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00:00To let my mate focus on his position, I stayed behind in the old estate, caring for his ailing
00:04mother. In this ten years, Kalen returned once a year. He never touched me. He said that if I
00:10were to carry a pup while he was away, there would be no one to look after me, and that
00:14would break
00:14his heart. Every time he left, he cursed himself for his failings, swore on the moon he would come
00:19for me once he had made something of himself. In the eleventh winter, heavy snow blocked the roads.
00:25Kalen sent word that he would be delayed. I was about to bring the news to Lady Maren when I
00:29heard her speaking with my sister-in-law. Mother, you've been faking this illness for over ten years.
00:34How much longer? What else can be done? Kalen's heart has always belonged to that sworn sister of
00:39his. They bonded in secret, behind the pack's back. Their pups are nearly grown. If we don't keep Elena
00:43here, she'll go to the city and destroy everything. Kalen's rank as Alpha of the Eastern Pack would be
00:48finished. Let it be. Keep quiet. Kalen said once his position is secure, he will make it right with
00:53Elena. My eyes burned. Kalen wasn't struggling. He was Alpha of the Eastern Pack, and he hadn't been
00:59keeping his distance to protect me. He had someone else. I went to the training grounds and found the
01:04low-ranking warrior who had watched me for years. Do you still want me as your mate?
01:09Elena, I will treat you well. Forgive me one month. I march out tonight. This time I'll return
01:14with a deed worth claiming you. I don't need glory. Just come back safe. I watched him leave,
01:22then walked home. The estate should have been dark. Mother, you should have gone to bed by now.
01:29A tall figure stood against the candlelight. A familiar voice cut through the wind and snow.
01:34Elena, I'm home.
01:38A year had passed. Kalen carried himself differently now, steadier, with the quiet authority that comes
01:45with rank. He opened his arms, waiting for me to go to him the way I always had. I didn't.
01:51You haven't eaten, have you? Let me make you something.
01:55What's wrong? A year apart and you're not glad to see me? Are you angry with me?
02:01Go sit with Mother. I'll call you when the food is ready.
02:03Before I'd learned the truth, I had missed him. Had been a little cross with him, too. No mate wants
02:08to be kept so far away, for so long. But once I understood everything, I stopped wanting anything.
02:13Things became simpler. Better to part quietly than to rage and stay. I remained silent and cooked in the
02:18kitchen. Kalen followed. Elena, what's happened? Have you heard something?
02:22Out here in the backwoods, we barely see a stranger from one season to the next. What would I have
02:26heard?
02:26Don't worry yourself, Kalen. Elena, I came back to bring you all to the city.
02:30But there's something I need to tell you first.
02:32My chest tightened. I already knew what was coming. After ten years, he had finally run out of patience.
02:38You must be Elena. I'm Cerith. Kalen's sworn sister. And his mate.
02:44These are mine and Kalen's. Go on, call her Auntie Elena.
02:48Auntie Elena.
02:49Elena, let me explain.
02:53Elena, let me explain. I was ambushed by rogue wolves on the road to the city. Cerith saved my life.
02:57I only meant to take her in as a sworn sister. But she had no one, no pack, nowhere to
03:01go.
03:02I wanted to give her a home. It was gratitude, nothing more. If you're hurt, curse me, strike me, I'll
03:06bear it.
03:06I only ask that once you come to the city, you and she can find some people.
03:10Going to the city is a good thing. I'm not upset. Mother hasn't recovered in all this time.
03:15Perhaps the city healers will do what ours couldn't.
03:19Really? You forgive me? Elena, start packing tonight. We leave in two days and we'll make it back for Christmas.
03:27Mother doesn't have much. Packing her things won't take long. I'll sort her medicines for the road. You can all
03:32leave at first light.
03:33What do you mean? You're not coming with us?
03:38I met his gaze. My voice stayed level.
03:40Kaelin, if we leave for good, I need to settle the land and the estate first.
03:46Leaving it empty still means taxes to the pack. That's wasteful.
03:50Go ahead and take everyone home for Christmas.
03:53Once I've handled things here, I'll come to you in the spring.
03:56When I had first come to this estate, we lived in a borrowed den with walls that let the wind
04:00through, funding his studies, saving coin, until I had bought this house and these two fields.
04:06It had ended the family's hunger. It had given Kaelin a place to become what he was.
