My Alpha Thought I Loved Money — Until My Vampire Mother Died

After Caden Blackwood became my legal mate again, a joke began circulating through werewolf high society—one dripping with irony: rather than praying to the Moon Goddess for wealth, you’d be better off making a wish to Elena.

They called me the greediest Luna the pack had ever seen.

The day after our remarriage, I took my seat at the far end of the long table. With Caden and several pack elders looking on, I calmly announced a new rule.

“Starting today,” I said, meeting the man across from me with a tone that was gentle yet left no room for argument, “anyone in this household who says the name ‘Lillian’ in my presence owes me a hundred thousand dollars.”

......

The dining room fell into a brief silence.

Caden frowned, a barely concealed impatience flickering in his eyes.

“Elena, what the hell are you doing? Why are you targeting Lillian?”

“Setting a boundary.”

Seated to his right, Lillian offered a faint smile, her posture poised and graceful—the very picture of a future lady of the house.

“Caden, don’t be upset. If it makes Elena uncomfortable, I can simply come around less.”

I lifted my gaze and looked at her, perfectly calm.

“A hundred thousand.”

The air turned cold in an instant.

Caden’s expression darkened.

“Enough.”

“You just said her name.” My voice was flat. “The rule is clear.”

Caden stared at me for several seconds before finally reaching into the inner pocket of his suit jacket. He pulled out a checkbook, signed a check with a deliberate flourish of sarcasm, and slid it across the table toward me.

“Satisfied?”

I glanced down at the amount, then folded the check neatly and tucked it into my purse.

I never said I wasn’t.

Lucas spoke up suddenly from beside Caden, his young voice raw with barely concealed fury.

“You rotten vampire. All you ever do is bully Aunt Lillian.”

“When everyone picked on me for being a half-blood, she was the only one who ever comforted me. What gives you the right to forbid us from saying her name?”

I looked at him.

“How did they pick on you?”

Lucas clenched his jaw, though his eyes darted instinctively toward Caden.

“They said a real wolf wouldn’t carry a vampire’s scent. They called me a low-bred half-blood. Said the vampire smell on me was disgusting.”

The tension at the table ratcheted up another notch.

Caden cut in, his voice low and firm: “It was just kids being kids.”

He didn’t bother explaining that the hybrid blood actually gave Lucas more power than most.

And I—I no longer wanted to explain either. Nobody trusted me. Not even my own child. They only ever listened to Lillian.

I raised my hand toward Caden once more.

“A hundred thousand.”

His gaze turned ice-cold.

“Elena.”

“He said Lillian’s name.” I looked at Lucas. “Same rule.”

Lucas stared at me in disbelief, as though seeing a stranger.

“Is there anything in your eyes besides money?”

“This was a condition of my remarriage to your father,” I answered quietly. “It’s in the contract.”

Caden drew a deep breath and wrote another check—this time doubling the amount—then pressed it flat against the table.

“Take it,” he said. “Since you need it so badly.”

I picked up the check, unhurried and composed.

No one knew that I truly did need it.

The public allotment of Blood Moon Serum could be cut at any time, and the black market only accepted cash.

I had to stockpile enough doses before I left for good.

Lillian rose to her feet, her tone soft yet laden with implication.

“Caden, let’s not make Elena too uncomfortable. After all... she’s always been sensitive about these things.”

I said nothing.

But Caden suddenly spoke, his voice carrying a deliberate veneer of calm.

“Lillian, you don’t need to worry about her.”

I looked up at him.

“A hundred thousand.”

This time, he didn’t reach for the pen right away.

Every pair of eyes in the dining room was on me.

“Are you sure you want to keep this up?” he asked.

“I’m simply enforcing the rule.”

A few seconds later, he signed a third check.

The crisp sound of paper hitting the table was sharp and final.

After dinner, I returned to the living room. My phone buzzed.

An anonymous message appeared on the screen.

[Intimate video of the Alpha and Miss Lillian. Contact us if you’d prefer it didn’t leak.]

Several photos followed.

Beneath the moonlight, Caden’s hand rested on Lillian’s waist. The closeness between them left nothing to the imagination.

I didn’t reply. I blocked the number immediately.

An hour later, the video had gone viral across social media and shot to the top of the trending charts.

When Caden came home, his face was thunderous.

“You had someone leak that, didn’t you?”

“No.” I shrugged. “The reporter didn’t get paid, so naturally they sold it to someone else.”

He closed the distance between us, his eyes glacial.

“Is there anyone in this world who loves money more than you?”

I met his gaze.

“Then why did you remarry me?”

He fell silent.

I already knew the answer. It was his little game with Lillian—each of them waiting for the other to break first, to be the one to say they wanted back together.

And I was nothing but a pawn in their contest.

Whether it was the marriage or the divorce.

Lucas suddenly rushed forward and planted himself in front of Caden.

“Bad Mommy, I won’t let you bully Daddy.”

He dug a bank card out of his pocket and hurled it at me.

“Two hundred thousand,” he declared. “Now stop pressuring Dad.”

I bent down and picked up the card, running my thumb along its edge. My voice was even.

“He didn’t say the name.”

Caden frowned.

“What do you mean?”

I looked up at him.

“The rule is clear. You only pay when someone says Lillian’s name. Just now, you didn’t.”

The air stood perfectly still for one beat.

I set the bank card back on the table.

“I’m not taking this one.”

Lucas froze.

For the first time, something like hesitation crossed Caden’s face.

I turned and walked toward the staircase.

In this estate, I had never dared hope for love.

All I needed was time.

Time, and enough cash.

Once I took my mother and left, they could say Lillian’s name as much as they damn well pleased.