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00:00I was a slave. Yet every night, I had to take Luna's place and sleep with the Alpha.
00:04On the bed, I begged him to mark me and make me one of his mates.
00:08Please, make me your wife.
00:11What are you thinking?
00:14You're nothing but a slave.
00:16I close my eyes. Every wolf in the pack knows,
00:19Kaylin doesn't just love Lady Vivian, he worships her.
00:22So the next morning, I walked straight to the pack matriarch and kneeled before her.
00:27I volunteered to marry her eldest son, Kaylin's dying brother.
00:30Firstly shocked, then the pack matriarch's eyes filled with tears.
00:35After the ghost marriage is done, you'll have to keep Widowsville for your mate forever.
00:40My good child, have you truly thought this through?
00:44I will have no regrets.
00:46Alpha Kaylin and Lady Vivian had gone deathly pale.
00:49On the full moon night, Kaylin came to Vivian's room again.
00:52I watched them through the crack in the door, his voice low and honeyed,
00:56her laugh like silver.
00:58Vivian left to wash up, cheeks ruined with wanting.
01:01Before she went, she killed every candle, as always.
01:05An hour later, I stepped into the dark.
01:07His scent hit me first, and my traitorous body answered,
01:10heart slamming, skin tight.
01:12Why are you so cold?
01:15I was outside, watching the snow.
01:18Truth is, I'd been shivering at the threshold in a thin slip for an hour,
01:22waiting for her signal, like a good little ghost.
01:26You smelled...
01:27A pause.
01:28My heart stopped.
01:29The tincture.
01:30So nice.
01:32His mouth found mine in the dark.
01:34His hardness reached my soul.
01:43Before dawn, I knelt at Vivian's feet and recited him.
01:47Every whisper.
01:48Every mark blooming purple on my throat.
01:50Her expression curdled.
01:52Then she walked back into his arms.
01:54Kaylin caught her hair around one lazy finger.
01:56You've been sneaking out to find yourself another wolf.
01:59She swatted him, pouting prettily, as if she were the one.
02:02Vivian was beautiful, and chronically, devastatingly fragile.
02:07Kaylin saw her at the spring hunt gathering.
02:09He fell instantly.
02:10Offered her the first mate rank before the night was over.
02:13Perfect together.
02:14Everyone said so.
02:16As her bonded handmaid, I was genuinely happy for them.
02:19Until their bonding night.
02:23Three nights in a row.
02:25No completed bond.
02:26No mating mark.
02:27Overnight, Vivian became the pack's favorite joke.
02:30Desperate, Vivian invented the switch.
02:33Every night, candles out, handmade substitutes.
02:36Masking tinctures rubbed into my skin until I smelled like her ghost.
02:40Of all her handmaids, only I was a viable double.
02:44Vivian and I were built from the same blueprint.
02:46The same narrow waist.
02:47The same pale slope of shoulder and throat.
02:50Side by side in daylight, the resemblance was unsettling.
02:53In total darkness, with the masking tinctures working through my skin,
02:57his wolf couldn't tell the difference.
02:59What Vivian hadn't accounted for, I was not fragile.
03:03She broke under Kaylin's hands.
03:05I did not.
03:06What she couldn't endure, I simply survived.
03:09Body learning the architecture of his need.
03:11Learning to anticipate it.
03:13Relax.
03:14Only three years.
03:16My body will recover.
03:17Then I will give you enough gold to live well outside the mansion.
03:21Think about it.
03:22My whole family's safety rested in her hands.
03:24I had no choice.
03:25One hour later, Vivian and Kaylin finally rose.
03:29I returned to my quarters briefly, then went in to lay out the morning meal.
03:36Why are you dressed like that?
03:38I didn't know how to answer.
03:39I pressed my lips together.
03:41Kaylin bit.
03:42Hard.
03:43Darling, you've forgotten.
03:45Selina is mute.
03:45I nodded quickly.
03:47Serving Vivian meant constant proximity to Kaylin, and she was terrified of exposure.
03:52So she declared me mute.
03:54The entire pack believed it.
03:57Your little mute is striking.
03:58Sad, almost, how pretty she is.
04:00And what exactly does my alpha mean by that?
04:03Has she caught your eye?
04:04I haven't blamed you for anything yet, and you're already turning on me.
04:09Kaylin had pushed too far last night.
