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Whispers in the Dark Alpha's Bed - FULL | DramaReel
#shortdrama
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#shortdrama
#heartstringshub
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00:01I was a slave, yet every night I had to take Luna's place and sleep with the Alpha.
00:06On the bed, I begged him to mark me and make me one of his mates.
00:09Please, make me your wife.
00:12What are you thinking?
00:15You're nothing but a slave.
00:17I close my eyes.
00:19Every wolf in the pack knows Kaelin doesn't just love Lady Vivian, he worships her.
00:24So the next morning, I walked straight to the pack matriarch and kneeled before her.
00:28I volunteered to marry her eldest son, Kaelin's dying brother.
00:32Firstly shocked, then the pack matriarch's eyes filled with tears.
00:37After the ghost marriage is done, you'll have to keep Widowsville for your mate forever.
00:42My good child, have you truly thought this through?
00:46I will have no regrets.
00:48Alpha Kaelin and Lady Vivian had gone deathly pale.
00:51On the full moon night, Kaelin came to Vivian's room again.
00:54I watched them through the crack in the door.
00:57His voice low and honeyed.
00:58Her laugh like silver.
01:00Vivian left to wash up.
01:02Cheeks ruined with wanting.
01:03Before she went, she killed every candle.
01:06As always.
01:07An hour later, I stepped into the dark.
01:09His scent hit me first, and my traitorous body answered.
01:13Heart slamming.
01:14Skin tight.
01:14Why are you so cold?
01:17I was outside, watching the snow.
01:20Truth is, I'd been shivering at the threshold in a thin slip for an hour.
01:24Waiting for her signal, like a good little ghost.
01:29You smelled.
01:30A pause.
01:31My heart stopped.
01:32The tincture.
01:33So nice.
01:35His mouth found mine in the dark.
01:37His hardness reached my soul.
01:46Before dawn, I knelt at Vivian's feet and recited him.
01:50Every whisper.
01:51Every mark blooming purple on my throat.
01:53Her expression curdled.
01:55Then she walked back into his arms.
01:56Kaelin caught her hair around one lazy finger.
01:59You've been sneaking out to find yourself another wolf.
02:02She swatted him.
02:03Pouting prettily.
02:04As if she were the one.
02:06Vivian was beautiful.
02:07And chronically, devastatingly fragile.
02:10Kaelin saw her at the spring hunt gathering.
02:12He fell instantly.
02:14Offered her the first mate rank before the night was over.
02:17Perfect together.
02:18Everyone said so.
02:19As her bonded handmaid, I was genuinely happy for them.
02:22Until their bonding night.
02:27Three nights in a row.
02:28No completed bond.
02:30No mating mark.
02:31Overnight, Vivian became the pack's favorite joke.
02:34Desperate, Vivian invented the switch.
02:37Every night, candles out, handmade substitutes.
02:40Masking tinctures rubbed into my skin until I smelled like her ghost.
02:44Of all her handmaids, only I was a viable double.
02:47Vivian and I were built from the same blueprint.
02:49The same narrow waist, the same pale slope of shoulder and throat.
02:54Side by side in daylight, the resemblance was unsettling.
02:57In total darkness, with the masking tinctures working through my skin,
03:01his wolf couldn't tell the difference.
03:03What Vivian hadn't accounted for.
03:05I was not fragile.
03:07She broke under Kaelin's hands.
03:09I did not.
03:10What she couldn't endure, I simply survived.
03:13Body learning the architecture of his need.
03:15Learning to anticipate it.
03:17Relax.
03:19Only three years.
03:20My body will recover.
03:22Then I will give you enough gold to live well outside the mansion.
03:25Think about it.
03:26My whole family's safety rested in her hands.
03:29I had no choice.
03:30One hour later, Vivian and Kaelin finally rose.
03:34I returned to my quarters briefly, then went in to lay out the morning meal.
03:41Why are you dressed like that?
03:42I didn't know how to answer.
03:44I pressed my lips together.
03:45Kaelin bit.
03:47Hard.
03:48Darling, you've forgotten Selena is mute.
03:50I nodded quickly.
03:52Serving Vivian meant constant proximity to Kaelin, and she was terrified of exposure.
03:57So she declared me mute.
03:59The entire pack believed it.
04:02Your little mute is striking.
04:03Sad, almost, how pretty she is.
04:05And what exactly does my alpha mean by that?
04:08Has she caught your eye?
04:09I haven't blamed you for anything yet, and you're already turning on me.
04:14Kaelin had pushed too far last night.
04:16I'd wept myself hoarse, then bitten him.
04:19Hard.
04:20He'd walked through silver and hellfire to earn his title.
04:24Scars mapping him from throat to hip.
04:26He wouldn't care about a few teeth marks.
04:29This whole performance was foreplay.
04:32I don't know how much time passed.
04:34You insolent thing!
04:36You dared bite him?
04:37Are you challenging me?
04:38I had no time to defend myself.
