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