04:11I'd wept myself hoarse, then bitten him hard.
04:15He'd walked through silver and hellfire to earn his title, scars mapping him from throat
04:21to hip.
04:21He wouldn't care about a few teeth marks.
04:24This whole performance was foreplay.
04:26I don't know how much time passed.
04:29You insolent thing!
04:30You dared bite him?
04:32Are you challenging me?
04:33I had no time to defend myself.
04:35Vivian had me bound, dragged to the supply outbuilding.
04:38No food, no water.
04:40Kaylin had left for the border territories.
04:43However long he was gone, I stayed locked up.
04:45I was barely breathing when my sister found a way through.
04:49Briar had bribed the guard, slipped a bowl of broth under the door.
04:53She was my younger sister.
04:54Sister, what did you do to make the lady so angry?
04:57Briar, when will Kaylin be back?
04:59The guards say tonight, and he's going straight to the lady's room.
05:03What else was happening in the mansion?
05:05The alpha-haired, his wolf spirit, is fading again.
05:07The pack healers say there's nothing left to do.
05:09They're preparing the rates.
05:10Lucian, the elder brother, cursed since birth, fading, never anchored to this world.
05:15He's never taken a mate.
05:17The matriarch doesn't want him to cross alone.
05:19She's looking for someone willing to complete a spirit bond.
05:22A spirit bond with a dying alpha heir meant grieving him forever.
05:26No high-ranking female would consent.
05:28Not even the lower-ranked handmaids.
05:30At dusk, they released me.
05:32I'd be needed that night.
05:33Selina, I was impulsive.
05:36I meant to release you hours ago, but things got away from me.
05:39Don't hold it against me.
05:40Of course not, my lady.
05:42My lady, it has been three years.
05:44When will I leave the pack mansion?
05:46You want to leave?
05:47Yes, my body hasn't healed.
05:49Kaylin still needs you.
05:50If you insist on leave, I'll simply use Briar instead.
05:53Your sisters.
05:53The voice, the build.
05:54Close enough.
05:55How old is she?
05:56Thirteen or fourteen?
05:58Then, could Kaylin at least give me a rank?
06:01Reaching for status now?
06:04If I wanted Kaylin to take a new mate, I have a hundred candidates.
06:08You would never make that list.
06:10Don't bother trying to go through Kaylin directly.
06:12You're a convenience to him.
06:16Even if you ended up in his quarters permanently, I could have you removed with a single word.
06:23But every un-mated female is supposed to be matched eventually.
06:27Eventually?
06:28Was I supposed to be her substitute?
06:30In bed?
06:31For the rest of my life?
06:33The gatekeeper's son is your age.
06:35When you turn sixteen next year, I'll arrange the match.
06:38The gatekeeper's son.
06:39A man with a child's mind and fists like hammers, hitting because it was the only thing he knew.
06:46Only by being bound to someone that broken would I remain useful and too far gone to threaten her.
06:53Kaylin returned to find me kneeling.
06:55You're home.
06:56You must be exhausted.
06:58This girl broke the crystal chalice from the Western Alliance.
07:01I've had her kneeling.
07:03Kaylin stepped over me, without a glance.
07:06What's the status on my brother?
07:07I've asked every un-mated female in the pack.
07:10A spirit bond sounds like a curse to them.
07:12None of the young wolves will agree.
07:14What's there to agree about?
07:15Find a female, threaten someone she loves, and it's done.
07:18That kind of coercion would be hard to hide from your mother.
07:21Enough gold and fear will find a willing body.
07:25And if you handle this well, my mother might finally look at you differently.
07:32And every time Kaylin came back from the border, he spent the whole night making up for lost time.
07:38He was an alpha who'd spent weeks at war.
07:41He came home hungry, and he made that hunger my problem.
07:46That night, I gave him everything.
07:49Pushed past my own limits to match him.
07:51Why so eager tonight?
07:52Did you miss me?
07:53I rarely initiated.
07:55He noticed.
07:57Good girl.
07:58Near dawn, I came back to myself in pieces.
08:03Trying to run again?
08:07My wolf has always been scent sensitive.
08:13I've known about your lady's little switch since the beginning.
08:16No wonder.
08:17He grew bolder every time, which meant he never held back.
08:51It was all for me.
08:51He didn't like greedy she-wolves.
08:53He had others.
08:54Bonded females.
08:56All with bloodlines.