04:40Vivian had me bound, dragged to the supply outbuilding.
04:44No food, no water.
04:46Kaelin had left for the border territories.
04:48However long he was gone, I stayed locked up.
04:51I was barely breathing when my sister found a way through.
04:54Briar had bribed the guard, slipped a bowl of broth under the door.
04:58She was my younger sister.
05:00Sister, what did you do to make the lady so angry?
05:02Briar, when will Kaelin be back?
05:04The guards say day tonight, and he's going straight to the ladies room.
05:09What else was happening in the mansion?
05:11The alpha-haired his wolf spirit is fading again.
05:13The pack healers say there's nothing left to do.
05:14They're preparing the rates.
05:16Lucian, the elder brother, cursed since birth, fading.
05:19Never anchored to this world.
05:21He's never taken a mate.
05:23The matriarch doesn't want him to cross alone.
05:24She's looking for someone willing to complete a spirit bond.
05:28A spirit bond with a dying alpha heir meant grieving him forever.
05:32No high-ranking female would consent.
05:34Not even the lower-ranked handmaids.
05:36At dusk, they released me.
05:38I'd be needed that night.
05:40Selina, I was impulsive.
05:42I meant to release you hours ago, but things got away from me.
05:45Don't hold it against me.
05:47Of course not, my lady.
05:48My lady, it has been three years.
05:51When will I leave the pack mansion?
05:52You want to leave?
05:53Yes.
05:54My body hasn't healed.
05:55Kaelin still needs you.
05:57If you insist on leave, I'll simply use Briar instead.
05:59Your sisters.
06:00The voice, the build.
06:01Close enough.
06:02How old is she?
06:02Thirteen or fourteen?
06:04Then...
06:05Could Kaelin at least give me a rank?
06:08Reaching for status now?
06:10If I wanted Kaelin to take a new mate, I have a hundred candidates.
06:15You would never make that list.
06:16Don't bother trying to go through Kaelin directly.
06:19You're a convenience to him.
06:23Even if you ended up in his quarters permanently, I could have you removed with a single word.
06:30But every unmated female is supposed to be matched eventually.
06:34Eventually?
06:35Was I supposed to be her substitute?
06:37In bed?
06:38For the rest of my life?
06:40The gatekeeper's son is your age.
06:42When you turn sixteen next year, I'll arrange the match.
06:45The gatekeeper's son.
06:46A man with a child's mind.
06:48And fists like hammers.
06:51Hitting because it was the only thing he knew.
06:53Only by being bound to someone that broken would I remain useful.
06:57And too far gone to threaten her.
07:00Kaelin returned.
07:01To find me kneeling.
07:03You're home!
07:04You must be exhausted!
07:05This girl broke the crystal chalice from the Western Alliance.
07:08I've had her kneeling.
07:10Kaelin stepped over me, without a glance.
07:13What's the status on my brother?
07:15I've asked every unmated female in the pack.
07:18A spirit bond sounds like a curse to them.
07:20None of the young wolves will agree.
07:21What's there to agree about?
07:23Find a female, threaten someone she loves, and it's done.
07:26That kind of coercion would be hard to hide from your mother.
07:29Enough gold and fear will find a willing body.
07:33And, if you handle this well, my mother might finally look at you differently.
07:41Every time Kaelin came back from the border, he spent the whole night making up for lost time.
07:46He was an alpha who'd spent weeks at war.
07:49He came home hungry, and he made that hunger my problem.
07:54That night, I gave him everything.
07:57Pushed past my own limits to match him.
07:59Why so eager tonight?
08:00Did you miss me?
08:02I rarely initiated.
08:04He noticed.
08:05Good girl.
08:06Near dawn.
08:08I came back to myself in pieces.
08:12Trying to run again?
08:16My wolf has always been scent sensitive.
08:22I've known about your lady's little switch since the beginning.
08:25No wonder.
08:26He grew bolder every time.
08:28Which meant he never held back.
08:30It was all for me.
08:32Then why won't you give me a rank?
08:34A rank?
08:36She's the one who brought you here.
08:37I'm not going to be the one to claim her handmaid.
08:40That would fracture our bond.
08:42She was right.
08:43A she-wolf taken for free.
08:45Why give her a title?
08:46What grows in the dark stays small.
08:50Speechless with joy?
08:52Thank you for your generosities, Alpha.
08:54I'm afraid I don't have the kind of luck to deserve it.
08:56You've shared my bed for years.
08:58Don't get ideas above your station.
09:00He didn't like greedy she-wolves.
09:02He had others.
09:03Bonded females.
09:05All with bloodlines.
09:06Gifts from allied packs.
09:08And yet, since Vivian came, he never touched them.
09:12The pack praised him for devotion.
09:14And he wore that praise like armor.
09:17A handmaid, born to serve, was never meant to stand beside him.
09:22The colder I became, I was born low.
09:25I don't deserve a rank.
