Larkin kept begging me desperately, but I could no longer be moved.

I was no longer the naive, soft-hearted Elara I had once been.

That version of me who had once been happy simply because of Rowan's affection had gone along with my dead children.

That night, I held my dead children in my arms and walked alone to the most remote, barren hill beyond the border of the Blackrock Pack's turf.

The full moon hung overhead, and its silver light fell on the snow like a thin layer of frost.

I built a fire and gently placed my children into the flames.

As the ashes rose, I sang the Moon Goddess's requiem to the moon throughout the night.

It was a song my mother had sung to me when I was a child.

I begged the Moon Goddess to guide the lost souls of my children back to the silver grasslands she owned with every line I sang.

I sang until dawn, when my throat bled, and my voice gave out completely.

The next morning, Larkin placed an alabaster urn with my children's ashes in it into my hands.

He asked me, "Aren't you going to wait for the burial ceremony and send their souls back to the Moon Goddess before you leave?"

I clutched the alabaster urn tight against my chest and shook my head. "No. Their souls have already gone back to the Moon Goddess. The ceremony is nothing but comfort for the living werewolves. I just want to get back to the North as quickly as possible. That is my home."

Larkin opened his mouth and seemingly wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing. He nodded and turned away.

He walked slowly, his back hunched as though the weight on his shoulders was too heavy.

I walked back to my living quarters one last time, intending to gather a few belongings.

The moment I pushed open the wooden door, I saw Rowan and Vera lying naked on my bed, and that the bearskin bedding I had spread myself was all rumpled and tangled.

The room reeked of a pungent smell after sex.

Vera twirled a string of moon stone between her fingers, giggling as she leaned against Rowan's chest. "I heard that moon stones soaked in the blood of White Wolf pups can not only keep a pregnancy from failing, but if I put them in the spot which is your favorite, it will send you straight to heaven."

Rowan let out a low, rumbling laugh, his chest vibrating as his large hand slid up Vera's thigh. "Let me see if it works."

With that, they began a long, passionate tongue kiss.

The air suddenly grew thick with lust. But standing at the door, I only felt my blood run cold.

I knew that those moon stones had been soaked in my children's blood.

Serane within me let out a furious roar.

I stared at their tangled bodies, my nails digging deep into my palms.

Blood seeped through my fingers and dripped onto the threshold, drop by drop.

Rowan must have caught my scent, because he suddenly looked up and saw me.

A flicker of panic crossed his eyes, but it quickly gave way to smugness.

He pulled himself away from Vera and strode over to me, naked and unashamed.

He let out a snort through his nose. "Finally decided to come back? What is that filthy thing you are holding in your arms? I warn you, don't even think about using werewolf venom to harm Vera."

Pain flashed through my eyes as his words cut deep.

I could not accept that the ashes of our children had been called filthy by their own father.

Before Vera came, Rowan and I had once eagerly awaited the arrival of our children.

Back then, he would press his ear against my belly trying to listen to the movements inside, then look up at me with a smile, his eyes narrowing with it.

I would lean against him while our two babies kept squirming inside me.

I thought that was my whole reason for staying in the Blackrock Pack, as I had a home here, a mate I loved, and two beautiful children.

But now, looking back on those memories, I felt nothing but bitter irony.

I stepped back twice, avoiding his reaching hand, and spoke coldly. "Rowan, I want to break our bond."

Rowan let out a cold laugh and grabbed my chin with his big hand. "You think you can threaten me with that? Not a chance! Do not think for one second that you can use Larkin's favoritism to force me to recognize those two pups you gave birth to as the Pack's heirs. This morning Larkin actually told me he would only accept those two brats of yours and not Vera's child."

"Since that is the case," Rowan said again, pulling the smirking Vera to his side, "where are those brats? Get them out here right now. I want you to watch them call Vera 'mother' right here in front of you."

The lower-ranked werewolves around who were watching immediately burst into raucous laughter.

Someone said, "No matter how rare her bloodline is, she still can't keep the Alpha by her side."

Another chimed in, "Ms. Morgan is clearly the one he truly loves. Those two little brats don't matter at all."

Rowan was still gloating and pressing me with questions, but I could only see his mouth opening and closing, and I could not hear what he was saying, because images of my children's deaths flashed before my eyes.

I saw their fine baby fur matted with blood and mucus, wailing and crying out for their mother and father.

I closed my eyes and swallowed back the metallic taste of blood rising in my throat. I turned and walked away.

Rowan grabbed my wrist, his grip so hard that it felt like he would break my bones. "How dare you ignore me?! You disappear all night without a word, and now you come back with a cold face. Don't tell me you went and slept with some other male werewolf, and now you are desperate to get rid of me?"

I glared at him with disgust, my eyebrows arching high. "Not every werewolf is as filthy as you!"

My words enraged Rowan completely.

He lunged forward and threw me onto the bed, tearing my clothes apart brutally. "You think I am filthy? Today I will let the whole pack see how wanton you are in bed, you slut!"

The bed still carried the lingering scent of his lovemaking with Vera, and it made me nauseous.

My pale face only earned me rougher treatment and more vicious curses from him. "Stop putting on that pitiful look on your face! Do you think I don't know that it was Vera who saved me three years ago?!"

Rowan leaned his face close to mine. His eyes were bloodshot with rage, and he was about to show his fangs. "You just impersonated her, lying that you were the one who saved me, and tricked me into marrying you, you fraud! What do you think you are?!"

I finally couldn't suppress the pent-up resentment any longer. I raised my hand and slapped him hard across the face.

The sharp smack echoed through the room for a long time.

Rowan froze. He held his cheek, his eyes stopping being bloodshot for a while and then turning red again, and then his fury erupted.

He struck back and slapped me, sending me to the floor. My forehead hit the sharp corner of the bed frame, and then there was a bloody wound on it.

"How dare you strike your Alpha?!" he roared, and he hurled his powerful aura down upon me.

My bones groaned under the weight of his aura, and every rib in my chest felt like it was about to break.

I lay on the ground, blood from my forehead streaming into my eyes, turning my vision red.

I coughed up a mouthful of blood, and it ran down my chin from the corner of my mouth.

Then I lifted my head and gave him a cold smile. "You want to see the children? Fine! Go find them in hell! They are already dead! You killed them with your own hands!"

Rowan's face stiffened for an instant, and then he burst into loud laughter.

When he finished laughing, he kicked me in the shoulder and sent me rolling half a turn across the floor.

"Elara," he crouched down and grabbed my hair to lift my head. "You are getting more vile by the day. Now you even cursed your own flesh and blood. You disgust me!"

He released my hair and stood up. "First thing tomorrow morning, I want to see those two children in the council hall. If you try any more tricks by then, I will kill you, Elara."

With that, he stormed out and slammed the wooden door shut with a deafening bang. Dust and plaster rained down from the walls.

I lay on the cold floor for a long time.

Years ago, I had rescued Rowan from a rogue, which was an outcast werewolf that did not live with their pack.

For that, the rogue had torn half my shoulder apart, and I had nearly died in the snow.

He had been unconscious, and I had knelt outside the Temple of the Moon Goddess to beg for medicine so that he could live.

Rowan had once held my hand tightly and sworn he would never hurt me or betray me.

But Vera had stolen the credit for my deed, and she turned Rowan into a man full of hatred for me.

The blood on my forehead slowly dried. The spot in my shoulder where he had kicked was swollen, and even the lightest touch sent a piercing pain through me.

Serane whimpered from deep in my mind. "Elara... don't listen to him... let's go... just go..."