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My Alpha Had Three Pups With Three Women—So I Left
Novelix
Completed
Two years after my Alpha told me he hated pups and made me lose ours, I discover the truth: Derek already has three children with three different she-wolves—his childhood sweetheart, his first love, and his pack secretary. Worse, I’ve spent three years feeding, clothing, and caring for them without knowing they were his. While Derek prepares to recognize them publicly and expects me to stand beside them as his Luna, I make a different choice. I file to sever our mate bond and leave. But the secrets Derek buried are far from over.
Chapters (2)
第1章
Mara's POV
Two years after my Alpha made me lose our pup because he said he hated children, I learn he has three pups with three other she-wolves.
His childhood sweetheart. His first love. His pack secretary.
And for three years, I have been helping raise all three without knowing they carry his blood.
-
The day before the Harvest Moon Gathering, Derek asks me to take three gift bundles to the Pack Nursery.
“They’re pups being raised without a sire,” he says. “You’ve always been good with children. I trust you with this.”
I go.
At the nursery, an older caretaker smiles the moment she sees me.
“Luna Mara, the Alpha’s three pups are in different rooms. Which one do you want to see first?”
I stop.
“The Alpha’s what?”
Her smile disappears.
For a second, neither of us speaks.
Then she looks toward the record room.
“Luna… I thought you knew.”
My wolf goes completely still.
The caretaker leads me inside and pulls down the Cedar Ridge bloodline ledger.
Three names.
Three pups.
Three dams.
Vanessa Reed.
Madeline Shaw.
Tessa Grant.
Derek’s childhood sweetheart.
His first love.
His pack secretary.
My fingers tighten around the edge of the ledger.
Under Sire, the same name is written three times.
Derek Holloway.
My Alpha.
My mate.
The caretaker looks pale now.
“These pups were kept under unrecognized bloodline status. I only assumed… since the Alpha requested a recognition ceremony this Harvest Moon…”
Recognition ceremony.
So he plans to bring them into the Holloway bloodline openly.
The caretaker opens another ledger.
“These are their care records. Luna relief allotment covered most of their expenses.”
I look down.
Winter clothes.
Healer visits.
Nursery meals.
Festival gifts.
The first entry is dated two months after I lost my pup.
My name sits beside every approval.
Mara Holloway, Luna.
For three years, Derek tells me these are fatherless pups who need help.
For three years, I use my Luna allowance to feed them, clothe them, and cover their care.
His pups.
The caretaker hesitates, then lowers her voice.
“There’s more.”
She shows me a private message thread between Derek, the three women, and several of his friends.
The newest image is of me kneeling in front of one of the pups, tying his boot.
Vanessa writes:
[Our Luna looks useful around pups.]
Tessa replies:
[Free help. Why waste it?]
The others laugh.
Someone asks:
[Which house tonight, Alpha?]
Derek answers:
[Same arrangement.]
[Two nights each.]
[Sunday with Mara. She still doesn’t know.]
My hands start shaking.
I scroll farther back.
Two years.
The night after my surgery.
One of his friends asks:
[The Luna’s pup is really gone?]
Derek replies:
[Handled.]
Then another line appears.
[She loves pups. She can help with ours.]
The words blur.
That same week, Derek brought Tessa’s newborn son to my room.
I was still weak. Still bleeding.
He placed the baby in my arms and said, “Holding a pup might help.”
I bought that child a newborn gift.
I kissed his soft forehead and whispered, “You’re lucky. At least your parents wanted you.”
Derek stood beside the bed.
He said nothing.
Now I understand why.
He never hated pups.
He only hated mine.
I don’t cry.
I ask the caretaker for copies of the bloodline and relief records.
Then I send word to the Pack Elders.
[I am filing to dissolve my mate bond with Alpha Derek Holloway.]
After that, I leave Cedar Ridge territory before he can return.
I have barely crossed the southern border when Derek reaches me through the mind-link.
“Mara.”
I shut my eyes.
His voice is calm.
“You went through the nursery records?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
Then he says, “So you know.”
“Monday through Saturday,” I say. “Two nights each?”
He exhales.
“Yes.”
“I stay with Vanessa, Madeline, and Tessa two nights each. Sunday is yours. I have never missed a Sunday in five years.”
My wolf finally stirs.
Not with longing.
With disgust.
Every Sunday, I waited at the Alpha residence.
He called the other six nights patrol duty, territory work, or Elder business.
“They gave me pups without asking me for a bond or a title,” he continues. “You have my mark. You’re my Luna.”
I grip the car door.
“So that makes us even?”
“Mara, don’t twist it.”
His tone hardens.
“The Holloway private estate will be divided among those three pups. I promised them that. Another child would only reduce what each of them receives.”
To him, our pup was never a child.
Just a fourth share of the estate.
He says, “You have everything else.”
“Do I?”
He ignores the question.
“I won’t agree to sever the bond.”
“You don’t have to.”
“The Elders will hear the petition.”
“Mara.”
For the first time, something rough enters his voice.
His wolf presses faintly against the bond.
Too late.
“Come home Sunday,” he says. “We’ll talk.”
I sever the mind-link.
Before nightfall, I find one last piece of evidence in the private message records: an old recording from the day of our Mating Ceremony.
Vanessa is already pregnant.
Madeline asks Derek, “Once you mark Mara as Luna, what happens to us?”
Derek answers without hesitation.
“Each of you can give me one pup. I’ll provide a home and everything the child needs.”