04:10Elena, I'm Alpha of the Eastern Pack now. Silver is not the problem. Give the land to whoever needs it.
04:16Save yourself the trouble.
04:17I earned it with my own hands. I'm not ready to let go.
04:22Trust me. Once it's done, I'll come to you. I won't be long.
04:25Kaelin hesitated.
04:27Kaelin, don't waver. The Council's watching you.
04:29You leave her here and they dig into it and she says the wrong thing. Your seed is gone.
04:34I wasn't slow. I heard exactly what Kareth had just said.
04:38So it wasn't a change of heart that had brought Kaelin back.
04:41If the Pack Council confirmed it, they would report it to the High Alpha.
04:44The High Alpha was a man who made it once and meant it.
04:48If Kaelin wanted to keep his rank, the most important thing was keeping me quiet.
04:52It would be a lie to say that didn't hurt.
04:55Thirteen years.
04:56I had given this mating everything.
04:58Kaelin was pack-born but useless with his hands.
05:00Lady Maren was old and couldn't help.
05:01His brother was worse than useless.
05:03The whole family ran on my back.
05:04I never complained.
05:06I nursed Lady Maren.
05:07I had believed that kind of devotion would hold a mate for life.
05:10I had overestimated what I was worth to him.
05:12I finally understood what they say.
05:14A man who climbs always drops what carried him.
05:17I held back the burn in my eyes.
05:18Kept it from spilling.
05:20So that's what you're worried about.
05:24I can put it in writing.
05:26Whoever asks, I'll say I'm Kaelin's pack-sister, his adopted blood kin.
05:31Nothing more.
05:32Lady Maren and Kareth both stared.
05:34After a long silence, Kaelin said, half-believing,
05:38You would really do that for me?
05:40I smiled and nodded.
05:42For you, I would do anything.
05:44But to be safe, there's something you need to destroy first.
05:50Kaelin was cautious.
05:51What?
05:51I answered without flinching.
05:53The mating scroll.
05:55Yours and mine.
05:57Out here in the back territories, we hadn't stood on ceremony when we bonded.
06:02A mating scroll.
06:03A shared cup.
06:04That was all it had taken.
06:06No pack record.
06:07No council seal.
06:08So if the scroll was gone, I was no longer Kaelin's mate.
06:11I only had to wait for the warrior to come home.
06:14Then I could be claimed properly.
06:16I expected Kaelin to want this without hesitation.
06:19Instead, he went quiet.
06:22Elena, you once told me that scroll was the most precious thing you owned.
06:27You've given so much for this pack.
06:29For me.
06:30If you burned the last thing you held onto, how much would that cost you?
06:35Let's leave the scroll as it is.
06:37He had seen everything I'd sacrificed.
06:39He had remembered all of it.
06:41And still, year after year, he had left me here while he built a life with someone else.
06:46If he could watch out all of that and stay, then I had no reason left to hold onto one
06:50sheet of parchment.
06:52But I knew him.
06:53He wouldn't simply let me go.
06:57Kaelin, you know how much that scroll means to me.
07:00But for your future, I have to let it go.
07:04Once you take me to the city properly, you can make me a new one.
07:09Wouldn't that be enough?
07:11She's right.
07:12Your position can't afford loose threads.
07:17Burn it.
07:19Elena has done this for you.
07:22Make it up to her later.
07:23Elena.
07:25Hiding this from you.
07:26That was wrong.
07:27But trust me.
07:29I will make this right.
07:31Wait for me.
07:32I will come for you myself with the best claiming gifts I can find.
07:35I'll take you as Kaelin again.
07:37Properly this time.
07:38In that moment, he looked entirely sincere.
07:41I chose not to believe it.
07:43I decided it was only something I was imagining.
07:46I lit both scrolls myself.
07:48The fire took them.
07:49That absurd mating those wasted years.
07:52And with them, the last of what I had held onto for over a decade.
08:00After Kaelin had gone in with Kareth and the children,
08:02she dropped the act entirely and sank to her knees in front of me.
08:08Elena, I failed you.
08:11I hid it from you all these years.
08:16You must hate me.
08:17Her hair had gone fully white.
08:19She was crying without restraint.
08:21I couldn't bring myself to leave her there.
08:23I helped her up.
08:26Mother, I know you love your son too much.
08:29I don't blame you.
08:32The illness was a pretense.
08:34But your body has aught its real troubles.