09:27And I don't belong in your quarters.
09:29I only hope you and the lady are devoted to each other until the end.
09:32The next morning, Briar heard of Vivian's plan to marry me off to the gatekeeper's son.
09:36We served her faithfully.
09:37How can she be this cruel?
09:39That brute would be a slow death.
09:42The thought lingered, then twisted into something darker.
09:45If I couldn't escape fate, I would choose it.
09:49I will take the spirit bond with Lucian.
09:52The matriarch stared, then broke into astonished relief.
09:55She asked my name, my birthdate, my bloodline.
09:58The pack shaman consulted the moon charts and looked up, nodding.
10:01This female's spirit signature aligns with the heirs in a way I have not seen in decades.
10:07She was born into hardship, which means she carries the kind of resilience that could anchor him.
10:12The bond will serve him well in the next life.
10:14Kaylin and Vivian arrived quickly once word spread.
10:17They walked in together to find me sitting at the matriarch's feet, working the tension from her ankles.
10:22Kaylin's voice came first, amused, sharp.
10:25This is the female who agreed to bond with my brother?
10:28Whoever's handmaid she is, she has a rare heart.
10:31Mother, you must reward her well.
10:32I turned and faced them.
10:34Kaylin went very still.
10:35It's me.
10:36Alpha Kaylin.
10:37Lady Vivian's.
10:40You're supposed to be mute.
10:42I can speak.
10:43My lady simply prefers I don't.
10:46Vivian's face turned to chalk.
10:47I didn't know your household contained such a loyal soul.
10:50But once this bond is sealed, you'll carry his grief for the rest of your days.
10:55Are you certain?
10:55I will never regret it.
10:57The hand hanging at Kaylin's side curled into a fist.
11:00He stared at me like I had become something he didn't recognize.
11:04Tell me what you want.
11:06Silver.
11:07Land.
11:07Titles.
11:08Anything I can grant is yours.
11:10I turned and looked at Vivian.
11:12She held her smile together.
11:14But she took half a step back.
11:15After a long pause, I dropped my eyes.
11:18I have a younger sister.
11:19Briar.
11:20I ask that she be transferred to your personal household matriarch.
11:22She's already part of this pack.
11:24I'll see to her for the rest of her life.
11:27Vivian's smile pulled thin.
11:29Mother.
11:30Briar came with my dowie pack.
11:32She's my bonded household.
11:33I'd hate to be ungenerous, but-
11:34She's a handmaid.
11:36Mother wants her.
11:37Give her over.
11:38Kaylin's voice cut across hers, flat and final.
11:41The matriarch's expression had gone stone cold.
11:43Bring the bond papers.
11:47I will find Briar a secure place before I pass.
11:51You don't have to worry about her ever again.
11:53I hadn't expected the matriarch to think about her entire future.
11:57Moved beyond words.
11:59Thank you, matriarch.
12:01I promise to care for Lucian with everything I have.
12:04When the matriarch spoke of her eldest son, she couldn't stop the break in her voice.
12:08I was pregnant with Lucian during the Dark Coven War.
12:13The fear marked him at birth.
12:15He came into the world without breath.
12:18Without a wolf spirit.
12:20His father had returned victorious that same night, and brought someone with him from the deep forest.
12:26A shaman.
12:26The shaman's methods were outside anything the pack had seen.
12:30He brought Lucian back from the edge of nothing.
12:32It should have been a miracle.
12:33But the shaman warned them.
12:35Pulling a spirit back across that threshold was a transgression against the laws of wolf and moon.
12:41Lucian could live.
12:42But only for 30 years.
12:43No more.
12:44And so it had been.
12:45Lucian had grown up slight.
12:47Unable to shift into warrior form.
12:49But razor sharp in mind.
12:51A natural strategist.
12:52A scholar.
12:53He'd won council honors young.
12:55But the older he got, the weaker his body became.
12:58Eventually, he stopped leaving his territory altogether.
13:01Retreating to a lakeside cabin at the edge of the pack mansion.
13:04Since I had agreed to the spirit bond, I was to remain at his side.
13:08Word was that he didn't allow anyone to serve him.
13:11Just the shaman.
13:12Who had stayed all these years.
13:14The shaman brought me into the cabin while Lucian was asleep.
13:16I looked at his face.
13:17His lashes trembled faintly with each shallow breath.
13:21He was two years older than Kaelin.
13:2227.
13:23The brothers looked nothing alike.
13:25Kaelin was bronze and hard-edged from years of combat training.
13:29Lucian was fine-boned.
13:31Pale as snow.
13:32Almost startlingly beautiful in a way that made you forget to breathe.
13:35I spent the afternoon learning his preferences.
13:38When the sun touched the horizon, Lucian finally woke.
13:41It was time for his medicine.
13:43I'd spent the afternoon learning to brew it from the shaman.
13:45So you're the female who plans to bond with my corpse.
13:47Yes.
13:49Get up.
