My voice dripped with mockery.

If she hadn't believed I could carry on the Nightclaw bloodline, she probably wouldn't have acknowledged my existence at all.

I kept my tone steady.

"I'd better clear out of the den quickly. Wouldn't want to get in the way of your next mate—that would be unforgivable of me."

Kael's voice cut through the chamber, cold and sharp. "Lyra, what the hell are you talking about?"

I met his gaze without flinching.

"We're completing the Bond Rejection on the eighth. The Pack Elder's chambers will be open that day."

Without waiting for a response, I turned and walked toward the pup's quarters to check on Rowan.

But my mind drifted back—to what happened not long ago.

Raven had shown up at the den on the eve of the Winter Hunt, seeking out Kael.

Her face was pale, her fur-lined cloak far too thin for the bitter cold that swept through the territory.

"Kael."

The moment her voice reached him, his eyes flashed amber with wolf-light.

He shot to his feet, the heavy chair scraping against the stone floor, and crossed the room to drape his own thick pelt over her shoulders, his movements tender with concern.

"I'm sorry, Kael. I had nowhere else to turn."

"Nyx Ashford is sick. Please—I'm begging you—save her."

That was the first time I'd ever seen Kael lose his composure like that.

He left. Just like that. Left me and Rowan behind without a backward glance.

He didn't return to our den that night.

When Rowan woke, he crawled into my arms, all chubby limbs and sleepy warmth, his small body radiating the innocent scent of pack and home.

"Mama."

I pressed a kiss to his little cheek.

Selene chose that moment to enter the pup's quarters.

"You gave the Nightclaw Pack an heir. Credit where it's due—even with the Bond Rejection, you won't walk away empty-handed."

I didn't know what Kael had said to her, but she'd agreed to let me take Rowan.

I didn't refuse.

Her cold gaze swept over me, assessing me the way one might evaluate a she-wolf who had outlived her usefulness.

"If you hadn't birthed Rowan, you wouldn't receive a single hunting right or territory claim."

I didn't doubt for a second that she meant it.

"Grandmother, that's enough."

Kael appeared in the doorway, exhaustion carved into every line of his face, the weight of an Alpha's burden heavy on his shoulders. He stepped in front of me, just as he always had.

Shielding me from Selene's barbs.

I remembered the early days of our mating bond, before Rowan came along.

Selene had scoured every corner of the territory for fertility remedies, brewing bitter concoctions of moon-blessed herbs and forcing them on me daily.

The taste was vile. I hated every drop.

But I never dared refuse.

Back then, Kael would always step in. He'd send Selene away, then pour the medicine into the fire pit.

"If you don't want to drink it, don't."

I'd gaze at him, heart full to bursting, though a sliver of worry remained.

"What if Grandmother finds out? She'll be furious."

He'd tap my nose, playful and reassuring, a rumble of affection in his chest.

"You won't tell. I won't tell. Who's going to know?"

"I didn't claim you as my mate just to produce pups."

Back then, I truly believed he was the one—my fated Alpha.

Until two weeks ago, when I discovered a secret buried in his private study.

A locked chest hidden beneath the floorboards. Dozens of sketches and painted portraits. Him and another she-wolf.

I looked through them, one by one.

Kael walked into the study at that exact moment. The instant he saw me kneeling by the open chest, his expression twisted with rage. He lunged forward and snatched the portraits away.

"Lyra, who the hell told you to touch my things?"

His voice was a thunderclap. His tone, vicious.

I froze. Stared at him. Couldn't process what I was seeing.

A beat passed. Something in his face shifted—perhaps he realized he'd gone too far.

His demeanor softened. He stepped closer and pulled me into his arms, his scent wrapping around me like a lie.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean it. I just—I panicked."

I drew a slow breath and pointed at the scattered images.

"What is this?"

His expression darkened, just for a flash.

"She's my first love."

The she-wolf in those portraits—his first love. They'd fallen for each other when they were young, before pack politics and bloodline expectations had torn them apart.

Kael's youth had been haunted by her presence.

In the end, Selene had driven them apart, severing what threads remained between them.

"She fled beyond our territory after that. I searched every pack, every border—nothing."

My eyes blazed with the golden fire of my wolf rising, my voice strangled by grief I refused to release. "Then what was I to you? What purpose did I serve?"

"If she still claimed your heart, why did you consent to bond with me?"

Kael's composure shattered. He lunged forward, his fingers closing around my arms with desperate strength.

"No—Lyra, you are the only one I desire now."

"If you doubt me, I will burn every keepsake, destroy every memory I kept of her."

And he did. Every token, every scrap of her scent he had preserved.

He gathered me against his chest, murmuring apologies into my hair, swearing by moon and blood that I alone held his heart now.

I believed him.

Until the day Raven Thornveil crossed back into our territory.

He discarded me without a backward glance.