08:38When you reach the city, listen to the healers.
08:41Elena, how can you be so good?
08:44When I'm gone, who will ever look after me the way you have?
08:49No matter what Kaelin does to you,
08:51I will always count you as my own daughter.
08:54I will never let anyone mistreat you.
08:57I understood her helplessness.
08:59I had never held it against her.
09:00But I was done trusting her too.
09:02She was still a mother.
09:03No matter what she said,
09:04her heart would always tilt toward her son.
09:06If the day came when she had to choose between Kaelin and me,
09:09she would choose him without a second thought.
09:11Mother, it's fine.
09:13Whoever Kaelin takes as his mate,
09:14she'll be half a daughter to you.
09:17You don't owe me anything.
09:20I had barely stepped out of Lady Meryn's room
09:23when Kareth was waiting in the yard.
09:24Elena, don't take anything Kaelin says at face value.
09:28The truth is, he never rescued me.
09:31I had thought that Lady Meryn's decade of deception
09:33and Kaelin's betrayal were already the worst of it.
09:36I was wrong.
09:37There was still more they had kept from me.
09:39Serith had never saved Kaelin's life.
09:41It was the other way around.
09:42Kaelin had seen her, wanted her,
09:44used the blood sister bond as a way in,
09:46and destroyed the claiming she already had.
09:48Calling her his rescuer was Kaelin's strategy.
09:50He knew I was soft,
09:51that I always repaid what was owed.
09:53He had spoken to Lady Meryn first
09:55and built the story together.
09:56Something designed to make me accept it,
09:58to make me give in.
09:59So everything he said about claiming you properly,
10:01it's nothing.
10:02Go to the city and you'll be a lesser mate, that's all.
10:05Oh, and his mother.
10:06All that talk about treating you like a daughter,
10:09do you believe it?
10:10When it comes down to you or her own grandchildren,
10:12who do you think she picks?
10:14Are you done?
10:16The morning they left,
10:17I walked the family to the edge of the settlement.
10:19I unclasped the only thing of value I still wore,
10:22the Luna Elder's silver clasp,
10:23and placed it in Serith's hand.
10:24That's yours, Elena.
10:25Keep it.
10:26I shook my head and pinned it to Kareth's collar myself.
10:57I said,
10:58call me what you always have.
11:03Better to be careful.
11:05We can't hand anyone a thread to pull.
11:07Fine.
11:08Once I've claimed you properly,
11:09you can go back to it.
11:12Let me keep the pendant for now.
11:14It was your gift to me.
11:15It's what we have between us.
11:16I never understood that.
11:18He used to resent the pendant,
11:19said a grown male wearing something like that looked ridiculous.
11:22Now that I was willing to take it back,
11:23he had found reasons to keep it.
11:24Foster brother,
11:25Christmas is almost here.
11:27I'll be alone,
11:27and I'd like something to hold on to.
11:30When I come to the city,
11:31I'll make you another.
11:32Kaelin gave it up without warmth,
11:34pressing the pendant and a folded stack of silver notes into my hands.
11:37At the last moment,
11:38he turned back.
11:39He gripped my hand once.
11:40Stay home and wait.
11:41When spring opens the roads,
11:43I'll come for you myself.
11:44There's one more thing I haven't told you yet.
11:46All right.
11:46I watched them go,
11:48then walked back inside.
11:49I reached to the top of the cabinet
11:50and took down the pack I had already prepared.
11:54I left the silver notes on the table.
11:56Then I turned north and didn't look back.
11:58The warrior I had promised myself to
12:00was somewhere in that direction.
12:01I meant to be claimed
12:02before Kaelin ever came to collect me.
12:04When that day came,
12:05I would be someone else's.
12:06There would be nothing left to untangle,
12:08nothing left to demand of me.
12:10Winter roads are slow.
12:11I had little silver,
12:12and I was too careful with it
12:13to hire a cart.
12:14I walked when I could,
12:15stopped to take work
12:15in whatever town would have me,
12:17and moved on again
12:18when I'd saved enough.
12:19By the time the cold began to ease,
12:20I was close to the northern border.
12:22Elena,
12:23the border war is over.
12:24The northern campaign won.
12:25Once they've processed the captured forces,
12:27they'll be heading back
12:27through the territory.
12:28You'll see your promised mate before long.
12:30Your mate is a hero of this pack.
12:32Call it a gift from me.
