He Made Me Illegal, So I Returned a Queen

Chapter 2 Everything He Stole

I went to pick Leo up from his special school.

As a half-wolf who had not yet awakened, he needed full-moon classes to learn to control his instincts. For the past three years, the tuition waiver St. Clair University offered faculty dependents had been the only reason he could stay enrolled.

The moment I entered the school, however, the dean of students summoned me to his office.

"Ms. Bennett, I'm sorry, but Leo's tuition waiver has been pulled. Without valid proof of dependent status, he won't be allowed to enroll next semester."

I was no longer surprised that Gavin had concealed our identities. But I had not imagined that he would strip even his own son of his rights.

"Who did he give it to?"

The dean handed me a transfer form. "Professor Whitaker personally signed it over to his assistant's younger brother."

The paper crumpled in my tightening grip.

Leo kept his head down all the way out of the office. Only when no one else was around did he ask, "Mommy, they say I'm a stray wolf pup my daddy doesn't even want. Is that true?"

I crouched and pulled him into my arms.

The tears he had held back all morning finally spilled onto my shoulder.

"No." I wiped them away. "You're the most precious child in the Silver Moon Pack. He's the one who doesn't deserve to be your father."

After making arrangements for Leo, I went alone to St. Clair University.

I needed Gavin to sign Leo's cross-border travel consent. Since he had put his name on the birth certificate, he could at least do this one last thing for his son.

The door to his office was ajar. Before I reached it, I heard Natalie's cheerful laugh.

"Professor, are you really going to put me up for the Continental Arts Foundation project? Aya spent five years on that research. It doesn't feel right to just hand it to me, does it?"

I stopped.

The project was my study of ancient werewolf script and art, built on five years of fieldwork across seven packs in the Northlands. To follow Gavin to Ravenport, I had turned down my mentor's nomination and locked my manuscript away.

I was the Silver Moon Pack's acknowledged heir and the former Alpha's only daughter. In the Northlands, guards opened their gates at the sight of my wolf insignia. My name and introductions had opened every werewolf territory and ancient archive to Gavin.

Back then, he was only a human anthropologist no werewolf trusted.

After we moved to Ravenport, he held me and coaxed, "Werewolf research is too sensitive. Stay home and take care of Leo. I'll provide for you, so why do you need a project of your own?"

So I gave up everything. I stopped working on my research.

Now, he answered Natalie in that same gentle voice.

"Her research isn't as impressive as you think. Aya is the former Alpha's daughter. What pack would dare shut its gates to her? Everything was handed to her because of her bloodline."

Natalie said softly, "But Aya still compiled so much material. I don't have the advantages she did."

"You don't have her family name or an Alpha for a father, so you've had to rely on yourself." Tenderness warmed Gavin's voice. "With your talent, you would've done far better if you'd had her resources."

How laughable. He had seen the five years of work I put in.

He reduced everything I achieved to bloodline and luck. That way, the human scholar who once needed me just to enter Silver Moon Forest could pretend he had never owed me a thing.

The door opened from within. Natalie emerged holding my project proposal. When she saw me, she froze, then quickly put on an innocent smile.

"Aya, this isn't the Silver Moon Pack. Unregistered visitors aren't allowed on this floor." She hugged my proposal tighter, as if she owned the place. "You should wait downstairs. Don't make things difficult for the professor."

I looked at the document in her arms. "Give it to me."

"This is university project material." She stepped back and deliberately raised her voice. "Even if you're jealous, you can't—"

I reached for the document. Before my fingertips could touch her, Natalie cried out and threw herself backward.

Gavin rushed out of his office and caught her in his arms.

"Natalie!"

Her eyes reddened as she shook her head. "Professor, I'm fine. Aya probably just misunderstood the project. Please don't blame her."

Gavin turned on me. There was no question in his eyes, only disgust.

"When did you become so savage, Aya?" Shielding Natalie behind him, Gavin stared at me coldly. "This isn't your father's forest. No one here will excuse you for attacking a defenseless human woman just because you're an Alpha's daughter."

I did not explain. I took the departure consent form from my bag and placed it on the desk.

"Sign it. I'm taking Leo back to the Northlands. We will never get in your way again."

Gavin did not even glance at it. "You came to my university and assaulted someone over paperwork?"

"You've already given her my identity, our son's education, and my research." I looked at him. "All I want now is for you to let us go."

"Your research?" Gavin sounded as if he had heard a joke. "What could you possibly research if the Silver Moon Pack didn't open doors for you? Aya, you were born with every advantage. Now you mistake privilege for talent."

He stood behind his massive desk with the university's awards hanging on the wall behind him. Three years ago, that same human had clutched my hand whenever he entered werewolf territory. Now he had finally climbed high enough to look down on me.

"As for you and Leo," he continued, "who do you think paid for your home and every dollar you spent? Giving one project to someone who actually needs it doesn't mean I owe you anything."

I met his gaze calmly. "Sign it."

Perhaps my composure unsettled him. At last, he glanced at the form and caught the words permanent departure. His expression darkened.

"What kind of scene are you making now?"

"I'm not making a scene."

"Without your status as the former Alpha's daughter, what do you have left?" His voice dropped. "This is Ravenport. Without me, you're an undocumented werewolf who could be locked in a detention center at any moment."

He pointed toward the door.

"Go home right now. Stop embarrassing me here."

I placed the marriage registration printed by the bureau in front of him.

"Either sign, or I'll take this to the university president and ask why his favorite professor registered his assistant as his legal spouse."

Gavin glared at the paper, humiliated and enraged.

"Campus security? Bring silver handcuffs up here."

He stared straight at me and enunciated every word.

"There is an unregistered werewolf here who is emotionally unstable and exhibiting violent behavior."