01: Golden Daughter?

Naya’s POV 

I have always hated the smell and looks of hospitals since I lost my mom in them about ten years ago. 

Because of that, Dad made sure that the recuperation area in the pack's clinic was more like a stop-by inn. 

It was plain, hardly reeked of medicine and you could see the beautiful scene outside from your bed. 

The thought of him has my heart aching one more time. Since the last two years of his death, I have come to accept that there was no way I could move on. 

Deal with the pain and accept it? 

That was impossible. 

He has always been an important part of my life for more than twenty three years. 

And my only family for thirteen. 

Although he always said he was happy that he was leaving me in the hands of someone who I loved and who loved me as much. 

It still didn’t make the pain easier to deal with. 

Sweeping through the empty hallways, I realise there’s no staff around to ask how Liam is doing. 

Instead of going back, I drag myself to the male section of the clinic. 

Despite the slight throbbing pain in my lower abdomen from the surgery, I still sweep through the entire ward in the male section, and as I realise that Liam is not in any of the rooms, panic begins to set in. 

Where is he, and how could he not be here? Since he just got the transplant surgery, he should still be recuperating, right? 

Or was it not successful? 

As shifters, we healed faster than humans, but that didn’t mean that he could have recovered this fast. 

“Elsie,” I call out softly, wondering why my wolf had yet to say anything since I woke up. 

Finally, just as I was about to leave the male section, I saw one of the pack nurses.

“Loretta, have you seen Liam?” I asked quickly. 

 “You shouldn’t be here, Naya. Your body needs to rest…” Loretta starts, but I quickly cut her off. 

“Have you seen Liam?” Despite not being born in our pack, Liam was the new Alpha, which meant that everyone here knew him and knew about our relationship.

“The both of you are so love-stricken; I saw him heading to the female section some while back. You must have missed each other,” she said with an eye roll. 

Relief rushed through me, and I mumbled a quick thanks before dashing off. 

Knowing that Liam had rushed to find me also made me more than eager to see him. 

To see that he now had another chance at life. 

However, when I get back to my room, Liam is not there. We had probably missed each other, so I tried to walk around the female ward. 

“Mother, do you think that bitch would wake up?” I heard a familiar voice ask, her voice carrying into the hallway. 

“Humph! I have told the nurses, she should be awake by tomorrow now that she doesn’t have her wolf. But I will end her measly life tonight.” 

“Mother, thank you so much,” the other voice continued and then let out a soft sigh. 

“Has the money for the kidney come in?” 

“Hehe, you are always thinking about money. Those humans needed it desperately; of course, they sent the money. However, you have to stay here for at least two weeks, so Liam doesn’t suspect anything.” 

My entire body is frozen in space. 

I know that voice. Or rather, those voices. 

And their words sound so… was coincidental the right word? 

I don’t realise that I have dragged myself forward until I’m inside, and the two women in the room look up to meet my gaze. 

Sophie’s eyes widened as she saw me, and then she sat up hurriedly on the bed.

“N…Naya. What are you doing here?” 

I held the door for support, as I wasn’t sure that I wouldn't lose my balance with everything I had just heard. 

“Repeat everything you just said.” 

Before she can say anything, the woman by the side of the bed stands up, her eyes flashing with anger.

“Who do you think you are to talk to Sophie like that? Do you think that she’s still your dog and would always listen to anything you say?” Mrs Wilson yelled, and for a second, I didn’t know what to think or say. 

Sophie had been my best friend for more than twenty years. After Mom died, Mrs. Wilson was nothing but sweet. 

At a point, Sophie and I had even tried to pair her up with Dad so she could become my mother, too. 

However, Dad had vowed not to love anyone else. But right now, with her eyes glaring daggers at me, I can’t even tell what’s real anymore. 

“She has never been my dog, everything you said just now. Say it again.” 

Mrs Wilson is about to speak when Sophie grabs her hands.

“Mom, let me talk.” 

Sophie glances back at me and in that moment, it felt like she had become another person entirely. 

Her gaze is sharp and fierce. More importantly, she looks at me like I’m no different from a stranger. 

Like we hadn’t spent twenty years knowing everything about each other.

“So you think because the moon goddess blessed you with the purest wolf, you can have everything you want in the world, huh?” 

“Do you know that the first time Liam came to the company, I had met him first…” Sophie paused, her eyes getting colder. 

“I had even showed him around the entire place. Yet, the moment you met him, you had to do the same thing you have always done.” 

“You took him from me, you bitch!” Her last words come out in a snarl, and I’m even surprised as she throws the flask beside her at me. 

I used the door to push the flask just before it could hit me.

“If you wanted him, why didn’t you say anything?” 

Liam had chased me for more than two years before I finally gave in. If I had the slightest idea that she was interested in…

Sophie’s scoff pulls me out of my thoughts. 

“And you think I didn’t try? Do you know how many nights he took my body in the dark but ignored me during the day just because he wanted to be with you?” 

“To be with the golden daughter that the moon goddess blessed?” 

My body trembles as I process her words. 

Liam, my husband, had slept with Sophie? 

As though guessing my thoughts, Sophie sneered while my fists clenched tightly.

“Oh, did you think that he was loyal to you? Even before you gave him your first time, I had gotten an abortion for Liam.” 

“He even tells me that you are boring in bed and rushes to me every night.” 

It hurts. 

Breathing is so hard that it feels like any moment from now, my heart will lose the sole purpose that it was made for. 

“Naya, why do you think Liam came late on your wedding day?” 

No… no… that’s not possible. There’s no way. 

Mrs Wilson chuckles, the sound carrying to my ears as I bend over, trying to get some air into my lungs. 

“At the end of the day, my daughter won.”