12:33Hire a cart.
12:33Go meet him at the border city.
12:36Hired a cart,
12:36and arrived before the soldiers did.
12:38With what little silver I had left,
12:40I found the city watch captain
12:41and pressed it into his hand.
12:43Captain,
12:44my promised mate's name is Aldric.
12:47When he arrives,
12:48please tell him I'm waiting
12:50in the second house
12:50east of the city gate.
12:52You're Aldric's promised mate?
12:56He smiled a little awkwardly.
12:59Keep it.
12:59Just put in a word for me
13:02if you ever get the chance.
13:03I had no idea what he meant.
13:05Aldric was a low-ranking warrior.
13:06What good would a word from him do?
13:08The captain had probably mistaken him
13:09for someone else.
13:10Still,
13:11silver saved was
13:12silver saved.
13:13Waiting wasn't easy.
13:14I knew what Aldric felt for me.
13:16He had shown it for years,
13:17but I had been made it before.
13:19I wasn't sure whether he had said yes
13:20out of true wanting
13:21or out of something that would fade.
13:23Then again,
13:24I thought it through
13:25and it settled.
13:26If he had changed his mind,
13:27I would manage on my own.
13:28I had two hands
13:29and enough stubbornness.
13:30I wouldn't starve.
13:32Once I was at peace with that,
13:33everything felt lighter.
13:36I started cutting fabric
13:37for a claiming dress,
13:38the best material I could find.
13:40Useful if things went well,
13:41a small pleasure for myself
13:42if they didn't.
13:43The first time I was claimed,
13:44there had been no wedding at all.
13:45The pack had nothing.
13:46No wedding dress,
13:47no feast.
13:48When I'd finally had coin to spare,
13:49the first thing I did
13:50was return two full jugs
13:51to that neighbor.
13:52She had held my hands and cried,
13:53Elena, a girl like you?
13:54Why did you stay in that pack?
13:56You've suffered so much.
13:57You're strong and you're lovely.
13:58You could have had an elder son
14:00and it wouldn't have been reaching.
14:01Why tie yourself to a scholar
14:02who can't lift his own pack
14:03and grind your life away?
14:04That's your bias speaking.
14:05I trust him.
14:06He won't fail me.
14:07You are such a fool.
14:08Now I understood.
14:09She was the one
14:10who had seen clearly.
14:11The day I slipped away
14:12from the settlement,
14:13I had nearly walked
14:14into Kaylin's sister-in-law.
14:17It was that neighbor
14:18who spotted her first.
14:19She held the woman back,
14:21then sent her husband
14:21to pass me word.
14:23Move.
14:23Now.
14:25Elena,
14:25that pack was never worthy of you.
14:28Go.
14:29Live freely.
14:30Stop letting them
14:31keep you caged.
14:33I'll deal with your sister-in-law.
14:35They won't know
14:36you're gone for a while.
14:37I never found out
14:38what she said
14:39to buy me the time,
14:40but it had worked.
14:41For an entire month,
14:42no one had come looking.
14:43People, though,
14:44have a way of undoing themselves.
14:45On the third day,
14:46a cart stopped outside my door.
14:48I thought it was Aldrich.
14:50I ran out.
14:51It wasn't.
14:52Kaylin stood there,
14:53dust on his shoulders.
14:54Elena.
14:55His voice worn down to gravel.
14:58Kaylin said,
14:59Elena,
15:00you have no idea
15:01how long I've been looking for you.
15:02He was across the yard
15:03in a few strides,
15:04his hand locking around my wrist
15:05hard enough to grind.
15:06Kaylin said,
15:08Elena,
15:08you promised me.
15:09Why did you leave?
15:10Why come all the way out here?
15:11I spent half a month preparing.
15:13I rode to the settlement myself
15:14to bring you home,
15:15and the house was empty.
15:16I said,
15:17do you know how frightened I was?
15:18I stopped pulling against his grip.
15:20Alpha Kaylin,
15:21why waste your concern on me?
15:23The mating scroll is ash.
15:24I'm not your pack anymore.
15:26Where I go,
15:27whether I live or die,
15:28none of that is your matter.
15:30Kaylin's jaw tightened.
15:31Elena,
15:31I know you're hurting,
15:32but this kind of recklessness
15:34doesn't suit you.
15:35You told me you would come
15:36to the city.
15:36You gave me your word.