08:57Gifts from allied packs.
08:59And yet, since Vivian came, he never touched them.
09:03The pack praised him for devotion.
09:05And he wore that praise like armor.
09:07A handmaid, born to serve, was never meant to stand beside him.
09:13The colder I became, I was born low.
09:16I don't deserve a rank, and I don't belong in your quarters.
09:19I only hope you and the lady are devoted to each other until the end.
09:22The next morning, Briar heard of Vivian's plan to marry me off to the gatekeeper's son.
09:26We served her faithfully.
09:28How can she be this cruel?
09:30That brute would be a slow death.
09:33The thought lingered, then twisted into something darker.
09:36If I couldn't escape fate, I would choose it.
09:39I will take the spirit bond with Lucien.
09:42The matriarch stared, then broke into astonished relief.
09:45She asked my name, my birthdate, my bloodline.
09:48The pack shaman consulted the moon charts and looked up, nodding.
09:51This female's spirit signature aligns with the heirs in a way I have not seen in decades.
09:57She was born into hardship, which means she carries the kind of resilience that could anchor him.
10:02The bond will serve him well in the next life.
10:04Caelan and Vivian arrived quickly once word spread.
10:07They walked in together to find me sitting at the matriarch's feet, working the tension from her ankles.
10:12Caelan's voice came first, amused, sharp.
10:15This is the female who agreed to bond with my brother?
10:18Whoever's handmaid she is, she has a rare heart.
10:20Mother, you must reward her well.
10:22I turned and faced them.
10:24Caelan went very still.
10:25It's me, Alpha Caelan, Lady Vivian's.
10:30You're supposed to be mute.
10:32I can speak.
10:33My lady simply prefers I don't.
10:35Vivian's face turned to chalk.
10:37I didn't know your household contained such a loyal soul.
10:40But once this bond is sealed, you'll carry his grief for the rest of your days.
10:44Are you certain?
10:45I will never regret it.
10:46The hand hanging at Caelan's side curled into a fist.
10:49He stared at me like I had become something he didn't recognize.
10:52Child, tell me what you want.
10:55Silver, land, titles, anything I can grant is yours.
11:00I turned and looked at Vivian.
11:01She held her smile together.
11:03But she took half a step back.
11:05After a long pause, I dropped my eyes.
11:07I have a younger sister.
11:08Briar, I ask that she be transferred to your personal household matriarch.
11:12She's already part of this pack.
11:14I'll see to her for the rest of her life.
11:16Vivian's smile pulled thin.
11:18Mother, Briar came with my dowie pack.
11:21She's my bonded household.
11:22I'd hate to be ungenerous, but-
11:23She's a handmaid.
11:25Mother wants her.
11:26Give her over.
11:27Caelan's voice cut across hers, flat and final.
11:30The matriarch's expression had gone stone cold.
11:32Bring the bond papers.
11:36I will find Briar a secure place before I pass.
11:39You don't have to worry about her ever again.
11:42I hadn't expected the matriarch to think about her entire future.
11:46Moved beyond words.
11:48Thank you, matriarch.
11:50I promise to care for Lucian with everything I have.
11:52When the matriarch spoke of her eldest son, she couldn't stop the break in her voice.
11:57I was pregnant with Lucian during the Dark Coven War.
12:01The fear marked him at birth.
12:04He came into the world without breath.
12:07Without a wolf spirit.
12:08His father had returned victorious that same night, and brought someone with him from the deep forest.
12:14A shaman.
12:15The shaman's methods were outside anything the pack had seen.
12:18He brought Lucian back from the edge of nothing.
12:20It should have been a miracle.
12:21But the shaman warned them.
12:23Pulling a spirit back across that threshold was a transgression against the laws of wolf and moon.
12:29Lucian could live, but only for 30 years.
12:31No more.
12:32And so it had been.
12:33Lucian had grown up slight.
12:35Unable to shift into warrior form.
12:37But razor sharp in mind.
12:39A natural strategist.
12:40A scholar.
12:41He'd won council honors young.
12:43But the older he got, the weaker his body became.
12:46Eventually, he stopped leaving his territory altogether.
12:48Retreating to a lakeside cabin at the edge of the pack mansion.
12:52Since I had agreed to the spirit bond, I was to remain at his side.
12:56Word was that he didn't allow anyone to serve him.
12:58Just the shaman, who had stayed all these years.
