Chapter 13: The Truth He Was Never Meant to Know

Atlas stood completely still.

For several seconds, the entire banquet hall seemed to disappear around him.

His hand tightened around the phone until his knuckles turned white.

“You said my daughter is dead?”

The guard swallowed hard.

“Yes, Alpha.”

Atlas’s inner wolf howled in disbelief.

No.

That was impossible.

Elena had been eight months pregnant when he left her the previous day.

She had been angry, stubborn, and determined to punish him with silence.

But she had been alive.

Their daughter had been alive inside her.

“Where is Elena?” Atlas demanded.

“She’s still at the hospital.”

“Take me there.”

The guard hesitated.

“Alpha…”

“I said take me there.”

Atlas ended the call and turned toward the exit.

Mara immediately caught his sleeve.

“Atlas, the ceremony—”

He looked at her.

For the first time, there was no tenderness in his eyes.

“My daughter is dead.”

Mara’s face went pale.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would become this serious.”

Atlas stared at her.

“What do you mean?”

Mara lowered her eyes.

“Nothing. I just meant Elena was already weak yesterday.”

Something about her answer made his wolf uneasy.

But Atlas had no time to think.

He walked away.

Behind him, the elders exchanged confused glances.

The naming ceremony had been prepared for weeks.

The banquet hall was decorated with silver and black banners.

The elders had gathered to witness the pup’s bloodline registration.

And yet Atlas left without even looking back.

...

At the hospital, the corridor was strangely quiet.

Atlas pushed through the doors with his Alpha aura spreading around him.

“Where is Elena?”

A nurse looked up.

“Alpha, the Luna has already been transferred.”

Atlas froze.

“Transferred where?”

“I’m not authorized to disclose that information.”

His eyes darkened.

“I am her mate and the Alpha of this pack.”

The nurse lowered her voice.

“You were her mate.”

Those words struck harder than any physical blow.

Atlas stared at her.

“What did you say?”

The nurse glanced toward the registry clerk standing nearby.

The clerk stepped forward with a sealed document.

“The chosen mate dissolution became legally effective today.”

Atlas stared at the document.

His name was on it.

His signature was on it.

His consent had been recorded.

He had signed away Elena’s status as his mate without ever imagining that she would actually leave him.

“Where is my daughter?”

The clerk remained silent.

Atlas’s voice became dangerously low.

“I asked you where my daughter is.”

The clerk looked down.

“There was no surviving daughter registered under the Vale bloodline.”

Atlas’s heart stopped.

“What?”

“The infant was declared deceased at birth.”

Atlas staggered backward.

For the first time in his life, the Alpha of Blackwood Pack looked completely lost.

His daughter.

His own blood.

The pup he had never held.

The pup he had abandoned while protecting Mara and her son.

He pressed one hand against his chest.

His inner wolf was no longer angry.

It was grieving.

A terrible, primal grief that shook his entire body.

“Let me see her.”

The clerk's expression changed.

“There is nothing to see.”

Atlas looked at him sharply.

“What does that mean?”

“Elena requested that the hospital handle the remains privately.”

“Why?”

The clerk met his eyes.

“Because she no longer recognizes you as the father of her child.”

Atlas stopped breathing.

...

Across the city, Elena sat inside a waiting room at the pack station.

Her newborn daughter slept peacefully in her arms.

The pup was tiny.

Too tiny.

But she was breathing.

Her heartbeat was steady.

Elena gently touched one finger to the baby's cheek.

“You're safe now.”

The little pup shifted in her blanket.

Elena smiled through her tears.

She had lied about her daughter's death for one reason.

She knew Atlas.

If he learned that their daughter had survived, he would come for them.

He would use his Alpha authority.

He would tell her that she had misunderstood.

He would promise to change.

And somewhere deep inside, the old Elena might have believed him again.

She couldn't allow that to happen.

Not anymore.

A pack official entered the room.

“Luna—”

He stopped himself.

“Elena, the transfer papers are ready.”

She nodded.

“And the sealed paternal record?”

“Protected under the Registry order.”

Elena finally allowed herself to breathe.

“Good.”

The official looked at the sleeping pup.

“Have you chosen her name?”

Elena looked down at her daughter.

For the first time since everything had fallen apart, warmth filled her chest.

“Yes.”

She whispered the name softly.

“Luna Hart.”

The official smiled.

“Beautiful name.”

Elena kissed her daughter's forehead.

“She doesn't need the Vale name to know she belongs to someone.”

Her eyes filled with tears again.

“She belongs to me.”

...

Back at the hospital, Atlas stood alone in the empty maternity ward.

The room where Elena had given birth was spotless.

There was no baby.

No Elena.

No scent of jasmine.

Only the faint sterile smell of medicine.

Atlas stepped inside.

His eyes fell on the empty bed.

He remembered Elena telling him she was pregnant.

He remembered how happy he had been.

He remembered promising that nothing would ever hurt her or their child.

Then he remembered the pool.

Her pale face.

Her swollen stomach.

His hand striking her.

His own voice telling her to find the token.

His decision to walk away.

He had thought she was being difficult.

He had thought she would forgive him.

He had thought she would always be there.

Now she was gone.

And their daughter was supposedly dead.

Atlas slowly sank into the chair beside the bed.

His head dropped into his hands.

For the first time, he understood what Elena had meant when she asked him to choose.

She had not been asking him to choose between two women.

She had been asking him to choose what kind of man he wanted to be.

And he had answered.

He had chosen Mara.

He had chosen her son.

He had chosen every excuse that allowed him to abandon Elena.

Now Elena had made her own choice.

She had chosen herself.

And Atlas had no idea how to bring her back.