The Breaking Point of Mate: Giving Up on My Alpha novel Chapter 53

Melanie’s POV

He and Camille were standing side–by–side, coming down from the upper floors.

That whole “busy” was probably just having dinner with Camille.

But I didn’t say any of this out loud.

During dinner, I tried to keep my tone light, sticking to talking to Trista about school and the cartoons she was watching.

Maybe because I had intentionally given her more freedom lately, not using my Luna aura to control her or correct every “rude” thing she said, she was much closer than before. She wasn’t moody or impatient anymore.

She ate and talked, occasionally leaning into me. Her pup pheromones quietly diffused into the air, making the table finally feel

a little bit like “home.”

After dinner, Trista pulled me upstairs.

She said she wanted me to bathe her, wash her hair, and blow it dry tonight.

Usually, Shannon did these things; she only asked me when she wanted me to be a “special guest.” 1

I agreed to everything she asked for tonight.

I stood in the bathroom, carefully avoiding her ears as I rinsed the bubbles from her hair. I wrapped her wet hair in a towel, looking at her small face, which was rosy from the steam.

She swung her feet, telling me she wanted me to take her to school the next day.

I agreed to that, too.

It had been over ten days since the hot springs incident that we had really spent time together.

In those ten days, she mostly kept in touch through calls and video chats–and on the phone, she was either happy or clearly distracted.

I stayed at the Alpha villa that night, but I didn’t go back to the master bedroom.

I paused in the hallway, letting my eyes linger on the familiar door for a few seconds, but ultimately turned toward Trista’s room.

The last time I shared a bed with her was when her fever wouldn’t break, and her temperature was alarmingly high. I stayed up all night with a cold towel on her forehead.

This time, she wasn’t sick and didn’t actively ask me to stay.

Watching me shower in her room, blow dry my hair, and pull a spare set of pajamas from my travel bag, she looked a little confused–but she didn’t ask anything.

She rolled over slightly, hugging her pillow. Her breath smelled soft. “Mommy, you smell so good.”

My pheromones had mostly disconnected from the Pack’s link, but they still naturally stabilized when I was near her, creating a calming field.

To a young pup, that scent meant safety.

She buried her face in my chest. “I always feel safer sleeping with Mommy”

I put my arms around her, ignoring the faint ache deep in my scent gland,

I could feel her slight tension as she lay beside me, clutching her phone, but she quickly composed herself, snuggling close.

Chapter 53

+25 Bonus

I turned off the light around eleven, and Archer still wasn’t back.

When I woke up the next morning, there was no sign of his scent in the villa, except for the omgeas and the pack guards.

He hadn’t come home last night.

The last time I saw him, he was leaving with Camille in the elevator–he most likely spent the entire night with her.

I felt strangely empty. Usually, when a werewolf’s mate cheats, the other half feels pain through the mating bond.

I felt nothing, and I even slept quite well last night.

Frost was completely silent, simply moving her paws away from the area over my heart, leaving behind a dull void.

I pushed the thoughts aside, helped Trista get ready for school, and dropped her off. I watched her run through the school gates with her backpack before heading to Hilltop.

It was obvious that her emotional focus was now primarily on Camille.

Her need for me was intermittent–she only thought of her “Mommy” when she hadn’t seen me for a while, or when Archer and Camille weren’t around, and she was bored.

Sure enough, after that day, once she confirmed my foot was fully healed, Trista stopped calling every day.

Sometimes a call would come every other day, with no worry in her voice, just a casual check–in. “Are you working today?”

She never asked why I didn’t come back home at night.

As for Archer, even less so.

He never cared about my schedule–where I was, what I was doing, or whether I returned to the house that was supposed to belong to the “Alpha and Luna.”

It made no difference to him.

Hilltop Tech recently landed two new projects. A significant payment had been deposited, and the whole team’s morale was high.

On Friday, the company decided to organize a team–building event.

The team voted on the location, and they unanimously chose a hot springs trip.

When the notification popped up, I froze. My fingers hovered over the screen for a few seconds before I slowly scrolled down.

Elmer noticed my expression beside me. “What’s wrong? Don’t want to go?”

“No,” I shook my head.

It was just the word “hot springs” that instantly dragged me back to that time two weeks ago.

The Razor Pack’s private hot springs resort, the cold mountain air, the hot water, and me being abandoned there by Archer and Trista, spending the entire night alone.

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