My thoughts fractured, snapping back to the cold present. Kael was urging Selene toward the den's inner chambers.

Once the Pack Matriarch had withdrawn, he retrieved something from the folds of his coat.

"What the Elder Matriarch granted you came from Nightclaw coffers."

"This holds my personal territory rights—hunting grounds, trade shares, all of it. For you and Rowan."

I did not refuse.

"It is what I am owed."

Something flickered behind his pale eyes—reluctance, perhaps, or the ghost of what we had been. His hand lifted toward me, as though he meant to smooth my hair the way he once did after long nights.

"I am sorry, Lyra. I could not keep my vow to run beside you until our bones turned to dust."

"In the next life, I will make it right."

The sorrow pooling in his gaze seemed genuine enough to wound.

I found it laughable.

Perhaps he did not know I had already uncovered Raven's mating ceremony preparations.

Perhaps he believed his wolfsbane poisoning charade remained undiscovered.

The eighth day following the new moon—Bond Rejection first, then a fresh Mating Ceremony with her.

"Kael, we are severing this bond. Spare me your performance."

I gave him nothing—no deference, no softening. I gathered my just-woken pup into my arms and made for the threshold.

Kael remained motionless on the edge of Rowan's small sleeping pallet.

If he had simply been honest—admitted his heart had shifted, that he had betrayed our bond—

I might have granted him a sliver of respect.

The days following the new moon passed in bitter absurdity.

Kael did not appear again until the eighth.

From the hushed murmurs of the den servants, I learned he had spent every moment in Raven's company.

On the eighth day, I stood at the gates of the Nightclaw estate.

Kael's carriage rolled to a halt before me.

"Lyra, there truly is no urgency. I can endure a while longer."

My expression was carved from winter stone. I gestured for him to open the door.

"Let us go. The Pack Registrar should be receiving petitions."

Silence stretched between us throughout the journey, thick as fog over marshland.

When we arrived at the Council Hall, I did not wait for him—I strode through the heavy doors alone.

The new moon celebrations had just concluded; the hall stood nearly empty.

Our turn came swiftly.

The Registrar asked the ritual question.

"Are you certain you wish to sever this bond?"

I dipped my chin.

"Yes."

Kael seemed startled by the steel in my voice. His gaze sought mine, threaded with reluctance.

"Lyra..."

My thoughts were fixed on Rowan, alone in that vast den. Impatience sharpened my words.

"Are we completing this or not?"

Kael released a slow breath.

"...Yes."

After departing the Council Hall, I secured passage back to the Nightclaw estate.

The moment I crossed the threshold, Rowan's screams reached my ears.

My heart seized. I ran.

What I witnessed set my blood ablaze.

A young female pup—six or seven seasons old—was straddling my son's small body, bouncing upon him as though he were a beast to be ridden.

"Faster!" she shrieked with cruel delight.

Not a single servant moved to intervene.

Rowan's small face scraped against the rough stone floor, leaving raw, bloody trails across his tender cheeks.

His breathing grew shallow. His voice emerged as barely a whisper—

"Mama..."

Fury erupted through me, my wolf surging to the surface. I charged forward and threw the girl off him with strength I did not know I possessed.

"What do you think you're doing?"

I pulled Rowan into my arms, my heart aching as I checked him over for injuries. His small body trembled against mine, and I could smell the sharp tang of fear clinging to his fur-soft hair.

"Nyx!"

A woman's voice rang out behind me.

She rushed over and scooped up the little girl, her movements too graceful, too practiced.

"Miss Riverglen, Nyx is just a pup. How could you lay a hand on her?"

I let out a cold laugh and slapped her across the face. The crack echoed through the den-grounds.

"She bullied my son. She deserved it."

Raven's head snapped to the side, her hand flying to her cheek. The red mark bloomed bright against her pale skin.

The next second, someone wrenched me away with brutal force.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kael demanded, his Alpha presence pressing down on me like a physical weight.

"It was just pups roughhousing. Do you really have to blow it out of proportion?"

"And Raven was only worried about her daughter. Did you have to hit her?"

He hadn't held back when he grabbed me. I stumbled, clutching Rowan, and we both crashed to the stone floor of the courtyard.

I looked up at him and smiled—but my eyes couldn't hide the devastation beneath.

"Kael, do you even remember you're Rowan's father?"

"Look at his face. How can you say something like that?"

Kael went pale. His jaw tightened, but he couldn't say a word.

I shot him one last icy glance, then gathered my son in my arms and walked toward the ancestral hall where the pack kept its most sacred records.

I pushed open the heavy oak doors and went straight to the Bloodline Ledger displayed on the altar. Candles flickered around it, casting dancing shadows on the ancient pages.

I flipped to Rowan's entry.

Pup of Kael Nightclaw, Alpha Heir.

Something dark flickered in my eyes. I raised my hand.

"Kael's mate—"