Lucy

“Mother,” she called softly. “Is that you?”

My throat tightened, preventing me from speaking. Despite rehearsing my speeches and explanations during the journey, they vanished.

Tears streamed down my cheeks, carrying the weight of twelve years of absence, loss, and irretrievable moments. Each sob released the pent-up emotions within me.

I had missed wiping away her tears after nightmares, missed teaching her to hunt, missed seeing her eyes light up when she found her mate. I had missed everything that made a mother.

I wasn’t a mother. I didn’t deserve to be called one. What right did I have to see her now? I broke down in tears.

“What...