I Was His Mate, Now I Am His Doom

Irin's POV

“Please, answer the call. Answer the call, Dixon!” I choked out, my hands trembling as I pressed against the gaping wound in my son’s stomach. Blood seeped between my fingers, warm and slick, as his tiny body trembled against me. His breathing was shallow, his skin deathly pale.

"Baby, stay with me, okay? Daddy's coming," I whispered, my voice breaking as tears blurred my vision.

With my bloodied hands, I fumbled for my phone, my fingers slick and clumsy. It slipped once, but then—finally—it connected.

“Alpha, where are you?!” I gasped the moment the call went through. "Elijah needs you! He’s losing so much blood! We—we’re hiding in a cave. A rogue—”

“I’m coming,” Dixon cut in. “Just hold on. Where exactly are you?”

“The cave past the park… Please, Dixon. Our son—he’s fading,” I begged, my voice raw.

“Stay there. I’ll be—” He trailed off.

Then, I heard it. A woman’s voice in the background.

“Alpha, I need your help.”

My blood ran cold. I knew that voice.

Candice.

Dixon’s first love. His estranged mate. The woman who had abandoned him on their wedding day.

Why is she there?

“Canny?” Dixon’s voice softened, laced with something that shattered me from the inside out. Longing.

“Please, Alpha. There’s an attack in the park! Trevor—my son—he’s trapped. You have to help him!”

My breath caught. A child. She had a child? But Dixon wouldn’t—he wouldn’t choose someone else’s kid over his own.

Right?

“Canny, don’t worry,” Dixon said. “I’ll send my best warriors. But I have to go. My son is waiting for me.”

Relief flooded me. “See, baby?” I whispered, brushing Elijah’s damp curls from his forehead. “Daddy’s coming.”

Elijah’s lips twitched into a weak smile, hope flickering in his tired eyes.

But then Candice spoke again.

“Trevor isn’t just my son, Dixon. He’s ours.”

A deafening silence filled the call. My pulse pounded in my ears.

No. No, she’s lying.

“What are you talking about?” Dixon’s voice was sharp with disbelief. “That’s not possible—”

“I never told you,” Candice said, her voice thick with bitterness. “Because of your parents. They never wanted me, Dixon. They forced me out. They wanted you to marry the daughter of the Wolfcane Pack—the same pack that slaughtered my father. I had no choice but to hide my pregnancy from you. If your parents had known, they would have killed me, Dixon! They would have killed our son.”

Lies.

Lies!

My father never killed anyone!

“Dixon—” I tried to speak, to reach for him, to remind him of who we were.

But his voice turned cold. Unforgiving.

“I’ll send someone.”

And then the line went dead.

The phone slipped from my fingers.

No.

He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

Dixon wouldn’t abandon us. Not for her. Not for a son he never even knew existed.

But the way he’d said it—so detached, so final—felt like a dagger plunging straight through my heart.

I barely had time to process it before Elijah’s weak voice pulled me back.

“Mommy… is Daddy coming?”

My chest caved in.

I wanted to lie. I wanted to tell him that his father was on his way, that everything would be okay, that this wasn’t happening.

But I couldn't.

Because I wasn’t sure anymore.

Tears burned down my cheeks as I held my son closer, my own wounds screaming in protest. Blood coated my side, my leg—too much. I was weak. Too weak to fight. Too weak to run.

And rogues were out there. Circling. Waiting.

But what broke me wasn’t the fear.

It was knowing that my son—our son—was dying in my arms. And his father…

His father wasn’t coming.

I swallowed back my sobs, forcing a trembling smile. “Your father… he’s just busy,” I lied, my voice barely a whisper.

Elijah nodded, his lashes fluttering. “It’s okay, Mommy. I don’t… I don’t want to see you cry.”

His breathing hitched. Slowed.

No.

Panic surged through me, and I pressed harder against his wound, desperate. “Baby, stay with me. You’re going to be fine. Just hold on.”

He smiled. A tiny, fragile thing.

And then…

His eyes fluttered closed.

And his heartbeat—

Slowed.