13:50He picked up the bowl calmly.
13:55I don't want it.
13:56What are you going to do about it?
13:58Lucian looked up, a thread of provocation in his gaze.
14:01The shaman had told me Lucian was a person of pure instinct.
14:04All feeling, no armor.
14:06He earned honors at 15 and had the makings of something extraordinary ahead of him.
14:11Then one evening, a hunting trip with Kaelin ended with Lucian falling off the cliff and drown in the water.
14:18His wolf spirit seizing and three days of unconsciousness.
14:21The matriarch had broken every servant in his household for failing him and sold the rest.
14:27Lucian didn't treat servants like livestock.
14:29He'd read too much and thought too hard to do that.
14:33Alpha hair.
14:36I genuinely can't force you.
14:39But since we're going to be bonded eventually, perhaps...
14:42I looked down at the dark liquid.
14:44Perhaps I should start exercising a mate's authority now.
14:47Either you drink this...
14:50Or...
14:51Or what?
14:52The shaman had told me Lucian had refused medicine for six months.
14:56That was why he was hovering at the edge of nothing.
14:59At this rate, he wouldn't survive to spring.
15:15When I looked at him again, vivid color had bloomed across his face, like dawn breaking over frost.
15:21Those butterfly wing lashes were trembling.
15:23With outrage, I thought, distantly, of every arrogant she-wolf Kaelin had ever teased into furious, helpless blushing.
15:31Lucian's expression was painfully similar.
15:34A prick of guilt moved through me.
15:36I forced my own pulse to slow, keeping my voice steady.
15:39If you won't drink, I'll be forced to do that again.
15:53You shouldn't burn.
15:59Alfa hair.
16:00Your color has improved over the past few days.
16:03Your skin isn't as cold as it was.
16:04That's the medicine working.
16:05The medicine is useless.
16:07The shaman works hard to brew it.
16:09If you pour it out every time, he'll be heartbroken.
16:13Watch.
16:15Testing the temperature alone takes constant checking to preserve the potency.
16:19I've only been doing it a few days and my hands already look like this.
16:23He pressed his lips together, said nothing, and drank the rest of the bowl without being asked.
16:29After that, he never made me beg him to drink his medicine again.
16:34Half a month later, the shaman gave the matriarch his report.
16:37Lucian had genuinely improved, no longer at death's edge.
16:43Could it be a final surge before the end?
16:46No, it's real healing.
16:48This one is responsible.
16:50I told you before, her wolf spirit signature is a natural complement to his.
16:53She steadies him.
16:55The matriarch looked satisfied.
16:57When she turned to me, her eyes were almost tender.
17:01How has Selina been caring for you?
17:06She's been taking very good care of me.
17:11Alpha Lucian may not know, but when Selina was serving in my household, her skill at attending to Caelan was
17:18quite exceptional as well.
17:20Such a good servant.
17:22The air went very still.
17:24Is that how you speak to your future sister-in-law?
17:28Vivian, you are young, but that is no excuse for ignorance of pack law.
17:35Shut up!
17:36Stop embarrassing yourself!
17:39Days later...
17:40Did you hear about it?
17:42Vivian had found another substitute.
17:44She looked for a maid again?
17:45Not from the pack's own hand aids.
17:47She'd bought a woman from outside, trained and shaped to match her voice and build exactly.
17:51How do you know?
17:52Because Caelan lit every lantern in the room that night, and when he saw what he saw, he beat woman
17:56half to death and threw her at Vivian's feet.
17:58Viviana fainted.
17:59And then?
18:00He said if she refused to truly share his bed, he would never come to her rooms again.
18:03They're sleeping in separate dens now.
18:05Separate dens meant every wolf in the pack knew the bond was broken.
18:09No mate's devotion.
18:10No matriarch's approval.
18:12No pups.
18:13No wonder Vivian looked like she hadn't slept in a month.
18:21He looked fragile in the lake wind.
18:24Unsteadying.
18:24I went back to get his cloak.
18:31Is it you?
18:36Was it always you?
18:39Answer me.
18:41You think you can play mute with me again?
18:49Silence won't save you.
18:52I don't need your voice to confirm it.
18:55One night, and I'd know for certain.
18:57Had he lost his mind?
19:00I spent three years with a woman, and she's going to be bonded to my brother.
19:05How dare you make fools of us both?
19:08Especially me!
19:10Would a rank at my side really be worse than grieving a dead man forever?
19:13Do you actually want to bond with a corpse?
19:19I just want to survive!
19:23I just want to survive!
19:28A formal bond, even a broken one, would have made me untouchable!
19:34Useful to no one.
19:36Forced to stay her shadow forever.
19:39Before he could recover, I stomped hard on his foot and ran.
19:43I was still stumbling when I rounded the corner.
19:45What took you so long?
19:50I smiled, walked over, and settled the cloak around his shoulders.
19:54But he simply brushed my hand away.
19:56Somehow he lost balance and fell.