13:01The shaman brought me into the cabin while Lucian was asleep.
13:04I looked at his face.
13:05His lashes trembled faintly with each shallow breath.
13:08He was two years older than Kaelin.
13:1027.
13:11The brothers looked nothing alike.
13:12Kaelin was bronze and hard-edged from years of combat training.
13:16Lucian was fine-boned, pale as snow.
13:19Almost startlingly beautiful in a way that made you forget to breathe.
13:23I spent the afternoon learning his preferences.
13:25When the sun touched the horizon, Lucian finally woke.
13:28It was time for his medicine.
13:30I'd spent the afternoon learning to brew it from the shaman.
13:32So you're the female who plans to bond with my corpse?
13:35Yes.
13:36Get up.
13:37He picked up the bowl calmly.
13:42I don't want it.
13:43What are you going to do about it?
13:45Lucian looked up, a thread of provocation in his gaze.
13:48The shaman had told me Lucian was a person of pure instinct, all feeling, no armor.
13:53Earned honors at 15, and had the makings of something extraordinary ahead of him.
13:58Then one evening, a hunting trip with Kaelin ended with Lucian falling off the cliff and
14:03drown in the water.
14:04His wolf spirit seizing, and three days of unconsciousness.
14:08The matriarch had broken every servant in his household for failing him, and sold the
14:12rest.
14:13Lucian didn't treat servants like livestock.
14:15He'd read too much, and thought too hard to do that.
14:20Alpha Hare, I genuinely can't force you.
14:25But since we're going to be bonded eventually, perhaps...
14:28I looked down at the dark liquid.
14:30Perhaps I should start exercising a mate's authority now.
14:33Either you drink this, or...
14:37Or what?
14:39The shaman had told me Lucian had refused medicine for six months.
14:42That was why he was hovering at the edge of nothing.
14:45At this rate, he wouldn't survive to spring.
15:01When I looked at him again, vivid color had bloomed across his face, like dawn breaking over frost.
15:07When I looked at him again, vivid color had bloomed across his face, like dawn breaking over frost.
15:17Lucian's expression was painfully similar.
15:19A prick of guilt moved through me.
15:21I forced my own pulse to slow, keeping my voice steady.
15:25If you won't drink, I'll be forced to do that again.
15:44Alpha Hare, your color has improved over these past few days.
15:48Your skin isn't as cold as it was, that's the medicine working.
15:50Medicine is useless.
15:52The shaman works hard to brew it.
15:55If you pour it out every time, he'll be heartbroken.
15:58Watch.
16:00Testing the temperature alone takes constant checking to preserve the potency.
16:04I've only been doing it a few days, and my hands already look like this.
16:08He pressed his lips together, said nothing, and drank the rest of the bowl without being asked.
16:13After that, he never made me beg him to drink his medicine again.
16:19Half a month later, the shaman gave the matriarch his report.
16:22Lucian had genuinely improved, no longer at death's edge.
16:27Could it be a final surge before the end?
16:30No, it's real healing.
16:32This one is responsible.
16:34I told you before, her wolf spirit signature is a natural compliment to his.
16:38She steadies him.
16:40The matriarch looked satisfied.
16:42When she turned to me, her eyes were almost tender.
16:45How has Selina been caring for you?
16:50She's been taking very good care of me.
16:55Alpha Lucian may not know, but when Selina was serving in my household,
17:00her skill at attending to Caelan was quite exceptional as well.
17:04Such a good servant.
17:06The air went very still.
17:09Is that how you speak to your future sister-in-law?
17:12Vivian, you are young, but that is no excuse for ignorance of PAC law.
17:18Shut up! Stop embarrassing yourself!
17:23Days later...
17:24Did you hear about it?
17:26Vivian had found another substitute.
17:28She looked for a maid again?
17:29Not from the PAC's own hand-aids.
17:30She'd bought a woman from outside, trained and shaped to match her voice and build exactly.
17:35How do you know?
17:35Because Caelan lit every lantern in the room that night, and when he saw what he saw,
17:39he beat woman half to death and threw her at Vivian's feet.
17:41Vivian had fainted.
17:42And then?
17:43He said if she refused to truly share his bed, he would never come to her rooms again.
17:47They're sleeping in separate dens now.
17:48Separate dens meant every wolf in the PAC knew the bond was broken.
17:53No mate's devotion.
