Chapter 298 A Mother’s Final Words

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Elara had always known her mom’s life fell apart.

After the divorce from Alpha Enzo, everyone found out. Pack gossip spread fast.

Her perfect son would not take her calls.

And the Grant family, her own parents and siblings, acted like she was a stranger.

Only then, when nobody else would help her, did Nadia remember she had a daughter.

The one she had walked away from years ago.

Elara saw how messed up that was. She also understood it. When you are drowning, you grab anything you can.

But she was not going to be her mom’s emergency plan.

Not this time. She had spent years trying to fix people who did not want to be fixed.

Now she focused on herself.

When she heard about her mom’s cancer during her second trimester, Elara felt something.

But it was not the kind of grief that hits you like a truck. It was a dull ache in her chest. Familiar. Like a scar that never fully healed.

Her mom would never know how much Elara used to want her attention.

She knew it was sad. But she could not stop feeling that way.

Look, Elara knew she used to be a pushover. Had to be. A half blood in a full blood world?

You learn real fast that you do not get to make demands. You learn to be useful. Quiet. Grateful for whatever crumbs they throw your way.

Her mom checked out first. Then the Grants followed. Then Alpha Zack finished the job.

She used to think if she was good enough, helpful enough, perfect enough, the pack would finally accept her.

That her mom would finally see her. That people would stay.

They did not.

And the worst part? She spent so long making everyone else comfortable that she forgot she mattered too.

But things were different now. She finally figured out that in the story of her life, she was the main character. Not a sidekick. Not a background extra. Not someone waiting to be picked.

It took her a while, but she learned how to stand her ground. How to say no without apologizing. How to walk away from things that did not serve her. How to ask for what she wanted and actually go after it.

Piece by piece, she took her life back. She stopped shrinking herself to make other people feel big. She stopped explaining herself like she owed everyone an answer. She stopped waiting for permission to exist.

And somewhere along the way, she found real love. A partner who saw her strength instead of her silence. A home that was actually hers. A life that felt like it belonged to her.

Nobody handed her any of it. She earned it. Every single step.

--

The car moved smoothly through the city streets.

Charlie drove with the kind of quiet focus that came from years behind the wheel.

Alpha Dominic sat beside Elara in the backseat, his hand wrapped around hers.

“It’s okay,” he said quietly. “I’m here.”

Elara turned to look at him. This stupidly handsome man sitting next to her, his jaw set, his thumb tracing slow circles on the back of her hand. She felt something warm bloom in her chest despite the weight pressing down on her.

She wanted to say something. But the words wouldn’t come.

The rest of the drive passed in silence. She watched the buildings blur by.

The car pulled into the hospital parking garage. Alpha Dominic got out first, then rounded the car to help Elizabeth with the wheelchair.

Elara hurried ahead to press the elevator button, her fingers trembling slightly as she jabbed at it.

The elevator ride felt like it took forever. No one spoke.

The only sound was the mechanical hum and the soft beep of the doors opening on each floor.

When they reached Nadia’s floor, the doctor was already waiting. His expression was grave. The kind that told them everything they needed to know before he even opened his mouth.

“Her condition has deteriorated significantly,” he said quietly. “You should go in and see her. If there’s anything you want to say, say it now.”

The doctor had essentially delivered a death sentence.

Elara walked into the hospital room with heavy steps.

The air smelled like antiseptic and something else. Something stale and final. Machines beeped in steady, rhythmic pulses. Her mother lay in the bed, small and pale, almost lost in the white sheets.

Nadia’s eyelids fluttered open weakly. Through the oxygen mask covering her face, she managed a faint smile.

She saw her daughter. Her daughter had come.

Her pale, skeletal fingers reached out shakily toward Elara.

Nadia wanted to hold Elara’s hand. Elara didn’t refuse.

“We came to see you,” Elara said quietly. Her voice was steady, but her hand trembled slightly.

“Grandma told me everything. I’ve agreed to your request. You’ll be buried beside Dad.”

Perhaps all those years of cold rejection, all that accumulated heartbreak, could finally end with Nadia’s death.

Elara had stopped demanding anything from her mother a long time ago.

She’d made peace with who Nadia was. With who she herself had become despite it all.

Tears immediately filled Nadia’s eyes.

Her voice came out fragile and broken, barely a whisper. “Elara... I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“I did love you. I always loved you.”

“Can you...” Nadia’s words came in disconnected fragments, her breath hitching. “Can you... call me... one more time...”

Elara understood what Nadia wanted. She wanted to hear her daughter call her “Mom” one last time.

Elara opened her mouth. The word sat on her tongue, heavy and foreign. “Mom—”

But Nadia’s lips stopped moving. The heart monitor flatlined with a long, terrible beep.

Elara’s legs buckled. Her knees gave out, and she would have hit the floor if Alpha Dominic hadn’t caught her.

His hands were firm on her shoulders, keeping her upright.

“Elara, you’re pregnant. You need to take care of yourself.”

Elizabeth let out a long, shaky breath from the doorway.

“At least you were here for her final moments. That counts for something.” She paused, her voice softening. “Elara, honey, don’t let this eat you up. You need to protect yourself and the baby.”

Elara stood there, staring at her mother’s still face. The machines were silent now. The room felt too quiet.

Were there regrets?

She asked herself that question silently. Maybe there weren’t any left.

They’d both stopped at this most dignified moment. There was no going back to the past.

Elara reached out and gently touched her mother’s hand. It was cold now. But at least she’d been here. At least she’d tried.

At least her mother had heard her say it. Even if she hadn’t heard the word itself.

“Goodbye, Mom,” Elara whispered.

And she meant it.

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