Equivale: Finding His Heart - Book two

To get rid of our pup and date with his assistant on Valentine's Day, my mate Marcus forced our injured pup to go rock climbing and poisoned him.

When I rushed my dying pup to the hospital, I unexpectedly saw my mate accompanying his assistant for a prenatal checkup.

Our terrified pup lay convulsing from the poison, but Marcus didn’t even care about him. "He's just an Omega. If he was a proper wolf, he'd heal instantly!"

I clutched the $100 million Moonlight Blessing herb in my pocket. I accidentally found it in the forest this morning.

I was planning to tell him the good news today.

But now? It was time to break this five-year mate bond.

……

After packing up my herbs for the day, I reached for my mate Marcus through our mindlink.

"Honey, please come home early for Valentine's Day! I found something incredible!"

His response came sharp and rushed: "Claire, we've got a crisis at the pack trading post. I have to deal with it!"

"Where's Noah? You were supposed to pick him up from school!"

"Oh, I sent him to rock climbing training. He's having a great time, so don't worry!"

My heart stopped. Noah had broken three ribs at that same climbing center just months ago. The injury had barely healed, and he was terrified of heights now.

"Marcus, are you crazy? He can't climb with his injuries!"

"He's a wolf pup, Claire. He can't be that weak. Stop babying him!"

The mindlink went dead.

The streets were crowded with Valentine's couples. I sat trapped in traffic, my heart pounding with worry.

When I finally reached the climbing center, I saw a crowd gathered at the base of the wall.

My blood ran cold when I spotted Noah lying on the ground, his small body convulsing violently.

I pushed through the crowd, scooping him up and desperately reaching for Marcus through our mindlink.

"Marcus! Something's wrong with Noah! Meet us at the Moon Valley Healing Center now!"

There was a moment of tension in his response: "What happened?"

"He's having seizures! Get there now!"

There was a moment of tension in his response: " Seizures? How the hell did that happen?"

"This must be because of all those herbs you keep around the house. She probably ate something poisonous!"

"I'm dealing with suppliers. Take him yourself!"

I gripped the steering wheel, fighting back tears.

Anger burned through me.

Every weekend, I ventured into the dangerous northern forests at dawn, searching for rare herbs to sell.

I'd come home exhausted, clothes torn and hands bleeding, but I kept going because Marcus's trading post was drowning in debt.

Last month alone, I made $30,000 from selling winter bloom herbs - money that barely kept his business from collapsing.

His trading post had lost over half a million in bad deals, and my herb sales were the only thing keeping the creditors away.

Now he had the nerve to blame my herbs for Noah's condition?

Pushing aside my anger, I broke every speed limit getting to the healing center, carrying Noah straight to emergency.

The pack healer's face turned grave after examining Noah.

"Mrs. Anderson, your son has ingested battle sage - an enhancement herb meant for adult warriors. It's absolutely lethal for cubs. He needed immediate treatment."

I felt like I'd been struck by lightning. Battle sage was strictly controlled - only available to pack warriors before combat.

Watching them take my baby away, his little body still shaking, I would have given anything to take his place.

Panicked, I tried reaching Marcus again. Nothing but silence.

...

Finally, after two hours of agony, the treatment was done.

They moved Noah to a recovery room for observation. When I entered, his little eyes fluttered open.

"Hey baby," I stroked his hair gently. "Did someone give you something to eat or drink at climbing?"

Noah's lower lip trembled. "Daddy said it would make me stronger for climbing. He gave me special tea..."

A knot formed in my stomach. Before I could ask more questions, my phone buzzed. It was from the climbing instructor.

“Mrs. Anderson, is everything all right?”

"Mrs. Anderson, I've been so worried! How is Noah doing? I've never seen a seizure that severe in a cub before."

His genuine concern made my throat tight. A stranger cared more about my son than his own father.

"He's... he's stable now."

There was a pause. "Listen, Mrs. Anderson... I hate to say this, but you should know - your mate insisted on Noah taking the class today, even when we reminded him about Noah's previous injury."

Before I could press him further, Noah started coughing violently, his small body shaking.

Questions would have to wait. My pup needed me now.

I rushed to his side, holding him close as the coughing fit wracked his tiny frame.

...

Watching Noah's fever finally break, I could breathe again.

My phone showed 11:30 PM.

Exhausted and hungry, I decided to contact Marcus again and ask him to come to the hospital to help.

But he directly blocked my mind connection, didn't answer the phone calls, and didn't reply to the messages.

That's when I saw them - my mate who was supposedly handling a trade crisis.

Marcus was accompanying his assistant Sarah to the prenatal care wing, his hand hovering protectively over her back.

Being an Omega without a wolf spirit, I couldn't sense mate bonds or smell pregnancy pheromones like other wolves could.

But watching Sarah lovingly caress her swollen belly, no enhanced senses were needed to understand what I was seeing.

"I'm so sorry the morning sickness made us late, Marcus. Some Valentine's Day this turned out to be."

"Are you kidding? Finding out I'm going to be a father to a pure-blooded wolf pup... this is the greatest Valentine's gift I could ever receive."

“I have spent over $50,000 to prepare a crystal pendant for you. Just wait until you see it.”

"You'll be an amazing father..."

I pressed my hand against the wall for support, bile rising in my throat. As an Omega, I'd always felt vulnerable not being able to sense my mate's emotions or location like other wolves could. But I'd trusted Marcus completely.

What a fool I'd been.

While our poisoned son fought for his life upstairs, Marcus was here celebrating his new family - one that would give him the pure-blooded heirs an Omega like me never could.

He stood there glowing with pride and joy, as if Noah and I didn't even exist.

He didn't even care if our child survived!

The tears came without warning, hot and bitter.

While he spent over $50,000 to prepare the crystal pendants for Sarah, I didn't even own a simple moonstone bracelet.

Marcus and I met at a pack gathering five years ago. When he wanted to open a trading post, I sold my grandmother's precious herb collection for 150,000 dollars as startup money.

During those early days, I gathered herbs in the harshest weather, saving every penny we could.

Even when the trading post started showing promise, I kept living modestly.

Building a future meant being careful with resources.

Especially recently, with rival packs cutting into our trade routes, I'd become even more frugal.

I spent hours bartering with other herbalists to get the best prices.

But my sacrifices meant nothing to him. He was too busy building a new life with an another she-wolf.

I wiped my tears, clutching the Moonlight Blessing herb in my pocket.

Yes, I'd found an herb worth $100 million, and I'd planned to tell him tonight during our Valentine's Day celebration.

I was going to share how I'd already given notice at the herb shop so I could focus on raising Noah.

But now...

Well, he didn't need to know about the herb.

Five years of dedication had led to this moment of clarity.

It was time to walk away.