My Alpha Chose Her Child Over Ours，So I Left

I'm Freya Voss, Alpha of the Frostvein Clan. The Cub Awakening Trial was only three days away, but I couldn't get a hold of my husband, Cael Reed. Seven years earlier, I'd married Cael, Alpha of the Thornveil Clan, and we'd had a daughter together named Lia Voss. Our bright, healthy little girl was five years old now, just old enough to take part in the Cub Awakening Trial. Held once every three years, the trial was one of the most important, grandest ceremonies for all the werewolf tribes. Six months before, I'd already reminded Cael to clear his schedule ahead of time. We were supposed to go to the trial together, to be there to witness Lia's bloodline awakening. But when I got home that day, I found Lia sitting all alone, clutching her stuffed toy and sobbing her little heart out. "What's wrong, my Lia?" She threw herself into my arms, sniffling softly. "Sniffle... Mom... Dad... Dad said I have to wait three more years to do the awakening ceremony." What? For young cubs, the earlier you take part in the awakening ritual, the smoother your bloodline awakens and the more powerful it ends up being. Lia had two Alpha bloodlines running through her veins—once she awakened, her power would be unmatched. There was no way I was letting that happen. But Lia couldn't explain why Cael had made that call. I tried reaching out to him with telepathy, but he was so far away the connection fizzled out before it could even reach him. I refused to let Lia down. With only three days left until the trial, I made up my mind to take her there myself. As for Cael? I'd hash things out with him once the trial was over. I brought Lia to Lunar Pact Alliance, the city where all the united tribes were based. We signed her up for the trial, then headed into the Cub Awakening Trial grounds. I froze when I saw who was there. Cael. There he was, my one and only bonded mate, sitting side by side on the raised platform in the middle of the square with Catherine May of the Thornveil Clan and her cub, Kane May. Cael was bright-eyed and animated, holding forth loudly to the crowd. "My partner Catherine and I..." I knew who Catherine was. She was a widow from the Thornveil Clan, and rumor had it she and Cael had grown up joined at the hip, childhood sweethearts through and through. But if she was Cael's mate… then what the hell did that make me? Lia's eyes went wide as saucers, staring up at her father on the platform, her little face twisted with total confusion. My wolf spirit, Leila, popped halfway out from my side in utter shock, her voice sharp with disbelief. "Then who are you?" I mentally shoved her back down, my gaze locked coolly on the stage. I didn't make a sound, not yet. Cael was planted right in the center of the platform, grandstanding about how to have both a perfect, happy family and a thriving career. Every few sentences he'd pause, locking eyes with Catherine in some stupid, sappy gaze, and she'd tuck her chin and giggle like a blushing schoolgirl. The uninformed werewolves from all the gathered packs had no clue what was going on. Seeing how apparently loved-up the pair was, they burst into thunderous applause. Catherine had never been this gloriously in the spotlight her whole life. Her entire face was glowing with triumph, and she was holding her spine so rigidly straight she looked like she'd added a whole inch to her height. The little boy next to her, Kane, looked even more smug and arrogant. His dad was an Alpha, after all—one who'd even put that annoying Lia's awakening on hold just to be his dad, and only his. Yeah, Cael was his dad. No one could steal him away. Huh.