19:57His chest had a severe bruise.
20:00Just leave me.
20:01I am not your burden.
20:05Lucian liked to sit there.
20:07Open a book in the shade.
20:09Why did you really agree to the spirit bond?
20:12I didn't want to be given to the given to the gatekeeper's son.
20:16I thought it would be something like that.
20:19What is it to guess that it would be like this?
20:21The shaman pressed a small wooden box into my hands.
20:25Should I start calling you mate of the alpha?
20:27Please don't.
20:28My future, most likely, was a silent room in a shrine.
20:32Grieving him in his name until I followed.
20:34With the shaman gone, I took on more responsibility.
20:37Including helping Lucian bathe.
20:42I watched his ears and tried not to smile.
20:45Had no one ever helped him bathe?
20:47Kaelin had always kept half a dozen female attendants for bathing.
20:51A younger version of me would have died of the blush alone.
20:55But I wasn't that innocent girl anymore.
20:57There was a phrase I'd found in one of his books.
20:59A broken moon.
21:00A she-wolf who'd been claimed and discarded.
21:03The text said that's what I was.
21:06What strange things are you reading now?
21:09I tucked it behind my back.
21:11I'd memorized a passage and presented it to him like a prize.
21:15Look at you. Impressive.
21:17You sound like you're humeering a child.
21:21How old are you?
21:22Eighteen.
21:23I have almost a decade on you.
21:25To me, you are a child.
21:29The shaman had introduced new compounds.
21:31Performed old rituals at the edge of firelight.
21:34Burned offerings and whispered things I didn't catch.
21:37Speak a wish.
21:40You do it.
21:42I want you to be happy.
21:44What does that look like?
21:45Your body heals.
21:46You find a mate who deserves you.
21:48A pack of your own.
21:50A life that finally goes the way it should have.
21:53Do you mean that?
21:54Our eyes met.
21:55I looked away.
21:56Did I mean it?
21:57It didn't matter.
21:58What mattered was, the shaman's ritual apparently worked.
22:01Because Lucian decided he wanted to leave the cabin.
22:04I asked him where he wanted to go.
22:07He studied me for a long moment.
22:08There's a moon festival gathering tonight.
22:10I've heard the town lights the whole river.
22:12Festival fires were always burning somewhere.
22:15Nothing special.
22:16But since coming into Vivienne's household, I hadn't been to a single one.
22:20The longing had been sitting quietly in me for years.
22:23That night, a young noblewoman arrived with her escort.
22:25They said, used to getting everything she reached for.
22:28In the river of lantern light and moving bodies, she found Lucian in seconds.
22:32Loser buys dinner at the finest inn in the city.
22:35What do you say?
22:36And she walked straight up and challenged him to a game of darts.
22:39I've forgotten who won.
22:40I only remember the brightness in her eyes.
22:43Lucian turned to look at me.
22:45If you'd like to go, I'll wait outside.
22:47I hadn't behaved like a servant in front of him in a long time.
22:51But there were others watching.
22:52She didn't wait.
22:53She stepped around me cheerfully and reached for Lucian.
22:56I watched them move into the crowd.
22:58And I felt something leave me that I hadn't known was mine to lose.
23:01I stood in the cold for a very long time.
23:04Then I remembered.
23:05Today was my birthday.
23:06She was the regent's only daughter.
23:08Every door in the wolf world was open to her.
23:10When the regent and his mate arrived at the pack mansion to formally propose the match,
23:15the matriarch looked more shaken than pleased.
23:18Through Briar, I learned the truth.
23:20It wasn't love at first sight.
23:21She'd fallen for Lucian over a decade ago, back when he was a young scholar with fire in
23:26his eyes and a future everyone could see.
23:29She'd been carrying it ever since, refusing every other offer.
23:32Lucian's potential mating became the pack's entire focus.
23:36Even the news that Kaylin's quartermate had conceived was forgotten.
23:39If the match succeeded, the matriarch would have been overjoyed.
23:43But Lucian was already bound by the spirit bond.
23:45To take a living mate, the bond had to be dissolved, and so I knew exactly what I had
23:50to do.
23:50Just as I'd once knelt before the matriarch and volunteered, I came before her again.
23:57I'm willing to step aside.
23:59I want Lucian to have this.
24:02I'd had the shaman check their spirit signatures as well.
24:05They aligned perfectly.
24:06She was born to rank, polished in every art, and her love for Lucian had outlasted years
24:12of silence.
24:13If he died, she would grieve him faithfully.
24:15There was nothing more I could offer that she couldn't match.
24:18So, what do you want in return?
24:22Money?
24:22Is it still about status?
24:24The matriarch squeezed my hands and asked what I wanted in return.
24:28I pressed the gold I'd saved over two years into her palm.
24:31I asked to be released from the Pax Bond records.
24:35I want to be a free wolf.
24:39Child, you could ask me for so much more.
24:42I held the bow and didn't move.