17:54No matriarch's approval.
17:56No pups.
17:56No wonder Vivian looked like she hadn't slept in a month.
18:04He looked fragile in the lake wind.
18:07Unsteadying.
18:08I went back to get his cloak.
18:14Is it you?
18:19Was it always you?
18:22Answer me.
18:24You think you can play mute with me again?
18:32Silence won't save you.
18:35I don't need your voice to confirm it.
18:38One night, and I'd know for certain.
18:40Had he lost his mind?
18:43I spent three years with a woman.
18:45And she's going to be bonded to my brother.
18:48How dare you make fools of us both?
18:51Especially me!
18:52Would a rank at my side really be worse than grieving a dead man forever?
18:56Do you actually want to bond with a corpse?
19:01I just want to survive!
19:06If I didn't do this, she'd give me to someone who'd break me.
19:11A formal bond, even a broken one, would have made me untouchable.
19:16Useful to no one.
19:19Forced to stay her shadow forever.
19:21Before he could recover, I stomped hard on his foot and ran.
19:25I was still stumbling when I rounded the corner.
19:28What took you so long?
19:32I smiled, walked over, and settled the cloak around his shoulders.
19:36But he simply brushed my hand away.
19:38Somehow he lost balance and fell.
19:39His chest had a severe bruise.
19:42Just leave me. I am not your burden.
19:47Lucien liked to sit there.
19:49Open a book in the shade.
19:50Why did you really agree to the spirit bond?
19:54I didn't want to be given to the given to the gatekeeper's son.
19:58I thought it would be something like that.
20:00What is it to guess that it would be like this?
20:03The shaman pressed a small wooden box into my hands.
20:06Should I start calling you mate of the alpha?
20:08Please don't.
20:10My future, most likely, was a silent room in a shrine,
20:13grieving him in his name until I followed.
20:16With the shaman gone, I took on more responsibility,
20:18including helping Lucien bathe.
20:24I watched his ears and tried not to smile.
20:27Had no one ever helped him bathe?
20:29Kaelin had always kept half a dozen female attendants for bathing.
20:32A younger version of me would have died of the blush alone.
20:36But I wasn't that innocent girl anymore.
20:38There was a phrase I'd found in one of his books.
20:40A broken moon.
20:41A she-wolf who'd been claimed and discarded.
20:44The text said that's what I was.
20:47What strange things are you reading now?
20:50I tucked it behind my back.
20:52I'd memorized a passage and presented it to him like a prize.
20:56Look at you. Impressive.
20:58You sound like you're humeering a child.
21:01How old are you?
21:03Eighteen.
21:04I have almost a decade on you.
21:06To me, you are a child.
21:09The shaman had introduced new compounds,
21:12performed old rituals at the edge of firelight,
21:15burned offerings and whispered things I didn't catch.
21:18Speak a wish.
21:20You do it.
21:22I want you to be happy.
21:24What does that look like?
21:25Your body heals.
21:27You find a mate who deserves you.
21:28A pack of your own.
21:30A life that finally goes the way it should have.
21:33Do you mean that?
21:34Our eyes met. I looked away.
21:37Did I mean it? It didn't matter.
21:38What mattered was, the shaman's ritual apparently worked,
21:41because Lucian decided he wanted to leave the cabin.
21:45I asked him where he wanted to go.
21:47He studied me for a long moment.
21:48There's a moon festival gathering tonight.
21:51I've heard the town lights the whole river.
21:53Festival fires were always burning somewhere.
21:55Nothing special.
21:56But since coming into Vivienne's household,
21:58I hadn't been to a single one.
22:00The longing had been sitting quietly in me for years.
22:02That night, a young noblewoman arrived with her escort.
22:05They said, used to getting everything she reached for.
22:08In the river of lantern light and moving bodies,
22:11she found Lucian in seconds.
22:12Loser buys dinner at the finest inn in the city.
22:15What do you say?
22:15And she walked straight up and challenged him to a game of darts.
22:19I'd forgotten who won.
22:20I only remember the brightness in her eyes.
22:23Lucian turned to look at me.
22:25If you'd like to go, I'll wait outside.
22:27I hadn't behaved like a servant in front of him in a long time,
22:30but there were others watching.
22:31She didn't wait.
22:32She stepped around me cheerfully and reached for Lucian's chair.