15:38How can you break it like this?
15:40Something in me gave up
15:41trying to stay composed.
15:42I said,
15:43when we were claimed,
15:44you gave me your word too.
15:45You swore on the moon
15:46you would never take another mate.
15:48You broke that one first.
15:49So,
15:50between the two of us,
15:51I'd say we're even.
15:56Kaylin saw that I meant it.
15:57His eyes went red at the edges.
15:59He pulled me close
16:00until there was almost
16:01no space between us.
16:02Thirteen years.
16:04You think that just
16:05cancels?
16:06Elena,
16:07I know I've wronged you.
16:08Let me make it right.
16:09Come back with me.
16:10I'll give you equal standing.
16:12You won't be beneath
16:13Kerith in anything.
16:14I promise.
16:15I couldn't stop a short,
16:16dry sound from escaping.
16:18Kaylin took it for pride
16:19over the title
16:20and frowned.
16:21Elena,
16:21equal standing
16:22is the best I can do right now.
16:24Serith,
16:25what she did for me,
16:26what she did for you.
16:27Are you still going
16:28to use that story?
16:29I cut him off.
16:31Kaylin,
16:31your apology
16:32has no effort in it at all.
16:33Kaylin went still.
16:35His eyes shifted.
16:36What do you mean by that?
16:40I watched the change
16:41move across his face
16:42and I took it apart,
16:43piece by piece.
16:44Terith already told me everything.
16:45There were no rogue wolves.
16:47There was no rescue.
16:48You saw her,
16:49wanted her,
16:50and used the sworn sister bond
16:52to get close.
16:53You destroyed the claiming
16:54she already had
16:55and took her for yourself,
16:56calling her your rescuer.
16:57That was cover.
16:58Nothing more.
16:59Kaylin's face went pale.
17:00He opened his mouth.
17:01Nothing came out.
17:02I was done wasting time.
17:03I moved to see him out.
17:05He found his voice.
17:06Elena,
17:07listen to me.
17:08Karith is possessive.
17:09She said all of that
17:10to drive a wedge between us.
17:11You know how it is.
17:12No mate wants to share.
17:14I cut him off.
17:15I felt nothing in my chest anymore.
17:17It had all gone numb.
17:18You understand that,
17:19which is why you kept me out here
17:20for ten years,
17:21alone,
17:22while your mother faked an illness
17:23to hold me in place.
17:25Isn't that right?
17:29I said,
17:29if you care about her so much,
17:31stop chasing me.
17:32You'll hurt me
17:33and you'll hurt her.
17:34I wrenched my wrist free
17:35and stepped back.
17:36The Elena who existed before
17:37is gone.
17:38She died the day
17:39she found out the truth.
17:40Who I am now
17:41has no connection to you,
17:42to Kaylin,
17:43to your pack.
17:44Out of whatever feeling
17:45I once had,
17:46I won't say a single word
17:47against you.
17:48I'm only asking you to leave.
17:49My promised mate
17:50is returning with the army.
17:52I don't want him
17:53to misread this.
17:54Kaylin's spine went rigid.
17:56He looked up at me.
17:57He said,
17:57promised mate?
17:58Who?
17:59What's his name?
17:59I said,
18:00a low-ranking warrior.
18:01No one you'd know.
18:03Please go,
18:04Kaylin's expression curdled.
18:05Elena,
18:06have you lost your mind?
18:08You'd pass up an alpha
18:09of the Eastern pack
18:10for some common soldier
18:11with a border stipend?
18:15He said,
18:16he could be dead
18:17by next season.
18:18And even if he's not,
18:19what does he earn?
18:20You'd go back
18:21to going hungry.
18:22You're not young anymore.
18:24Do you really want
18:25that kind of life again?
18:26I looked at him steadily.
18:28I wasn't afraid of hardship
18:29when I chose you.
18:30I'm not afraid of it now.
18:33Don't speak about
18:34my promised mate like that.
18:36He may not have your rank,
18:37but what he feels for me
18:38is real.
18:39Unlike you.
18:41Kaylin opened his mouth
18:42and stopped.
18:43A long pause,
18:44then more controlled.
18:45Elena,
18:46you've misread all of this.
18:48I never stopped carrying you.
18:49He seemed to decide
18:50that words weren't enough
18:51and cut himself off.
18:53Come back with me.
18:54I'll show you.
18:55Give me the chance.
