Chapter 59: he was killed

Charlotte shook her head so quickly that her hair moved across her shoulders. "No! Your father has nothing to do with this child. I’m a rogue werewolf who needed somewhere safe to stay, and I had nowhere else to go. When I learned that Alpha Gebrel wanted a son more than anything, I came up with a plan. I would pretend to be your mother until I gave birth, and afterward, everyone would be told that the baby had died. I would leave the pack with my son, and nobody would come looking for us."

Emily’s sword slowly lowered as she listened. For the first time in days, she felt as though a heavy weight had been lifted from her chest. The child wasn’t her brother, and she wasn’t related to him by blood. She had been so confused and upset by her mother’s strange behavior that she had almost started doubting herself, but now she finally understood why something had felt wrong.

Relief filled her so strongly that her eyes began to sting. She quickly looked away, not wanting Hazel to notice how close she was to crying.

Hazel, however, wasn’t nearly as relieved. She stared at the woman kneeling before them, wondering why anyone would create such a complicated plan when they could have simply told the truth.

"Honestly, I think this whole plan is stupid," Hazel said, folding her arms. "Why lie to Father when you could explain your situation and ask him for help? Why make everyone believe a child has died when the baby hasn’t even been born? You’re only making things harder for yourself."

Charlotte gave her a tired smile. "You don’t understand, Hazel. I’m the true mate of another Alpha, and he is already married. But he couldn’t resist the mate bond, and neither could I. If I return to him with this child, my son will be his firstborn son, and that could put him in danger because of the family he already has. I had to run away to protect him."

Hazel sighed, rubbing her forehead. "And the witch who helped you with the face swap? Who is she?"

"She’s a good person," Charlotte answered quickly. "She only wanted to help me, and she means no harm to anyone."

Hazel wasn’t convinced, but before she could ask another question, Emily stepped forward and looked directly at Charlotte.

"There’s something else you need to understand," she said firmly. "Your son is my mate. I hope you understand what that means."

Charlotte stared at her for a moment, apparently surprised by the announcement. Then she nodded slowly."Noted."

Hazel nearly rolled her eyes at the response. The situation was already complicated enough, and now Emily had announced that the unborn child of a rogue werewolf was her destined mate. She could only imagine how much more troublesome their lives would become when the baby finally arrived.

"Fine," Hazel said, deciding that she had heard enough about the unborn child. "But where is my mother? You said she’s alive, so where is she?"

Charlotte’s expression softened slightly. "She travelled. I don’t know when she’ll return, but she’s safe."

Hazel and Emily exchanged a helpless look.

They had come to ask a few questions, hoping to discover why Charlotte had been acting strangely, but instead, they had learned that the woman living in the pack residence was an impostor who had stolen their mother’s face.

And the worst part was that the witch responsible for the face swap might be connected to the very secrets Hazel had been trying to uncover.

...

Hazel and Emily walked out of Charlotte’s room with angry expressions, neither of them willing to say a word until they were far enough from the door. They had come to see their mother, only to discover that the woman they had been speaking to was not their mother at all. Even worse, their real mother had apparently agreed to keep such a huge secret from them, and Hazel couldn’t understand why she would do something like that without telling her own daughters.

"I can’t believe Mom would do something like this behind our backs," Emily muttered, shaking her head as they walked down the corridor. "She could have told us the truth instead of letting us think something was wrong with her. Does she even understand how worried I’ve been?"

Hazel sighed, feeling the same anger building inside her. "I don’t understand it either, but we can’t force her to tell us everything right now. She said she’s protecting that child, so let her do whatever she wants. However, she needs to find a way to explain everything to Father because I won’t be the one carrying this secret around."

Emily nodded in agreement before suddenly stopping. "Wait, Hazel. I forgot to ask her something. Who is the Alpha that got her pregnant? I mean, if she’s hiding from him, he must be someone important."

Hazel turned to look at her, realizing that Emily had a point. They had been so shocked by the face swap that they hadn’t asked enough questions about the man involved.

"You’re right. We should have asked her before leaving."

They turned around and returned to Charlotte’s room, where they found her sitting on the edge of the bed with her head lowered. She looked up when they entered again, and her nervous expression returned immediately.

"Who is the father of your child?" Emily asked without wasting time.

Charlotte’s face changed, and for a moment, she looked as though she regretted ever getting involved in the situation. She pressed her lips together before answering in a bitter voice, "He was killed by the Werewolf King because he betrayed him."

Hazel froze.

The words struck her harder than she expected, and she stared at Charlotte as a terrible memory came back to her. She remembered the Alpha Caius had killed with his bare hands, the man whose death had left her shaken when she first learned about it. At the time, she hadn’t known the dead Alpha had any connection to the woman pretending to be her mother.

Now, everything was becoming more complicated.