Seraphina's POV

On the anniversary of our mating, my Alpha-mate took me and our pup to the festival grounds at the edge of the human city, where the lights spun bright against the dark treeline.

Midway through the day, an urgent call pulled him away through his communicator. To my horror, the great spinning ride above us groaned and seized, the gears locking, leaving my pup stranded high in the air with me, the wind cold and thin around us.

Clutching her trembling body against my chest, I called her father over and over, ninety-nine times, before he answered at last.

My voice was hoarse as I pleaded for help. But instead of his worried answer, what reached my ears was the sound of muffled, intimate breathing.

Then, after a pause, a woman's voice came through.

"Roderick, back then, when you chose to give up Seraphina's cub in order to save our pup, I was truly moved. I have nothing else to give you, except my body."

There was a brief silence before Roderick Blackmoor answered, his tone low.

"I promised you. I would protect our pup at all costs. As for Seraphina's cub, he never should have survived in the first place."

At that moment, my tears spilled uncontrollably. Somewhere deep inside me, my wolf made a sound I had never heard her make, a low keening that had no name.

For years, I had carried the guilt of losing my cub when he was three.

But now I knew. He hadn't gone missing at all. Roderick had sacrificed him, to save the pup of his precious first love.

With the last of my strength, I dialed Caspian Sterling's number.

"I'll mate you. But I want you to destroy the Blackmoors. Especially Roderick."

A low, satisfied laugh came through.

"Sure. Nothing would please me more."

——

After ending the call, I clutched my pup in my arms. Her scent, new snow and warm milk, was the only thing keeping my wolf from tearing free of my skin.

Just then, Roderick's communicator chimed again. I answered it without saying a word.

"Roderick," a woman's voice came through, "I saw it on the spirit network. There seems to have been an accident at the festival grounds Seraphina and her pup went to. Do you want to go check on them?"

Roderick's voice on the other end was completely indifferent.

"You still have the energy to worry about things like that? Seems I didn't tire you out enough. Besides, those two aren't fools. I'm guessing the moment I left, they were no longer in the mood to have fun."

I could hear the sound of the woman kissing him.

It was then that I finally recognized her voice. Calla Thornwood, Roderick's first love. Her scent had always clung to him faintly when he came home, sweet jasmine curdling over something rotten beneath, and my wolf had growled at it for moons without my understanding why.

When the Blackmoor territory had collapsed into ruin, Calla hadn't hesitated to flee for the far Northern Alpine lands.

And I, I gave up my arranged mating with Caspian to bond myself to Roderick, who at the time had nothing, no rank, no territory, no name worth speaking in the pack councils.

For ten years, he treated me like a treasure. I truly believed we were happy. I had believed his scorched cedar and woodsmoke meant home.

But in reality, before I knew it, my Alpha-mate's heart had long since changed.

Tears streamed down my face. Wrenna, my pup, must've sensed my pain, because she reached up to gently touch my cheek with one small hand.

On the other end of the line, Calla kept talking. I covered my pup's ears, and with a heart cold as ash, I kept listening.

"Roderick," she asked sweetly, "if our pup were to have another accident, would you save him again? I remember Seraphina still has a daughter left."

My chest tightened sharply. Calla had already been the cause of my cub's death, and now she had set her sights on my pup too.

I had thought, even if Roderick had no love left for me, he would never harm our pup.

But the next second, he replied without hesitation. "When that time comes, I won't think twice. I promised you. Only our pup can be the bloodline heir."

Delight filled Calla's voice, though she feigned concern. "But, if Seraphina ever found out, wouldn't she hate you?"

Roderick paused briefly before answering coldly. "She won't hate me. Those two cubs are my due. She owes them to me. Back then, she was the one who climbed into Caspian's bed first. If both those cubs die, so much the better."

"I'll never reject her. She'll remain my Luna forever. I've already been generous enough to her," he added.

The moment his words ended, I heard the unmistakable sounds of intimacy on the other end.

In that instant, I finally understood why Roderick had done everything he'd done.

My eyes burned, my vision swimming red, hatred clawing at me until I could barely breathe. My wolf surged beneath my skin, claws pressing at my fingertips, every instinct in me screaming to tear Roderick and Calla to pieces.