24:44Tears fell, one by one, onto the stone.
24:47Take me with you, okay?
24:50Outside the pack paushing, life was uncertain and hard.
24:54Inside, with the matriarch's protection, you would be safe.
24:57Stay, serve well, don't make enemies.
25:01The rest would come.
25:04Briar wept and pressed gold into my hands anyway.
25:08On the morning I left, many of the other handmaids came to see me off.
25:11The shaman also walked towards me in the crowd.
25:14May your ancestors guide your path.
25:19Patted my shoulder and then walked towards the crowd.
25:24I turned around and walked towards the door.
25:26But in the crowd, I saw Karen also there.
25:30Kaelin grabbed me to the corner.
25:31He caged me against the wall and looked at me like he wanted to devour me.
25:36Say the word and I'll take you as a formal mate.
25:41Serve me like you used to, and I'll give you rank above the others.
25:45I stared at him for a long time.
25:53Don't look at me like that.
25:56What?
25:57You think Lucian's gonna come running after you?
25:59You're deluding yourself.
26:02He's probably not even thinking of you.
26:04Once his body improved, he didn't need you anymore.
26:07You were useful and now you're spare.
26:09And don't expect him to remember you in a year.
26:11He didn't even come to see you off.
26:13That tells you exactly where you rank to him.
26:17Something in my chest seized.
26:18The truth was, Lucian and I had been in a cold war for weeks.
26:22It had started on the way home from the festival.
26:24If I was happy.
26:28Yes.
26:29The warmth vanished from Lucian's face.
26:31Happy about the fireworks?
26:33No.
26:34Watching you walk with her.
26:35You look like you belong together.
26:36My wish is starting to work.
26:38That made me happy.
26:38You see me with another female and that's what makes you happy?
26:41She's extraordinary.
26:42She might become the Pax Future First Luna.
26:44Of course I'm happy.
26:44Selena, I didn't know you could be so heartless.
26:49My parents had died years ago in the household where I was born into service.
26:53I had no home to return to.
26:55I'd planned to head south, find a city where no one knew my name.
26:59But the second Kaylin's and Vivian's faces floated up behind my eyes,
27:03I was on my feet, booking passage on the first river ferry south
27:07before I'd finished the thought.
27:10Property deeds.
27:12Golds, a house, a plot of land.
27:14Land, somewhere in the south.
27:16I tried to remember when the shaman had touched my bag.
27:19He'd had his hands on it during the send-off.
27:22But where had he gotten it?
27:23The ferry listed suddenly.
27:25I nearly went over the rail.
27:28I scrambled upright and found boots surrounding me on three sides.
27:32Then I was bound, carried ashore, and pushed into a carriage.
27:37When the blindfold came down,
27:46I couldn't stop the bitter laugh from escaping.
27:49Briar had been right.
27:50For all the years I'd served her, and this was still where we ended up,
27:53they brought out women with strong hands to deal with me.
27:56The blows were professional and thorough.
27:59She'd grown thinner since I last saw her.
28:01The delicate elegance that had once made her untouchable now just made her look breakable.
28:06What it didn't do was protect her inside the pack.
28:10I used your body as a convenience, and you had the nerve to find your own way out.
28:15Ungrateful.
28:17Traitorous.
28:17Have you forgotten what you swore?
28:20Loyal service.
28:22Always.
28:23Loyal service.
28:24She wasn't wrong.
28:25But loyalty is a two-way bond, and she had never honored her half.
28:29Waited for the anger to burn out so I could leave.
28:32I overestimated her capacity for mercy.
28:34The first day, only the hitting.
28:36Look at me.
28:38The second day, she used silver-tipped needles on my hands.
28:43The third day, she locked me in the holding den beneath the estate.
28:47I found my parents' remains there.
28:49For a moment, just one, I genuinely wanted to stop fighting.
28:53The young guard outside pulled me up before I could follow the thought all the way.
28:56Delina, come back!
28:58Please!
28:58You saved me!
28:59Do I know you?
29:01Years ago, a bracelet went missing in the ladies' rooms.
29:04They were going to use me as the culprit.
29:06You figured out who really took it, and you bought me enough time to prove it.
29:10I kept all my fingers because of you.
29:12You're one of the kindest people I've ever known.
29:14Why is she doing this to you?
29:17Because I wasn't loyal enough.
29:20What's happening at the pack mansion?
29:22The alpha-haired?
29:24Is he truly going to bond with the regent's daughter?
29:26The matriarch is frantic.
29:28The whole bonding is off.
29:29The regent's family pulled their daughter out the night his wolf spirit nearly went dark completely.
29:33She agreed to cancel it?
29:36She's never been this close to real death before.
29:39They say she ran.
29:40Selene, please stop thinking about them.
29:42Think about yourself.
29:43You have to survive long enough to be rescued.
29:45Will you let me help you?
29:46Please help me bury my parents.
29:48Is there anything else I can do for you after that?