18:56The border campaign's
18:57war alpha,
18:58General Vane.
18:59He and I go back.
19:00I'll speak to him.
19:01As long as that warrior
19:02is reasonable,
19:03I'll find him a proper match myself.
19:05I'll cover the claiming gifts.
19:09I had always been slow to anger.
19:12This was one of the few times
19:13I wasn't.
19:15Staring at Kaylin,
19:16I struggled to contain my fury
19:18as I questioned him,
19:19asking if he had lost his mind.
19:21He didn't put it plainly,
19:23but I understood perfectly.
19:24He intended to use his status
19:26as the alpha of the Eastern Pack
19:27to pressure Aldric
19:28into stepping aside.
19:30Aldric was just a foot soldier,
19:32with no standing to resist
19:33an alpha of the Eastern Pack.
19:35In desperation,
19:36I grabbed the sword
19:37from Kaylin's side.
19:38I pressed the blade
19:39firmly against my own throat,
19:41warning him that
19:42if he dared to go near Aldric,
19:43I would end my life
19:44right then and there.
19:48I told Kaylin that my life
19:49was not worth much,
19:50but if a pack alpha
19:51drove a free woman to her death,
19:53his own fate would not be better.
19:55Kaylin had always thought of me
19:56as cautious
19:57and someone who valued her own life.
19:59He had never imagined
20:00I would resort to
20:01threatening my own life.
20:03He froze instantly,
20:05his voice dropping low
20:06as he urged me
20:07to put down the sword,
20:08saying we could
20:08talk things through.
20:10I didn't move an inch,
20:11firmly telling him
20:12there was nothing to talk about.
20:13If he didn't want me dead,
20:15he had to write down
20:15his promise immediately.
20:17The promise was simple.
20:19From that day on,
20:20if anything happened to me
20:21or my betrothed,
20:23Aldric,
20:24he would be held
20:25fully responsible.
20:27Kaylin had spent years
20:28in pack politics
20:29and would never willingly
20:30leave evidence
20:31that could be used against him.
20:32But as he looked at the sword
20:33pressed to my throat,
20:34his tone remained steady.
20:36He agreed to write it down,
20:38but said he had come in a hurry
20:39and had nothing to write with,
20:40asking me to go inside
20:41to find him ink and parchment.
20:44I didn't think ahead,
20:45turning toward the house at once.
20:47But the moment my back was to him,
20:49he moved.
20:50He snatched the sword from my hand,
20:52didn't even glance at me.
20:54He ordered his escort to hold me
20:55while he went to find General Vane.
20:57His men reacted quickly,
20:59seizing me before I could respond.
21:01I couldn't even utter a curse.
21:04Just then,
21:05a deep, calm,
21:06and resonant voice
21:07came from beyond the gate.
21:09The voice asked Alpha Kaylin
21:10why he was there
21:11and mentioned that he had heard his name,
21:14wondering if something was wrong.
21:18I didn't recognize that voice,
21:20but moments later,
21:21I heard Kaylin's tone
21:22shift to one of deference
21:23as he greeted the man,
21:24addressing him as General Vane
21:26and saying what perfect timing
21:27his arrival was.
21:28He added that it was nothing urgent,
21:30just a small favor
21:31he wanted to ask of General Vane.
21:34Only then did I realize
21:35that the man before me
21:36was General Vane,
21:37the War Alpha
21:38of the Northern Territory.
21:40General Vane smiled
21:41and readily agreed to help,
21:43but asked Alpha Kaylin
21:44to wait a moment
21:44while he finished
21:45a piece of business first.
21:47Kaylin stepped back
21:48toward the gate quickly,
21:49respectfully saying
21:50he was willing to wait
21:51and telling General Vane
21:52to take his time.
21:54General Vane then dismounted
21:55from his horse
21:56and pointed directly at my door.
21:57He said that as it happened,
21:59his business was right there.
22:02Kaylin stopped abruptly,
22:03looking stunned.
22:05General Vane looked at him
22:06without further explanation,
22:07only stating that he had come
22:09to negotiate a claiming.
22:11Kaylin froze completely,
22:13unconsciously stepping
22:14in front of the gate.
22:15He tried to persuade General Vane,
22:17saying that his mate bond
22:18was well known,
22:19his children were nearly grown,
22:21and such a thing
22:22would be inappropriate.
