Chapter 2: COME HOME, LUMI
Chapter 2
The words land like a blade between my ribs.
Theo. Sienna’s son?
My brain stutters, then the pieces slam together so fast the hallway spins.
Sienna, the one who first told me about a baby boy who needed adopting.
Sienna, who had sat with me and Callum, encouraging us, saying it would be the perfect way for me to finally become a mother.
They hadn’t let me adopt a stranger’s child.
They had made me adopt their child.
A guttural sound rips out of me, half-sob, half-howl and my knees gives way again.
I slide down the wall, back scraping against it, until I’m on the floor. My chest heaves but no air comes in.
"You..." I can’t get the sentence out. I try again. "You told me he needed a family. You told me he was... you said his mother couldn’t.." I stop. The breath in my chest goes hard. "You told me he needed to be adopted."
Sienna is quiet.
"You sat across from me." My voice shakes now, badly, but I keep going because I need to say it out loud, I need to hear it land in the air between us.
"You sat at my kitchen table and you cried. You told me about this little boy who needed someone. You said..." My throat closes. I swallow hard. "You said I would be a good mother to him."
Still quiet.
"He was yours." It comes out as barely a whisper. "He was yours the whole time. You were his mother. You ARE his mother and you sat there and you..." The sentence breaks. "You gave him to me. You let me... you watched me..."
I press both hands flat against my tummy like I can hold the thing inside me together by force.
I think about the first night he called me mama. How I stood in this kitchen and laughed and cried at the same time, I called Callum in from the other room because I needed him to hear it. I needed to share it with someone.
He heard it. He smiled at his own son calling his wife mama, and he said nothing.
I look at Callum now.
His jaw is set. His eyes are down. He looks like a man waiting for a movie to end.
"You watched me love him," I say. My voice has gone very, very quiet. The kind of quiet that happens when something breaks past the point of noise. "You watched me rock him to sleep. You heard him call me mama and you stood there and you smiled."
Callum says nothing.
"You gave me your child," I continue to crash out, because that was all I could do. "to raise as mine, while you were sleeping with HIS mother."
I claw at my throat, gasping, eyes burning as fresh tears pour down. I see Theo’s face, those chubby little hands reaching for me, the way he’d bury his face in my neck and whisper "Mama Lumi" like I was his whole world.
I feel the weight of him in my arms the night he had a fever, how I’d paced our flat for hours singing the same lullaby over and over while Callum slept in the next room.
I loved him like he was mine.
But he was never mine. He was theirs.
My wolf is howling now — a broken, keening cry that vibrates through every bone. I curl forward, forehead pressed to my knees, shoulders shaking with sobs I can’t hold back.
The sound of my own crying fills the hallway, ugly, raw and endless. I can’t breathe. I can’t stop.
Every memory of Theo’s laughter, every time Callum had smiled and said "our boy," every night I’d fallen asleep feeling like the luckiest mother in the world, it all twists inside me.
The thoughtful husband who "adopted" a child so I could finally be a mother.
The adorable little boy who filled the empty space in my heart.
The supportive best friend who smiled at our wedding while carrying my husband’s pup.
It was all an illusion. Cruel, deliberate, and built on top of my deepest longing.
And I had been the fool living happily inside it, never suspecting the child I cherished was the living proof of their three-year betrayal.
I feel like my heart is been pierced continuously, I can’t breathe. I’m taking short breath at a time, trying to steady myself.
I’m having a panic attack and it’s going to become worse if I don’t leave here soon.
Everything had been a lie. Every single thing.
Callum looks up at me and for the first time tonight I see something in his face that looks like real shame. He opens his mouth.
"Don’t," I say, the word edged with a growl. "Do not say a single word to me right now."
"It wasn’t like..." Sienna tries.
"Get out," I say to her, and see the surprise flash across both their faces.
I almost let out a bitter laugh but I hold it back. My wolf is too close to the surface.
"Lumi..."
"I said get out of my house." I yelled.
"This is my home too," Sienna says quietly, lifting her chin in quiet defiance.
I turn and look at her.
She holds my gaze. "I’m not saying it to be cruel. But I have been here. In this territory. In this life. He comes to me. He has always come to me. You are his mate on paper." She pauses, letting the words land. "I am the mother of his pup. The one he loves."
I look at this woman.
This woman I have known for five years. This woman who stood in my bridal party at our mating ceremony, dressed in white, holding flowers and smiling as I walked down the aisle toward Callum.