22:35I watched them move into the crowd,
22:37and I felt something leave me that I hadn't known was mine to lose.
22:40I stood in the cold for a very long time.
22:43Then I remembered.
22:44Today was my birthday.
22:45She was the regent's only daughter.
22:47Every door in the wolf world was open to her.
22:50When the regent and his mate arrived at the pack mansion to formally propose the match,
22:54the matriarch looked more shaken than pleased.
22:57Through Briar, I learned the truth.
22:59It wasn't love at first sight.
23:00She'd fallen for Lucian over a decade ago,
23:03back when he was a young scholar with fire in his eyes and a future everyone could see.
23:08She'd been carrying it ever since, refusing every other offer.
23:11Lucian's potential mating became the pack's entire focus.
23:15Even the news that Kaylin's quartermate had conceived was forgotten.
23:18If the match succeeded, the matriarch would have been overjoyed,
23:21but Lucian was already bound by the spirit bond.
23:24To take a living mate, the bond had to be dissolved,
23:27and so I knew exactly what I had to do.
23:29Just as I'd once knelt before the matriarch and volunteered,
23:32I came before her again.
23:35I'm willing to step aside.
23:38I want Lucian to have this.
23:40I'd had the shaman check their spirit signatures as well.
23:44They aligned perfectly.
23:45She was born to rank, polished in every art,
23:48and her love for Lucian had outlasted years of silence.
23:51If he died, she would grieve him faithfully.
23:54There was nothing more I could offer that she couldn't match.
23:56So, what do you want in return?
24:00Money? Is it still about status?
24:02The matriarch squeezed my hands and asked what I wanted in return.
24:06I pressed the gold I'd saved over two years into her palm.
24:09I asked to be released from the pack's bond records.
24:13I want to be a free wolf.
24:16Child.
24:18You could ask me for so much more.
24:20I held the bow and didn't move.
24:22Tears fell, one by one, onto the stone.
24:25Take me with you, okay?
24:28Outside the pack Paoshin, life was uncertain and hard.
24:32Inside, with the matriarch's protection, you would be safe.
24:35Stay, serve well, don't make enemies.
24:39The rest would come.
24:42Briar wept and pressed gold into my hands anyway.
24:45On the morning I left, many of the other handmaids came to see me off.
24:49The shaman also walked towards me in the crowd.
24:51May your ancestors guide your path.
24:56Patted my shoulder and then walked towards the crowd.
25:01I turned around and walked towards the door.
25:04But in the crowd I saw Karen also there.
25:07Kaelin grabbed me to the corner.
25:09He caged me against the wall and looked at me like he wanted to devour me.
25:13Say the word and I'll take you as a formal mate.
25:18Serve me like you used to, and I'll give you rank above the others.
25:23I stared at him for a long time.
25:30Don't look at me like that.
25:33What?
25:34You think Lucian's gonna come running after you?
25:36You're deluding yourself.
25:39He's probably not even thinking of you.
25:41Once his body improved he didn't need you anymore.
25:44You were useful and now you're spare.
25:45And don't expect him to remember you in a year.
25:48He didn't even come to see you off.
25:50That tells you exactly where you rank to him.
25:53Something in my chest seized.
25:55The truth was, Lucian and I had been in a cold war for weeks.
25:58It had started on the way home from the festival.
26:01If I was happy.
26:05Yes, the warmth vanished from Lucian's face.
26:08Happy about the fireworks?
26:10No.
26:10Watching you walk with her.
26:11You look like you belong together.
26:13My wish is starting to work.
26:14That made me happy.
26:15You see me with another female and that's what makes you happy?
26:17She's extraordinary.
26:18She might become the Pax Future First Luna.
26:20Of course I'm happy.
26:21Selina.
26:23I didn't know you could be so heartless.
26:25My parents had died years ago in the household where I was born into service.
26:29I had no home to return to.
26:31I'd planned to head south, find a city where no one knew my name.
26:35But the second Kaylin's and Vivian's faces floated up behind my eyes,
26:39I was on my feet, booking passage on the first river ferry south,
26:43before I'd finished the thought.
26:46Property deeds.
26:48Golds, a house, a plot of land.
26:50Somewhere in the south.
26:52I tried to remember when the shaman had touched my bag.
26:55He'd had his hands on it during the send-off, but where had he gotten this?
26:59The ferry listed suddenly.
27:00I nearly went over the rail.