29:50I need you to find a small wooden box.
29:53You buried my parents.
29:55I'll carry that gratitude into whatever comes next.
29:58On the fifth evening, Vivian returned.
30:01She examined her nails, as if nothing else mattered.
30:04I could barely hold my head up.
30:06You're still alive.
30:07Heaven must want you to suffer longer.
30:10Begging me to stop?
30:12Don't bother.
30:13I wasn't begging.
30:14I was cursing her.
30:16Quietly.
30:17Steadily.
30:17The rope around my neck tightened.
30:19I let out a slow breath.
30:21Finally.
30:21A clean ending.
30:23It pulled taut.
30:24Tighter.
30:25Until the air was gone.
30:26Then, it went slack.
30:29A second cruelty?
30:30Another method?
30:31Noise poured in from every direction.
30:34Someone was calling my name.
30:35Someone was in the water.
30:37Selene!
30:37Selene!
30:43I'm sorry.
30:44I'm sorry.
30:45Please don't leave me.
30:48I was lifted.
30:49Carried.
30:50Fast.
30:51Too fast.
30:51And then I hid a cold chest and stayed there.
30:54Whoever held me dropped to their knees.
30:56Their arms locked around me like I might disappear.
31:01Lucian.
31:03Where are you?
31:04I am here.
31:05I am here.
31:06I thought I had lost you.
31:08Selene.
31:09I'm so sorry.
31:11I should have found you sooner.
31:16Lucian brought me back to the lakeside cabin.
31:18The shaman had prepared a medicinal bath.
31:21Something old.
31:21Something meant for deep wounds.
31:23Lucian washed me himself.
31:25Every new injury he found made the skin around his eyes darken.
31:29Deeper.
31:30Redder.
31:31In the blur between waking and sleep, I felt like I was drifting.
31:35Held up by careful hands in warm water.
31:38Rocking.
31:39Gently.
31:40The last thing I remembered was a soft bed rising up to catch me.
31:44And my arms closing around it.
31:47I slept for a very long time.
31:57Where's Lucian?
31:59He kept watch over you for days.
32:00I added something to his tea.
32:02He's out.
32:03Is he having an episode?
32:04His wolf spirit?
32:05He's been destroying himself since you left.
32:08His wolf didn't want to be steady.
32:09I couldn't do much.
32:11You were the only person keeping him anchored.
32:13That was never me.
32:14Don't cry.
32:15He's alive.
32:16And he won't die before 30.
32:18I made sure of that much.
32:20What happens at 30?
32:22Does the bond snap?
32:23He was always going to die early.
32:25You know this.
32:26If he weren't fated for early death,
32:27you two would never have found each other.
32:29I sat very still.
32:31Something inside me was splitting apart.
32:34Lucian woke to find me staring into nothing.
32:38What's wrong?
32:39His voice came out rough with sleep.
32:41I wiped my face.
32:42Said nothing.
32:43My fingers rested against his throat.
32:46Feeling his pulse.
32:47I'm going to kiss you.
32:49Say yes or no.
32:51You were a lot less polite the first time.
32:58His mouth was cold and his breath against mine
33:02was like a thread of warmth in a blizzard.
33:05Brief and so easy to lose.
33:09Lucian.
33:10I love you.
33:15I love you too.
33:21I never expected to fall in love with someone within such short life.
33:28Neither did I.
33:30Then the shaman came back.
33:32He returned three nights later,
33:33moving with purpose,
33:35and sat across from us.
33:37I've been doing a great deal of thinking.
33:40That's usually ominous.
33:42The curse on you,
33:42the life debt your father made with the witch clan,
33:45it was sealed with sacrifice.
33:47Specifically,
33:47the sacrifice of a wolf spirit.
33:50Sacrifice can be answered with sacrifice.
33:53Or with something equal and opposite.
33:55A bond freely chosen.
33:57A mating bond.
33:58A true one.
33:59Not a spirit bond with a corpse.
34:01A living, breathing, voluntary mating bond.
34:04Freely given, both sides willing,
34:06under the full moon.
34:07If the bond takes hold,
34:10the original sacrifice is fulfilled differently.
34:13Life for life.
34:15But instead of taking,
34:17it gives.
34:18The curse breaks.
34:20Has this worked before?
34:21I believe it will.
34:25Yes.
34:27The next few days passed in controlled chaos.
34:30The matriarch convened a pack circle.
34:32Vivian's crimes had not gone unnoticed.
34:35The poisoning of Kaylin's quartermate
34:36and the unborn pup had been confirmed.
34:39By pack law,
34:40that was grounds for exile.
34:41Vivian was removed.
34:43Quietly.
34:43Finally.
34:44The regent's daughter came to the cabin
34:46one more time.
34:47He told me at the festival, you know.
34:49The night we went to dinner.
34:50What to say?
34:52He talked about you for three hours straight
34:54without realizing it.
34:55I'm sorry I was slow to understand.