When the Blackmoor bloodline had fallen into crisis, my own family had not held enough power in the councils to save them.

It was I who went to Caspian, clinging to the remnants of our old feelings.

Caspian agreed to pour his pack's strength into saving Roderick's territory, on the condition that I spend a single day with him.

When I told Roderick, he only smiled, brushed his fingers through my hair, and said gently, "I trust you. Besides, you're doing this for me. I'll never let you down for the rest of my life."

So this. This was his idea of never letting me down.

From that day on, he saw me as tainted. As marked by another wolf's scent.

He even began to doubt whether the twins were truly his.

The thought made my stomach churn. I ended the call without a shred of hesitation.

I knew full well it had been Calla calling.

And yet, I still felt a twisted kind of gratitude. At least she'd laid all the truth bare for me.

A few minutes later, she sent a barrage of taunting messages across the sending-stone thread, along with crystal-captured images of her in bed with Roderick.

I saved every single one, studying them until I could see every detail clearly.

Not long after, my communicator pulsed with a message from Caspian.

[Seven days from now, I'll come for you. Hold on three more minutes. My warriors are nearly at the grounds.]

Reading that made me finally let out a sigh of relief.

I had survived a thousand meters in the air.

Now, the ones who should die. It would be Roderick and Calla.

Seraphina’s POV

After the Healing Hall checked her over, I took my pup home.

Once I’d settled her in, I went upstairs to start gathering our documents.

That was when I suddenly heard a voice behind me.

“Seraphina, what are you doing?”

I paused for a heartbeat, forcing down the wave of hatred in my chest, and answered evenly, “I’m packing our papers.”

Roderick didn’t sense anything amiss.

As always, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me from behind.

I hadn’t expected it and couldn’t dodge in time. His embrace closed around me completely. But the moment Calla’s scent reached me, that sweet jasmine curdling over decay so distinctly hers, clinging to his skin where another wolf had no right to leave it, I nearly gagged. My own wolf recoiled inside me, lips peeling back from teeth I couldn’t show him.

He didn’t notice my stiff reaction and went on speaking as if nothing were wrong.

“Seraphina, I’m just so relieved you and our pup are safe. I never imagined something would happen at the festival grounds. If I had known, no matter how urgent pack business was, I would never have left you two behind.”

His tone carried lingering fear, his words spoken with such conviction.

But knowing the truth, I felt nothing at all.

I lifted my gaze to him. Roderick’s expression was as gentle as ever.

These arms had once been a safe harbor for me and my pup.

Now, they were the very weapon poised to destroy us.

The thought made me lower my eyes. Without a trace of emotion, I slipped his arm away from my waist.

“It’s fine. Your pack matters. My pup and I are safe.”

Roderick, long accustomed to my understanding nature, frowned slightly and put on a show of pained sincerity.

“How could the pack ever matter more than you and our pup? I honestly don’t know… If, after losing our son, I were to lose you two as well, how could I go on living?”

At the mention of our dead cub, I couldn’t stop the flash of hatred that passed through my eyes. Somewhere deep inside me, my wolf made a low, broken sound at the word son, a grief that had no bottom.

Before I could speak, his communicator chimed.

He pulled the crystal from his pocket, glanced at it, and gave me a smile.

“It’s someone from the pack. I’ll step outside to take this.”

I nodded calmly, though my claws pressed so deep into my palm that they drew blood.

When he raised the crystal, I caught the name glowing across its surface, exactly as I expected. It was Calla.

From outside came his hurried, anxious voice. For some reason, my stomach tightened with unease, and my wolf went still and watchful beneath my skin.

A moment later, he stormed back in, eyes flashing gold, and without warning, he struck me hard across the face.

“Why did you lay a hand on Calla? She’s carrying a pup right now! If anything happens to her, I’ll make you pay with your life!”

I clutched my cheek, staring at him in utter disbelief.

The moment he saw the mark blooming across my skin, he froze.

Something flickered in his eyes, something complicated. He reached out, as if to touch my face.

But before his fingers could graze my skin, the crystal chimed again.

He gave me one long, heavy look, and then he turned and walked out.

I bolted downstairs, intent on grabbing my pup and leaving this hell.

But I hadn’t even reached the front door before Roderick caught me, his grip on my arm like iron, his Alpha aura crashing down over the hall until the air itself thickened and pushed at my shoulders.