27:04I scrambled upright, and found boots surrounding me on three sides.
27:08Then I was bound, carried ashore, and pushed into a carriage.
27:13When the blindfold came down...
27:19Vivian, smiling.
27:21I couldn't stop the bitter laugh from escaping.
27:24Briar had been right.
27:25For all the years I'd served her, and this was still where we ended up.
27:29They brought out women with strong hands to deal with me.
27:32The blows were professional and thorough.
27:34She'd grown thinner since I last saw her.
27:36The delicate elegance that had once made her untouchable,
27:39now just made her look breakable.
27:41What it didn't do was protect her inside the pack.
27:46I used your body as a convenience, and you had the nerve to find your own way out.
27:50Ungrateful.
27:51Traitorous.
27:52Have you forgotten what you swore?
27:55Loyal service.
27:57Always.
27:58Loyal service.
27:59She wasn't wrong.
28:00But loyalty is a two-way bond, and she had never honored her path.
28:04Waited for the anger to burn out so I could leave.
28:07I overestimated her capacity for mercy.
28:09The first day, only the hitting.
28:12Look at me.
28:13The second day, she used silver-tipped needles on my hands.
28:18The third day, she locked me in the holding den beneath the estate.
28:22I found my parents' remains there.
28:23For a moment, just one, I genuinely wanted to stop fighting.
28:27The young guard outside pulled me up before I could follow the thought all the way.
28:31Delina! Come back! Please!
28:33You saved me!
28:34Do I know you?
28:36Years ago, a bracelet went missing in the ladies' rooms.
28:39They were gonna use me as the culprit.
28:41You figured out who really took it, and you bought me enough time to prove it.
28:45I kept all my fingers because of you.
28:46You're one of the kindest people I've ever known.
28:49Why is she doing this to you?
28:51Because I wasn't loyal enough.
28:54What's happening at the Pack Mansion?
28:56The alpha-haired.
28:58Is he truly going to bond with the regent's daughter?
29:00The matriarch is frantic.
29:02The whole bonding is off.
29:03The regent's family pulled their daughter out the night his wolf spirit nearly went dark completely.
29:08She agreed to cancel it?
29:10She's never been this close to real death before.
29:13They say she ran.
29:13Selene, please stop thinking about them.
29:16Think about yourself.
29:17You have to survive long enough to be rescued.
29:19Will you let me help you?
29:20Please help me bury my parents.
29:22Is there anything else I can do for you after that?
29:24I need you to find a small wooden box.
29:27You buried my parents.
29:29I'll carry that gratitude into whatever comes next.
29:32On the fifth evening, Vivian returned.
29:34She examined her nails as if nothing else mattered.
29:38I could barely hold my head up.
29:39You're still alive.
29:41Heaven must want you to suffer longer.
29:44Begging me to stop?
29:46Don't bother.
29:46I wasn't begging.
29:48I was cursing her.
29:50Quietly.
29:50Steadily.
29:51The rope around my neck tightened.
29:53I let out a slow breath.
29:54Finally.
29:55A clean ending.
29:56It pulled taut.
29:58Tighter.
29:58Until the air was gone.
30:00Then, it went slack.
30:02A second cruelty?
30:04Another method?
30:05Noise poured in from every direction.
30:07Someone was calling my name.
30:09Someone was in the water.
30:10Selene!
30:11Selene!
30:16I'm sorry.
30:18I'm sorry.
30:19Please don't leave me.
30:21I was lifted.
30:22Carried.
30:23Fast.
30:24Too fast.
30:25And then I hid a cold chest.
30:26And stayed there.
30:27Whoever held me dropped to their knees.
30:29Their arms locked around me like I might disappear.
30:34Lucien.
30:36Where are you?
30:37I am here.
30:38I am here.
30:39I thought I had lost you.
30:41Selene.
30:42I'm so sorry.
30:44I should have found you sooner.
30:49Lucien brought me back to the lakeside cabin.
30:51The shaman had prepared a medicinal bath.
30:53Something old.
30:54Something meant for deep wounds.
30:56Lucien washed me himself.
30:58Every new injury he found made the skin around his eyes darken.
31:02Deeper.
31:03Redder.
31:04In the blur between waking and sleep,
31:06I felt like I was drifting.
31:08Held up by careful hands in warm water.
31:11Rocking.
31:12Gently.