22:24General Vane laughed heartily,
22:26shook his head,
22:26and told Kaylin
22:27he had misunderstood.
22:29This claiming was not for himself,
22:31but on behalf of his sworn son,
22:33who had been injured
22:34and couldn't come in person.
22:36I was just as confused as Kaylin,
22:38even starting to wonder
22:39if General Vane
22:40had come to the wrong house.
22:42General Vane himself
22:43looked a little uncertain
22:44as he walked past Kaylin
22:45into the yard.
22:46His escort,
22:47not wanting to get into trouble,
22:49let me go.
22:51Born in the north,
22:52General Vane was straightforward
22:53and didn't notice
22:54anything amiss.
22:56He looked straight at me
22:57and asked if I was Elena.
22:58I nodded slowly.
23:00He immediately looked satisfied,
23:02confirming he had come
23:03to the right place.
23:04He told me that his sworn son
23:06was my betrothed,
23:07Aldrich.
23:10Upon hearing General Vane's words,
23:12my thoughts went sideways.
23:14Aldrich was just
23:15a low-ranking soldier.
23:16How had he ended up
23:17as General Vane's sworn son?
23:20I rubbed the back of my neck
23:21and explained to General Vane
23:23that I thought
23:23there must be a mistake.
23:24My betrothed was indeed
23:26named Aldrich,
23:27but he could never be
23:28General Vane's sworn son.
23:30I even wondered
23:31if there might be two people
23:32with the same name.
23:34General Vane seemed less confident
23:35as he described
23:36his sworn son's features.
23:38Born in the eastern settlement
23:39of the southern territory,
23:41with a small mark
23:42near the corner of his left eye.
23:43He asked if these features
23:45matched my betrothed.
23:46He added that if it would help,
23:48he would have his sworn son
23:49carried over for me
23:50to confirm in person.
23:52I stopped him quickly,
23:53telling him there was no need,
23:55that every detail he described
23:56matched Aldrich perfectly.
23:58I begged him not to move
23:59the injured Aldrich,
24:01saying that since he was hurt,
24:02I would go to see him myself.
24:04With that,
24:05I walked toward the gate,
24:06distracted.
24:07But Kaylin,
24:08who had been silent
24:09for a long time,
24:11suddenly reached out
24:11and grabbed my arm,
24:12stopping me in my tracks.
24:17Kaylin stood in front of me,
24:18turning to General Vane
24:19and saying there was something
24:20he should know first.
24:22He told General Vane
24:23that I was his pack sister,
24:25that he had raised me,
24:26and that he had never heard me
24:28mention the name Aldrich once.
24:30He added that if Aldrich and I
24:31had made promises to each other
24:33without the family's knowledge,
24:34their bond could not be recognized.
24:37Then he lowered his voice,
24:39leaned close to me,
24:40and warned me not to say
24:41anything foolish.
24:42He said that Aldrich
24:44was now General Vane's
24:45sworn son,
24:46and if General Vane
24:47found out I had been mated before,
24:49I would not only lose this claiming,
24:51but also ruin Aldrich's reputation.
24:54Those words hit home.
24:56Aldrich had only just found
24:57his footing in the north.
24:58If I cost him everything
25:00because of my past,
25:01I would never forgive myself.
25:02I was still trying to figure out
25:04how to respond
25:04when General Vane's
25:06expression shifted.
25:07He told Kaylin firmly
25:08that his approval
25:09no longer mattered,
25:10because it was not
25:11I who had come to them,
25:13but they who had sought me out.
25:15General Vane then spoke
25:17of Aldrich's deeds,
25:18saying that in this campaign,
25:19Aldrich had charged
25:21into the thickest of the fighting.
25:22He had taken out
25:23the enemy's left flank
25:24and brought back
25:25the enemy commander's banner,
25:27earning the first honor of the war.
25:29Yet he had refused
25:30all rewards from the High Alpha,
25:32every single coin.
25:34Instead,
25:35he used his achievement
25:36to petition the Moon Council
25:37for a decree,
25:38a recognized claiming with me.
25:41General Vane finally warned Kaylin
25:43that if his family dared to object,
25:45they would be opposing
25:46the High Alpha's own ruling.
25:48I stood there for a long time,
25:51never having imagined
25:52that Aldrich would fight
25:53so fiercely for me.
25:55And one night before that,
25:57the law was turned out
25:58And I was like,
25:58and I can do it.
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