Chapter 318 The Wedding Invitation
Claudine’s POV
I stared at the wedding invitation in my hand and thought I might actually pass out from rage. Scott really meant to go through with it. He was going to marry that Lily woman.
April fifteenth. The date was printed right there in gold, mocking me.
I braced myself and dialed Kurtson. Ten years since I’d heard his voice, and it still made my jaw tighten. We agreed to meet at a coffee shop downtown.
He walked in looking older, grayer, but with that same maddening calm. We sat. We stared. Then we went straight for the only thing left between us.
"You know your son’s getting married," I said.
"I do."
"And what are you planning to do about it?"
"Congratulate him."
"You—" I banged my cup down. "Don’t you think that’s a little irresponsible?"
Kurtson let out a short, ugly laugh. " Irresponsible. That’s rich, coming from the woman who walked out on him when he was eight. I raised that boy alone for twenty years. Twenty. And you sit here and lecture me about responsibility?"
He wasn’t wrong, and we both knew it. I picked up my coffee and sipped slow to still my hands. "Whatever you think of me. I still want you to stop this wedding."
"Why would I?"
"Because he doesn’t love her. He’s in love with someone else."
Kurtson’s eyes went sharp as a blade. "And who backed him into a corner in the first place? Don’t play innocent with me, Claudine. I know exactly what you’ve done. You were always a selfish mother. If our son is miserable, that’s on you."
"I did nothing wrong! Everything I’ve done, I did for his happiness!"
The words came out too loud. A couple at the next table glanced over.
Kurtson leaned back, mouth twisting. "You’d know better than anyone whether this is about his happiness or your own bitterness. You call it love. Look where it’s gotten him."
He shook his head slowly. "You know what? I must have been out of my mind to ever fall for you. I actually believed you’d change. Kept waiting for it." His voice dropped, cold and flat. "The second you signed those divorce papers, I should’ve remarried. Built a normal home. Given Scott a mother worth the name, someone to teach him what love’s actually supposed to look like. God knows he didn’t learn it from us."
That one landed somewhere deep. My face went pale. "We haven’t spoken in ten years, Kurtson. And this is how you greet me?"
"I’m not fighting with you. I’m telling you the truth." He stood and buttoned his coat. "You never should have come back. The day you left, you gave up any right to touch his life."
He walked out without a backward glance. My cup rattled against the saucer. But I didn’t cry. I hadn’t cried in twenty years.
He’s cruel, my wolf said quietly.
"He’s honest," I answered. "It’s worse."
I didn’t give up. I never do.
The moment I knew Kurtson had left the pack house for a meeting, I drove straight for the place I’d fled two decades ago.
I dug an old ring of keys out of my bag. I didn’t expect much. But the rusted key slid into the lock and turned like it had been waiting for me.
I stopped in the doorway. He’d never changed the locks. Twenty years, and the man never changed a single lock.
Inside, nothing had moved. Same furniture. Same worn rug. I climbed to the second floor and stepped into the bedroom we’d once shared. I knew exactly where he kept the documents, and sure enough, the drawer hadn’t budged an inch in two decades.
I grabbed what I came for and rushed out.
Under pack law, a mating had to be registered with the Elder Council, and no registration went through without proof of bloodline lineage. Scott’s papers were his lineage record. Without them, the Elders would never sanction the ceremony.
The wedding was days away. This was the only card I had left.
That evening Scott walked into my apartment with Lily on his arm and dropped a folded document on the table in front of me.
Everything went black.
I woke in the bedroom with Scott sitting beside me. The second my eyes opened I shot upright. "Scott!"
He rose, unhurried. "Something wrong?"
"You—you registered your mating with that awful woman. Without a word to me. Are you trying to put me in an early grave?"
He shook his head, not a flicker of guilt on his face. "I didn’t realize you cared this much. But if you do—why did you leave in the first place? I’ve wanted to ask you that my whole life."
The tears came fast. "Scott, I was drowning. I couldn’t breathe in this city. If I’d stayed, the pressure would have killed me."
"So you left me because you felt bad. And you came crawling back to run my life because now you feel fine." His voice stayed level, which was somehow worse than shouting. "What am I to you? A chew toy? Face it, Mom. I grew up. I passed the age where you get to walk in and out of my life whenever the mood takes you."
He stood, crossed to the door, and said to Lily, "Let’s go."
"Is she alright?" Lily asked.
"She’s fine. She’s already yelling at me. Trust me, that’s a good sign."
𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
I hauled myself off the bed and chased them into the hall. "The registration has to be a forgery! I have your lineage papers. There’s no way you got Council approval."
Scott turned. A tight, angry smile pulled at his mouth. "Mom. I’m your son. Nobody knows how your mind works better than me. Did you honestly think I’d leave those papers lying in Dad’s drawer where you could grab them? I filed with the Elders weeks ago. This morning Dad linked me that you’d swiped the record, so I figured I’d come show you the sanction myself."
I pressed my fingers to my temple. The room tilted again. Lily reached out to steady me, and I knocked her hand away. "Get your hands off me, you little bitch."
"We should go," Lily said softly. "I’d rather not be the reason she faints twice in one night."
Scott took her hand, and the two of them walked out of my apartment without a backward glance.