LUNA'S REVENGE: Too Late For Second Chance

Eloise’s POV: “Luna, I am sorry to say this…but you need to brace yourself for the tough time ahead.” …. Throughout my way home from the hospital, the doctor’s words kept echoing in my head. As painful shivers crawled down my spine, I couldn’t choke my tears within. Clenching onto the steering wheel, I howled for my wolf, “Rain! Wake up now, Rain! My baby is suffering… Please, I need you to comfort me, at least now!” But as expected, she didn’t answer, nor did she wake up from her long slumber… When I reached the packhouse, I grabbed the reports from my car and ran frantically towards the main door. Since leaving the hospital, I have been trying to reach my husband, Alpha Theodore, but he never answered. I even tried calling the pack house telephone, but no one picked up that either, leaving me stranded in this despair all alone. But before I could set foot inside, I froze, watching the lively atmosphere in front of me in the living room of the house I had once called my ‘home.’ On the velvet couch, Theodore was holding a little, adorable boy of around Liliana’s age, and next to him sat a very beautiful woman with a pale complexion and long, golden brown curly hair. On a separate couch beside them sat Elphaba, my mother-in-law, who was also busy playing with the little boy in my husband’s arms, while I rarely ever saw her loving my Liliana once. All of them were giggling and chatting happily without a care in the world; on the other hand, I stood alone, numb, and devastated from my core. The more I gazed at the little boy, I could feel a wave of anger and bitterness surging inside me. Five years ago, I went into excruciating labor pain and nearly lost my life while giving birth to my Liliana. She was born prematurely as a frail, sickly child. But my uterus was inevitably damaged, leaving me unable to bear a child ever again. However, this painful incident concurrently weakened my wolf Rain, who fell into a long, deep slumber. But over these past five years, my heart ached terribly to watch Liliana grow up here as a neglected child in this house, while my mother-in-law placed all the blame on me for being unable to give birth to a male heir to continue their legacy. When the elders of our Vanguard Pack Council declared Liliana ‘Unworthy’ for taking over the pack after Theodore due to her frail health, since then, I realized his obvious change in behavior towards our child. Theodore rarely held her and started giving the excuse of being busy with the pack affairs to avoid spending time with Liliana. In fact, he even stopped attending her kindergarten activities, and despite facing all these challenges, I did my best to raise my child with love and support all alone. But since then, I haven’t failed to notice that the gap between me Theodore and has kept widening until now, when nothing can be changed anymore. Among all of them, Elphaba was the first one to notice me standing numb at the door, but when she pointed it out to her son, I saw both their faces darken at the sight of mine, especially Theodore’s. Bearing a cold demeanor, she grunted at me the moment I set foot inside. “What took you so long to return home, Eloise? Anyway, come here and say hello to Vivien. She’s our very special guest, and they will be staying here for a while.” I reluctantly walked closer towards them, clenching the hospital reports, while I saw my husband exchanging a glance with that woman. She tilted her head a little to greet me, but from the way those two were seated so closely to each other, a surge of anxiety rose within me. “Vivene is Theo’s childhood friend, and also his first love.” Holding that little boy in her lap now, Elphaba continued with a wide grin on her face, “These two were inseparable since their childhood, but before a year of your marriage with Theodore, Vivien left the pack, claiming that she had found her mate. But now, she’s back home again, and this is her child, James. Look, isn’t he such a darling?” A painful smirk curved my lips as I looked at those two, glancing at each other, bearing such tender eyes. Now I realize why Theodore didn’t even bother to pick up my call once, when he was so busy escorting his childhood sweetheart! Since my childhood, I was raised to be the next Alpha of my Goldenwolf pack, and even went through the extreme, strenuous training necessary to claim the position. But as a result of a pack alliance formed between my GoldenWolf and his Vanguard Pack after the sudden death of my father, the previous Alpha, I became Theo’s chosen mate. Soon after that, Theo was granted the position of being the Alpha for both the packs, while I was given the position of the Luna. But now, with the return of his childhood sweetheart, suddenly everything that we had in between us for the past seven years felt completely meaningless. When Theodore finally met my eyes, he quickly glanced around me before he asked, “Where’s Lili? Didn’t you go to pick her up from the kindergarten, Eloise?” “Huh? She has a knack for being irresponsible towards every duty we assign her.” Without waiting for my answer, when Elphaba scoffed at me, I felt my patience had already worn thin when I gritted at Theo, “So…you do care about Liliana, huh?” “What do you mean by that? Of course, she’s my child—” “She’s at the hospital!” I couldn’t choke my tears within, and I slammed the reports with a loud ‘thud’ on the coffee table, making all of them flinch hard. The moment Theodore glanced at the papers, his eyes rolled wide to read the words written at the top of the reports in bold letters, ‘Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.’ “My Lili is diagnosed with leukemia…” I broke down sobbing bitterly, while leaving them dazed at my revelation as they looked through the reports. “I got a call from the kindergarten earlier, and they said Lili had collapsed and had to rush her to the hospital since she was having a severe nosebleed. When I reached there…the doctors said she has leukemia…and needs an urgent bone marrow transplant within a month if possible. Otherwise…she might not…(Hic)…” I trailed off my words, as I clenched my hand over my chest, feeling as if my heart ached too hard from the churning agony. Losing my Liliana was the greatest fear I ever had in my life, but now…when that nightmare was on the verge of coming true, I couldn’t bear it any longer. I rushed closer to Theodore and quivered at him, sounding desperate, “As the Alpha, you must announce the search for a suitable bone marrow donor in all the nearby packs around us. We can’t afford to risk her life any longer…please do something quick, Theo!” Everyone present at the living room held an intense silence after hearing my words, but instead of thinking for her granddaughter’s well-being, Elphaba just looked at the reports once before she grunted in a cold voice, “Theo, wouldn’t looking for a bone marrow donor now affect your negotiations with the Western Pack next month?” I stood numb, spellbound by her answer. Instead of wishing for Lili’s speedy recovery, her selfish intention became painfully obvious to me as I couldn’t help but grit at her, “Is that what you could think of now when your granddaughter’s life is on the line, Mother?” “What?” She scowled, glaring with her orbs on, “It was your fault in the first place to give birth to a sickly child, Eloise! You couldn’t give us another child…so don’t you dare come at me now—” “Silence.” When Theodore growled aloud, everyone fell silent for a moment before he met my tearful eyes, “Mom isn’t telling otherwise. It will affect my negotiations with the Western Pack if I postpone it to look for a suitable donor. Do you even know how hard I have been working for the past 6 months for this negotiation?” “What? Are you…being serious?” A part of my wounded heart at least hoped for some support from him to save our daughter during this crucial time, but hearing him speak otherwise left me dumbfounded. If he doesn’t focus his attention on finding a suitable donor immediately, any delay would definitely put our daughter’s life at stake. And just by thinking of it, my chest throbbed so hard in pain that I felt it was suffocating to breathe. “Fret not, I will do my best to come up with a quick solution for Lili. She’s my daughter too, Eloise.” He stood up from the couch and instructed someone to bring a car, preparing to leave for the hospital shortly. But at that moment, only one thought came into my mind — How am I supposed to save my child when her own family is putting their benefits first?