34:58Her expression unreadable.
34:59I didn't know what to say.
35:01She stepped forward and squeezed my hand once.
35:04Don't let him die.
35:05Then she was gone.
35:11Kaylin came to the cabin the night before the ritual.
35:13He stood in the doorway
35:15and for the first time in the years I've known him,
35:18he looked genuinely lost.
35:20My brother.
35:22He's going to be alright?
35:24The shaman believes so.
35:27I never saw you.
35:29Do you know?
35:30For three years,
35:32I've actually never given you a proper look.
35:35For whatever it's worth, I'm sorry.
35:38I thought about everything I could say.
35:40What I said was...
35:43Take care of yourself, Kaylin.
35:46He nodded, turned, walked away.
35:49It wasn't forgiveness.
35:51Not yet.
35:53But it was a beginning.
35:55The full moon rose over the lake like a white flame.
35:58The shaman built the circle at the water's edge.
36:00Silver dust, wolf herbs, old fire.
36:03Lucian stood at the center.
36:05He'd refused the chair tonight.
36:06He was standing on his own, in the moonlight,
36:09and the sight of him, pale and slight,
36:12and stubbornly, impossibly upright,
36:14hit me somewhere I didn't have words for.
36:17The shaman's voice rose over the water,
36:19speaking old words in the witch clan's tongue,
36:22the language of the curse
36:23that had been turned, tonight,
36:25into something else.
36:26He looked at me with those moth-winged lashes
36:28and that expression that always meant he'd run out of arguments
36:31and was trying not to show how much he felt.
36:35Selene, you don't have to.
36:37I know.
36:39I might still...
36:41I know that, too.
36:43Then what are you doing?
36:46Choosing.
36:47The shaman's voice peaked.
36:49The circle ignited.
36:51Not fire, exactly.
36:52Something older.
36:53Silver blue,
36:54rising from the water's surface.
36:56I felt the pull of it in my chest.
36:58Not pain.
36:59Not fear.
37:00Something more like...
37:01Recognition.
37:03Lucian's hand tightened on mine,
37:04and I felt the moment it happened.
37:06A snap,
37:07deep in the core of me,
37:09like a lock giving way.
37:10Like something that had been held closed
37:12for thirty years finally opening.
37:14Lucian made a sound I'd never heard from him before.
37:17Not pain.
37:18The opposite of pain.
37:20He dropped to his knees in the silver circle,
37:22and his wolf,
37:23his wolf spirit,
37:24which I had never seen,
37:26which he had never been able to fully call,
37:28tore out of him with a howl that shook the lake.
37:31White.
37:32Enormous.
37:33Blazing like a comet above the water.
37:35He threw his head back and howled again.
37:37The sound broke over the forest.
37:40Over the pack mansion.
37:41Over every territory for miles.
37:43And from far away,
37:45from every direction at once,
37:47his howls began to answer.
37:48The shaman wept.
37:50I didn't realize it until I saw his shoulders shaking.
37:53Lucian's wolf settled around him like a second skin.
37:56The color returned to his face.
37:58Not the brief flush of fever,
38:00but real warmth,
38:01steady,
38:01and permanent.
38:02He touched his own hands like he was checking they were real.
38:05Then he looked at me,
38:06and his eyes,
38:08those beautiful,
38:09exhausted,
38:10fighting-to-stay-open eyes,
38:11were the clearest I'd ever seen them.
38:15Selena.
38:17Just my name.
38:18The way he said it cracked something open in me.
38:21I pressed my face against his chest
38:23and stayed there for a long, long time.
38:25His heartbeat was strong,
38:27steady,
38:28warm.
38:28Not borrowed time.
38:32Just him.
38:33The matriarch came to the lake the next morning.
38:36She took one look at Lucian,
38:38standing in the early light,
38:39no chair,
38:40no shawl,
38:41real color in his face.
38:43And she sat down on the nearest bench
38:44and didn't move for several minutes.
38:46How?
38:47Thanks to Selena,
38:49who sacrificed herself willingly.
38:51She was a good girl.
38:53The shaman explained what had happened.
38:56Then she reached out and drew me to sit beside her,
38:59as she'd done before.
39:00What do you want?
39:02I once hoped my sister would be safe
39:04and that I could be free.
39:06But now,
39:07all I want is for Lucian to return as leader,
39:10safe and happy.
39:12It happened at the next full moon.
39:14Briar stood beside me.
39:18It's already more than enough.
39:20You have a thread.
39:21Right there.
39:22Hold.
39:23Briar.
39:25What?
39:32Lucian was waiting at the lake's edge.
39:35He'd learned to stand like he meant it.
39:38May your life together be filled with love,
39:40laughter and happiness.
39:42May your home always be warm
39:44and your hearts always full.
39:47I had survived every single thing
39:49and I was here,
39:51free,
39:51loved,
39:52his mate and mine.
39:59Selena,
40:00I'm not going to die.
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