Tessa asks, “What if Mara wants one someday?”
Then Derek looks toward the Pack Hall, where I am waiting for him in my mating dress.
“She gets my mark.”
“She gets to be Luna.”
Then comes the sentence that ends five years of my life.
“She can’t have everything.”
He takes my hand.
He marks me before the entire pack.
And I think I am becoming his family.
I stop the recording.
For five years, I wait for my Alpha every Sunday.
This Sunday, he can wait for me.
第2章
Mara's POV
By the time I reach Moonridge territory, a messenger is already waiting at the guest lodge.
He hands me a sealed invitation stamped with the Holloway crest.
I break the seal.
HARVEST MOON GATHERING
BLOODLINE RECOGNITION OF THREE HOLLOWAY PUPS
The ceremony is tomorrow.
Our fifth mating anniversary.
Derek’s name is written first.
Under his are the names of the three pups.
And beside them—
Mine.
Luna Mara Holloway.
I stare at the invitation until the letters blur.
The messenger shifts uneasily. “Alpha Derek requested that you stand beside the pups during the recognition. The Elders and senior pack members will all be present.”
I look up.
“He asked for me?”
“With the Luna standing beside them, no one can question their recognition as part of the Holloway bloodline.”
That tells me everything.
Derek doesn’t need his mate.
He needs his Luna.
He needs me standing beside those three children so the whole pack can pretend this arrangement has my blessing.
I reach for the mind-link.
“Why is my name on the recognition summons?”
Derek answers almost immediately.
“Now that you know about the pups, there’s no reason to keep them hidden.”
His voice is calm. Too calm.
“The Elders will all be there tomorrow. If you stand beside them, the recognition will go more smoothly.”
“Take my name off.”
A pause.
“You’ll come.”
“No.”
“Mara.”
His tone hardens.
“I already arranged your return transport. Don’t embarrass the Holloway name over this.”
Over this.
Three she-wolves.
Three pups.
Three secret homes.
Five years of lies.
And to him, it is still just this.
I cut the mind-link before he can say anything else.
Then I turn the invitation over and write across the back.
I WILL NOT ATTEND.
I WILL NOT STAND BESIDE THEM AS LUNA AT THEIR RECOGNITION.
I hand it back to the messenger.
“Return this to Alpha Holloway.”
That afternoon, the lodge keeper knocks on my door.
A long garment box rests in her arms.
Inside is an ivory ceremonial cloak, soft and heavy, the Holloway crest embroidered at the collar.
There is a small card on top.
Fifth mating anniversary.
I’m coming to bring you home.
—Derek
My fingers pause over the fabric.
I once stopped in front of a tailor’s window because an ivory cloak caught my eye.
Derek noticed.
Of course he did.
For one stupid second, something old and weak inside me almost hurts.
I open the copied records from the private circle again.
Vanessa has posted a photo of herself, Madeline, and Tessa, each wearing a different ceremonial cloak.
Midnight blue.
Deep red.
Silver gray.
Vanessa writes beneath the picture:
[Derek brought four. We picked first.]
[Ivory was the only one left, so his Luna gets that one.]
Madeline replies:
[Think she’ll believe he chose it for her?]
I look down at the cloak in my hands.
Of course.
Three women choose first.
The Luna gets what is left.
Another image sits behind them.
A route plan.
I only glance at it once before my entire body goes cold.
Derek Holloway.
Vanessa Reed.
Madeline Shaw.
Tessa Grant.
Three pups.
Seven names.
A seven-day family trip through Moonridge territory.
Vanessa posts again.
[My son wanted to see Moonridge Lake, so Derek changed the route overnight.]
So he isn’t coming here just to bring me home.
He is bringing three women and three pups on a family trip.
I am only the last stop.
I take a closer look at the itinerary.
Moonridge Lake.
The wildlife grounds.
Forest camp.
The riverside overlook.
Family portraits on the final day.
My breathing slows.
I know this route.
Two years ago, when I first learned I was carrying Derek’s pup, I made it myself.
I stayed up late for three nights writing everything into a small leather book.
On the first page, I wrote:
FOR OUR PUP
The first places Mom and Dad will take you after you’re born.
I planned every stop.
Where we would rest.
Which trail would be easiest with a young pup.
Where we could watch the sunset.
Where we would take our first family portrait.
I gave the book to Derek with both hands.
He barely looked through it.
“We won’t need it.”
That was all he said.
I thought he simply didn’t care about traveling with a child.
I thought he simply didn’t want the pup growing inside me.
Now every stop I planned for our child belongs to his three.
I go back through the old message records from the nursery.
Tessa had noticed it too.
[Isn’t this Mara’s pup route?]
Derek replied:
[Her procedure is tomorrow.]
[She won’t need it after that.]
[The three pups will.]
I stop reading.
The seven days I planned for our pup now belong to his three pups.
Derek never hated family trips.
He never hated children.
He only hated the one I wanted with him.
I fold the ivory cloak back into its box.
When the lodge keeper returns, I hand it to her.
“Send it back to Alpha Holloway.”
She hesitates. “Luna, are you sure?”
“I don’t want anything from him.”
Before sunset, I leave the guest lodge.
I rent a small cottage beyond Moonridge’s main pack district, where travelers and wolves from other territories come and go without anyone asking questions.
I give no one the address.
Not the Holloways.
Not the Elders in Cedar Ridge.
Not Derek.
He can come to Moonridge.
He can bring his three women and three pups.
But he won’t know where to find me.
