

I used all my strength and slapped him across the face.