(Audrey’s POV)

    I sat in stunned silence as the weight of Yvette Riverwind’s words settled over me. My mother. She was my actual mother, not the cold woman who had raised me with such obvious disdain in the Shadowcrest pack.

    My hands shook as I stared at the golden pendant. Everything made sense now. Mrs. Shadowcrest’s coldness. The way she looked at me like I didn’t belong. The constant feeling that I was an outsider in my own supposed family.

    “I need to tell you everything,” Yvette said, her voice steadying despite the tears flowing down her cheeks. “You deserve to know the truth about what happened to you.”

    I nodded, my throat too tight to speak. The pendant felt heavy in my palm, like it carried the weight of decades of separation and pain.

    “I was the Shadowcrest Alpha’s first mate,” she began, settling back in her chair but keeping her eyes locked on mine. “Our marriage was arranged for pack alliances, as wasmon in those days.”

    Her voice was steady now, but I could see the pain in her eyes.

    “When you were born, I thought we might finally find some happiness together,” she continued. “You were such a beautiful pup. So sweet and gentle, with those piercing green eyes.’

    “

    My heart clenched. I barely remembered anything from before age eight, but her words stirred something deep in my memory.

    “But when you were eight years old, he found his true fated mate and began an affair with her,” Yvette’s voice turned bitter.” I couldn’t bear the betrayal. Watching hime home with another she-wolf’s scent on him every night.”

    Suddenly, fragmented memories began surfacing. Arguments through thin walls. The way Alpha Shadowcrest would look at me with guilt in his eyes. The tension that always filled our territory den.

    “So I severed our mate bond and prepared to leave,” she said, her voice growing stronger with each word. “I was done with his lies and betrayal.”

    I leaned forward, desperate to hear more. “What stopped you?”

    “Your grandmother,” Yvette replied immediately. “Elder Shadowcrest begged me not to take you away from the only pack you’d known. She said it would be too traumatic for a young pup.”

    She reached out and took my hands in hers. Her touch was warm andforting in a way I’d never experienced with Mrs. Shadowcrest.

    “Against my better judgment, I agreed to leave you with the Shadowcrest family,” she admitted, guilt heavy in her voice. “I nned to visit regrly. To maintain my rtionship with you.”

    “What happened then?” I asked, though part of me dreaded the answer.

    Yvette’s face crumpled with fresh grief. “Six monthster, you disappeared.”

    “Disappeared?”

    “The Shadowcrest family imed you’d been kidnapped,” she continued, her voice breaking. “But they refused to let me participate in the search efforts.”

    My stomach dropped like a stone. “They refused?”

    “They said I was no longer part of the family,” she said, bitterness coating every word. “That my presence would onlyplicate the investigation.”

    Anger red in my chest. They had kept my real mother away while I was missing. While she was desperate to find me.

    “I couldn’t just sit by and do nothing,” Yvette continued fiercely. “I hired my own investigators. Spent every resource I had trying to find you.”

    I watched her struggle to maintainposure. Decades-old pain was written across every line of her face.

    “You had vanishedpletely,” she whispered. “No witnesses. No demands from kidnappers. No trace of where you might have gone.”

    The words hit me like physical blows. “Nothing at all?”

    “It was as if you had simply disappeared from existence,” she said. “I searched for years. Decades. I never gave up hope.” Tears began flowing down my cheeks. All these years, she had been searching for me. While I’d been struggling with Mrs. Shadowcrest’s coldness, wondering why I never felt like I belonged, my real mother had been desperately trying to find me. “I never stopped looking for you,” Yvette whispered, reaching up to cup my face with trembling hands. “Every year on your birthday, I would light a candle and pray to the Moon Goddess for your safe return.”

    My heart broke for both of us. All those years of separation. All that lost time.

    “You always seemed so drawn to me when we first met,” I said through my tears. “Now I understand why.”

    She nodded, her smile watery but radiant. “My wolf recognized you even when my mind couldn’t ept the possibility.” “Really?”

    “You have your father’s eyes,” she said softly. “But your grandmother’s spirit. That quiet strength that refuses to be broken.” I thought about all the times Yvette had shown me unexpected kindness. The way she’d gone out of her way to help my career. The maternal warmth I’d felt from her that I’d never experienced with anyone else.

    “I can’t believe this is real,” I whispered. “All these years, I thought I waspletely alone in the world.”

    “You were never alone,” Yvette assured me, pulling me into another tight embrace. “Your mother’s love has been with you every step of the way.”

    We held each other in silence. Both of us crying and trying to process this life-changing revtion. I felt a sense of belonging that I’d never experienced before. A missing piece of my identity finally clicking into ce.

    For the first time in my life, I understood what maternal love felt like.

    The quiet moment was shattered by the sound of the hotel suite door opening. We both looked up to see Lyra entering the

    room.

    Her expression was casual at first. Then she took in the scene before her. The tears on our faces. The way we were holding each other.

    I wiped away my tears quickly and watched Lyra carefully. I could see shock flickering across her features before she quickly masked it with concern.

    “Mom, what’s wrong?” Lyra asked, hurrying toward us. “Why are you crying?”

    The word ‘Mom’ hung in the air like a heavy weight. I watched Yvette’s expression change as she looked between us. She was suddenly understanding the impossibleplexity of the situation.

    I could see the exact moment when cracks began to appear in Lyra’s carefully constructed facade. Her eyes darted between Yvette and me. Taking in our tear-stained faces. The golden pendant still clutched in my hand.

    She knew. I could see the realization dawning in her expression. The understanding that her identity as Yvette’s daughter was about to crumblepletely.

    Lyra’s breathing became shallow. Her hands started to tremble at her sides.

    The tension in the room became suffocating. Three women standing there, each processing the implications of this moment.

    Yvette straightened slowly. Her maternal instincts were clearly warring with her growing suspicions. When she spoke, her voice was quiet but firm.

    “Lyra,” she said carefully, studying the young woman’s pale face. “I don’t know how your blood test matched mine.”

    Lyra’s face wentpletely white. Her carefully maintainedposure began to slip.

    “But I think there must have been an error somewhere in the process,” Yvette continued, her tone gentle but determined. I watched Lyra’s reaction closely. The way her eyes widened with panic. The way she seemed to shrink into herself. “I’ll arrange for the three of us to be re-tested at the most reputable facility in Central Territory,” Yvette said. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

    Lyra opened her mouth but no sound came out. She looked like she might faint.

    “Don’t worry, dear,” Yvette added, though her voice had cooled slightly. “If there was a mistake, our pack will ensure you’repensated appropriately for any confusion this may have caused.”

    The color drainedpletely from Lyra’s face. Her hands were shaking violently now.