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