Chapter 9: The Daughter He Never Knew

“It hurts!”

Another contraction tore through her, and Elena clutched the doctor’s hand with all her strength.

“Please, save her. She’s been a part of me for eight months. I have to see her live. Don’t contact my mate again. Just take me to surgery. I’ll bear all the consequences myself.”

After saying that, she lost consciousness.

The last thing she heard were the words Atlas had spoken just a few hours ago.

“You’re carrying a pup yourself. How could you deprive another child of the chance to be recognized by the pack?”

“If she gives a damn about her own pup, she’ll find that token.”

With those two sentences, he had forfeited any right to be her child’s father.

Elena didn’t know how long she was unconscious. When her awareness briefly flickered back, she could hear the doctors’ urgent voices around her.

“Her water has broken.”

“Fetal heartbeat is dropping. We need to operate now.”

“Isn’t this the Luna? Where’s the Alpha?”

“Alpha Atlas? I heard he’s holding a full-moon naming ceremony for another pup today.”

“His Luna and pup are in here. Where did another pup come from?”

“The late Beta’s widow gave birth to him. In this very hospital.”

“We called him all night, and he never answered once. He used to be here for every single one of her appointments. I really thought he cared about her.”

“Elena, can you hear me? Keep breathing. The baby will be out soon.”

The voices faded away again.

When she next awoke, a doctor was standing by her bed, holding a small bundle.

“Elena, it’s a girl. She had no breathing or bloodline response when she was born. We resuscitated her for a long time, but her heartbeat is stable now. She survived.”

Elena looked at that tiny, perfect face, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

The pup was alive.

Just then, a clerk from the Blackwood Registry walked into the ward and handed her a document.

“This is the certificate dissolving the chosen mate relationship and Luna status. The one-month period has passed. The elders’ seals and pack marks have taken effect.”

Elena accepted the document.

In a clear voice, she made her declaration of departure.

“I, Elena Hart, voluntarily sever all ties of belonging with the Blackwood Pack.”

The pack link that had always hummed at the edge of her consciousness went silent.

It didn’t feel like a loss. It felt like she had finally reclaimed her own voice.

“Please handle one more thing for me,” she said to the clerk. “Register the pup under the Hart bloodline and apply for a transfer with me to the Pine Ridge Pack.”

“Atlas already signed the dissolution document, giving up his right to register her as his legal mate at the time of her birth.”

“Her paternal information is to be sealed by law and may not be directly accessed by the Blackwood Pack.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Just have the guards tell him that when the pup was born, she wasn’t breathing and has already died. Don’t tell him she was resuscitated.”

The clerk froze.

“I’ll also leave a memorial urn. Have them deliver it to the naming ceremony.”

Then she looked up at the doctor.

“Please help me contact the pack station. I want to leave as soon as possible.”

At that same moment, the naming banquet at the Blackwood Pack was already underway.

Atlas had gone to the pack banquet hall with Mara early that morning.

The guards who had served with Rowan, the elders witnessing the inheritance declaration, and several of Blackwood’s most important families were all present.

“Congratulations, Alpha. Have you decided on a name for the pup?”

“His Vale bloodline will be officially verified today. Why isn’t the Luna here?”

“She still hasn’t accepted Mara and the pup?”

Atlas didn’t answer.

A persistent unease had settled in his gut. The banquet was about to begin, and Elena still hadn’t appeared.

Was she still angry about yesterday?

He had lost his temper, but he had only meant to force her to find the token. He never truly wanted her to get hurt.

Mara nudged him, the baby in her arms. “The elders are all waiting. Elena probably isn’t coming. Let’s go in.”

Atlas took out his phone, intending to call her.

Mara pressed a hand on his. “We can’t miss the ceremony’s start time.”

He ignored her and dialed the number that had called him repeatedly last night.

“Why did you keep calling me last night? Where is Elena?”

“Bring her to the banquet. She may not be Luna anymore, but we can’t have people thinking she deliberately sabotaged the ceremony…”

The guard’s voice was stiff.

“Alpha, Elena was in the pool for four hours last night. She suffered a major hemorrhage. We sent her to the hospital.”

“The doctors worked all night to save her.”

The guard paused.

“Your daughter… she had no breath when she was born. She’s dead.”