Who hugged me afterward and told me I was the most beautiful bride she had ever seen.
"Get out of my territory," I say, voice low and flat, standing to my feet.
"I told you..."
"I don’t care." Something has gone completely still inside me now. My wolf has gone quiet the way it has always been since I can remember.
"I don’t care what you are to him. I don’t care what you think this is. Right now, tonight, you are going to leave. You are going to take your things and walk out of my front door."
Sienna looks at Callum.
Callum says nothing.
She looks back at me. Something in her face shifts, resignation mixed with triumph.
"I won’t leave unless Callum asks me to."
I raise a brow and stare at her. No shame. Not even a flicker.
I turn toward Callum, waiting for him to speak the words. To choose.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Nothing.
He chose her. His true mate. Over the broken one he pitied.
The shaking stops. Everything stops. Something settles inside me cold, hard and final.
I turn and walk into the bedroom, pull two bags from the wardrobe and start arranging my stuffs.
I was going to leave, I won’t embarrass myself any longer.
I can hear them behind me, Callum saying my name, Sienna murmuring something low to him, I tune all of it out. My hands move steadily as I zip the first bag.
I stop for a second and look at Callum. He’s standing in the doorway now. His face is calm. Almost bored. The face of a man waiting for me to make this easier for him.
I look at him for a long time. I burn his face into my memory. This is the man I loved. The man I gave seven years to. The man who let me love his child like my own.
I pick up both bags. They feel heavy but I hold them tight.
I walk past him. Past Sienna who steps to the side and looks at the floor. Past the small table in the hallway with our wedding photo, both of us laughing.
I open the front door and step into the corridor. The door clicks shut behind me. The sound is small but it feels like the end of everything.
I make it down the stairs and out of the building. The night air is cold, the pavement damp. My legs finally give out. I sit down hard on the step, the two bags drop beside me.
I press my face into my hands and cry like I’ve never cried before. My chest hurts. My wolf hurts. She makes a broken sound inside me. She is crying too.
I take out my phone with shaking hands and I call Neve.
She answers on the second ring. "Hey, what’s up?"
"He cheated." My voice comes out wrecked and completely broken. "With Sienna. And Theo... Theo is his son. Both of their pup, Neve."
"Oh my god, Lumi..." Neve’s voice cracks. "Are you serious?"
"He was theirs the whole time and they let me... they let me love him, Neve. They let me adopt and love him and they never told me..." I’m babbling now, but I can’t stop. My wolf is whining, circling, desperate.
"Lumi. Breathe."
"I thought she was my friend. I thought she was my..." I’m crying harder now. The words pour out. I can’t stop them.
"I know. I know. And I’m so sorry." Neve’s voice breaks too. "Listen to me. Where are you right now?"
"Front step."
"Okay. Don’t go back in."
"I’m not going back in."
"Good." she takes a long breath. "Come home. Right now. Come back to pack territory."
I pause, my breath hitching. "I can’t... I can’t... you know why I left..."
"Lumi, listen to me. Come back, please." She pleads, her tone threading through even over the phone. "I promise to protect you. I promise with my life."
I take a deep breath and gather what’s left of my thoughts.
"Book me a flight," I say. "I can’t look at a screen right now. Just book it."
"Already on it," she says. "Stay on the phone with me."
Neve breathes out hard. "I’m getting you on the one a.m. flight. It’s tight but you can make it. I’ll pick you up at arrivals. You don’t have to be strong right now. Just get here. I’ve got you."
I lean my head back against the cold wall. Rain starts to fall lightly on my face but I don’t wipe it away.
I close my eyes and think about that little girl who left her hometown with hope, only to return carrying the same poison that drove her away. The betrayal of a false mate, the weight of a pup that was never hers to love.
"The flight is booked. Check your phone... I sent the details."
I look at the screen. The ticket is there. One a.m.
"Thank you," I whisper.
"Stay on the phone until you get in the taxi. I’m not hanging up."
I sit there on the cold step for twenty more minutes. The rain gets heavier. My bags are getting wet but I don’t care. I listen to Neve breathing on the other end. It keeps me from falling apart completely.
Finally I stand up, my legs are shaky but they work. I pick up my bags and walk to the main road. A taxi stops after a few minutes.
I get in and give the driver the airport address. I keep the phone to my ear.
"I’m in the taxi," I tell Neve.
"Good. I’ll be waiting for you with open arms. You come home, Lumi. We’ll figure the rest out together."
