He Welcomed Her Pup While Mine Was Cremated Chapter 02
POV: Maris Alden
I woke up in the Northbridge pack house. Beatrice sat at my bedside, her eyes red.
“Maris, you’re finally awake. You haven’t eaten or drunk anything. How can your body hold up? Don’t worry. Alpha Garrick and I won’t let that bitch get away with this…”
But Elara’s death wasn’t Keira’s fault.
The one who killed her was her own father, Brennan.
I stared blankly at the ceiling and cut her off. “Mom, please. Just let me go.”
After a long silence, she spoke as if she’d made up her mind. “Okay. I’ll talk to Garrick.”
As I watched her leave, I finally broke down sobbing, as if crying out all the years of hurt.
I came to the Northbridge pack when I was six.
Alpha Garrick Holt and my father were best friends who built a commercial pack empire together.
When I was six, my parents were killed in a rival pack attack. I became an orphan, and Alpha Garrick brought me to the Northbridge pack house.
All these years, Alpha Garrick and Luna Beatrice treated me wonderfully. They truly saw me as family, as their own daughter.
Ever since I was little, every time he got drunk, Alpha Garrick would hold me and weep. “It’s my fault. I failed to protect your parents.”
I owed them everything, so for six years of marriage, I looked the
other way every time Brennan treated me like dirt.
I used to think that as long as I held onto this home and Elara, my
life would have meaning.
But now Elara is dead, and I have no home.
I don’t know how long it was before Beatrice called me to the study.
Garrick sat behind his desk, looking at me with pained eyes.
“Maris, all these years, we’ve let you down.”
“After Elara’s cremation tomorrow morning, you can leave if you want.”
“Brennan doesn’t deserve you. We can’t let him hold you back.”
I gave Garrick a long, tight hug. Tears splattered on the floor.
I was so grateful to them. But I couldn’t force myself to forgive Brennan, the murderer of my daughter.
When I returned to my room, Brennan was already there waiting.
The moment he saw me, he sneered.
“What? Couldn’t wait to run to my dad and tattle on me? Maris, you think if you suck up to my parents, I’ll settle down and play house with you?”
“I really don’t get it. Since my dad likes you so much, why don’t you just marry him? I wouldn’t mind calling you Mom.”
In an instant, hatred crashed through me like a flood. I wanted to
kill him right then, to send him to hell.
But the next second, Elara’s soft voice echoed in my ears.
“Mommy, I miss Daddy so much. Will Daddy come home today?”
“I wish Daddy could spend more time with me. Daddy, Mommy, and
me–we’re a happy family.”
“I love Daddy and Mommy the most in the whole world.”
Even the last words she said before losing consciousness in my
arms were, “Mommy, don’t fight with Daddy. Daddy’s just really
busy. Don’t blame him…”
I took a deep breath, held back the tears threatening to fall, walked
to the bed, and sat down without a word to him.
Seeing I didn’t respond, Brennan’s face twisted with anger. He
shoved me onto the bed and pinned my hands above my head.
“What are you trying to pull now? Didn’t you get my dad to call me back here?”
He kissed me as he spoke. His overwhelming Alpha aura crushed me down.
Unable to break free, I bit his lip hard.
Brennan yelped in pain and jerked away, sitting up.
“Maris, have you lost your mind? Is this the fake act you use to
manipulate my parents? Trick me into coming back and then play
hard to get? It’s disgusting.”
“No wonder you raised Elara to be like that. You’re just…”
I bit my lower lip so hard I tasted blood, cutting him off.
“Elara is dead.”
Brennan’s expression froze.