Without a word, he dragged me and Wrenna toward the carriage. No matter how hard she cried, he refused to let go.

By the time I snapped out of my daze, we had already arrived at the same festival grounds we visited on our mating anniversary.

The high coaster, still hanging midair from the earlier accident, remained unmended. In one swift motion, Roderick wrenched my pup out of my arms.

“Tell me where Calla is,” he growled, the sound rolling up from his chest, “or you’ll regret it!”

Clutching my pup tightly, he climbed into the storm-hawk. As it rose higher and higher, my heart lurched. And then, without a shred of hesitation, he placed Wrenna back into that same faulty coaster.

She had already been traumatized by it once.

Now, she wailed uncontrollably.

Her cries tore through me, each sob shredding my chest. My wolf was screaming, throwing herself against the cage of my ribs to reach the pup we could not touch. Watching the coaster sway under his hand, I could barely breathe.

“I don’t know anything, Roderick!” I screamed hoarsely. “I don’t care who took Calla. Just put my pup down now!”

Seraphina's POV

I was nearly hysterical.

But the tender, doting father from earlier was gone. In his place stood a cold, unfeeling man, his expression like stone, his scent gone all wrong, scorched cedar and cold iron now soured by that faint rot beneath, as he deliberately rocked the dangling carriage that held our pup high above the ground.

"I'll give you ten seconds," he said flatly. "And I'll shake it harder each time I count."

True to his word, he increased the force.

I stared at my daughter, her sobs breaking into hiccups, my nails digging deep into my palms until I felt the burn of skin splitting, my own wolf clawing at the inside of my chest with no way out. He showed us no mercy, none at all. My chest ached so violently I thought I might faint.

Seeing her tiny body tremble, her cries nearly turning into convulsions, my tears finally spilled over.

"Roderick, I truly don't know! I have no idea where Calla is! Please, just bring our daughter down, she can't take this anymore!"

My plea didn't move him in the slightest. He simply kept counting, voice as cold as the silver that burns.

"Eight."

Just earlier, back at the estate, he had pressed his forehead to mine and apologized for the fright on the high run, his scent warm then, almost the mate I remembered.

And now, because of Calla, he had become the executioner, his Alpha aura pressing down on me like a cold weight, personally threatening his own.

I broke into a scream. "Roderick! Go check! Look at the watcher-crystals! I didn't take Calla! Please, let Wrenna go! She's your pup too! She's about to collapse! I'm begging you, please!"

I even dropped to my knees in the dirt, my throat closing over the howl that wanted to tear loose.

But he didn't so much as glance at me. The cold, relentless countdown continued.

I couldn't take it anymore. I scrambled toward the suspended carriage, trying to climb up to her.

He watched me with icy detachment, the gold in his eyes flat and dead.

Just as the countdown neared its end, my fingers brushed the edge of Wrenna's carriage. My heart leapt. I reached out without a thought for my own safety, desperate to pull her free.

But in the next instant, Roderick yanked me back onto the deck of the storm-hawk, and, with a sharp crack, he slapped me hard across the face.

"Are you insane? Climbing that high, what if you fell?"

For a brief moment, his eyes betrayed a flicker of worry, his wolf surfacing against his will.

But I could no longer believe in him.

Gripping his sleeve, I choked out, "I'm begging you, Roderick. Do whatever you want to me. Blame me for taking Calla if you must. Just let her go, I'll take Wrenna's place in that carriage if that's what you want."

He gripped my sleeve tightly, the words tearing out of him in a roar that shook the deck. "For the sake of that bastard cub you whelped with Caspian, you'd even throw away your life? Then why did you mate me?!"

With that, he shoved me toward one of his pack warriors.

"I won't let that bastard live. You'd better tell me where Calla is, or else, I'll make that bastard pay with her life!"

I thrashed against their hold, tears streaming freely, my wolf snarling and lunging beneath my skin with nowhere to go.

"I really don't know! After we came down from the high run, we went straight back to the estate! I never had the chance to take Calla! Wrenna's your daughter, Roderick! You can run a bloodline trace if you don't believe me! But please, let her go now!"

I wailed, throwing my dignity into the dirt for him to trample.

And still… he refused to believe me.