31:12The last thing I remembered was a soft bed rising up to catch me.
31:17And my arms closing around it.
31:19I slept for a very long time.
31:29Where's Lucien?
31:30He kept watch over you for days.
31:33I added something to his tea.
31:34He's out.
31:35Is he having an episode?
31:36His wolf spirit?
31:38He's been destroying himself since you left.
31:40His wolf didn't want to be steady.
31:42I couldn't do much.
31:43You were the only person keeping him anchored.
31:45That was never me.
31:46Don't cry.
31:47He's alive.
31:48And he won't die before 30.
31:50I made sure of that much.
31:52What happens at 30?
31:54Does the bond snap?
31:55He was always going to die early.
31:57You know this.
31:58If he weren't fated for early death,
32:00you two would never have found each other.
32:01I sat very still.
32:03Something inside me was splitting apart.
32:06Lucien woke to find me staring into nothing.
32:10What's wrong?
32:10His voice came out rough with sleep.
32:13I wiped my face, said nothing.
32:15My fingers rested against his throat, feeling his pulse.
32:18I'm going to kiss you.
32:21Say yes or no.
32:23You were a lot less polite the first time.
32:30His mouth was cold and his breath against mine
32:33was like a thread of warmth in a blizzard,
32:36brief and so easy to lose.
32:41Lucien, I love you.
32:46I love you too.
32:53I never expected to fall in love with someone within such short life.
32:59Neither did I.
33:01Then the shaman came back.
33:03He returned three nights later,
33:05moving with purpose,
33:06and sat across from us.
33:08I've been doing a great deal of thinking.
33:10That's usually ominous.
33:12The curse on you,
33:13the life debt your father made with the witch clan,
33:16and it was sealed with sacrifice.
33:17Specifically, the sacrifice of a wolf spirit.
33:21Sacrifice can be answered with sacrifice.
33:23Or with something equal and opposite.
33:26A bond freely chosen.
33:27A mating bond.
33:29A true one.
33:30Not a spirit bond with a corpse.
33:32A living, breathing, voluntary mating bond.
33:34Freely given, both sides willing, under the full moon.
33:37If the bond takes hold,
33:40the original sacrifice is fulfilled differently.
33:44Life for life.
33:45But instead of taking,
33:47it gives.
33:49The curse breaks.
33:50Has this worked before?
33:52I believe it will.
33:55Yes.
33:58The next few days passed in controlled chaos.
34:01The matriarch convened a pack circle.
34:03Vivian's crimes had not gone unnoticed.
34:05The poisoning of Caelan's quartermate
34:06and the unborn pup had been confirmed.
34:09By pack law, that was grounds for exile.
34:11Vivian was removed.
34:13Quietly.
34:14Finally.
34:14The regent's daughter came to the cabin one more time.
34:17He told me at the festival, you know.
34:19The night we went to dinner.
34:21What to say?
34:22He talked about you for three hours straight without realizing it.
34:25I'm sorry I was slow to understand.
34:28Her expression unreadable.
34:29I didn't know what to say.
34:31She stepped forward and squeezed my hand once.
34:33Don't let him die.
34:35Then she was gone.
34:41Caelan came to the cabin the night before the ritual.
34:43He stood in the doorway,
34:44and for the first time in the years I've known him,
34:47he looked genuinely lost.
34:49My brother.
34:52He's going to be alright?
34:53The shaman believes so.
34:56I never saw you.
34:58Do you know?
35:00For three years,
35:02I've actually never given you a proper look.
35:05For whatever it's worth, I'm sorry.
35:07I thought about everything I could say.
35:09What I said was...
35:12Take care of yourself, Caelan.
35:15He nodded.
35:16Turned.
35:17Walked away.
35:19It wasn't forgiveness.
35:20Not yet.
35:22But it was a beginning.
35:24The full moon rose over the lake like a white flame.
35:27The shaman built the circle at the water's edge.
35:29Silver dust.
35:30Wolf herbs.
35:31Old fire.
35:33Lucian stood at the center.
35:34He'd refused the chair tonight.
35:36He was standing on his own, in the moonlight.
35:38And the sight of him, pale and slight, and stubbornly, impossibly upright, hit me somewhere I didn't have words for.
35:46The shaman's voice rose over the water, speaking old words in the witch clan's tongue.
35:51The language of the curse that had been turned, tonight, into something else.
35:55He looked at me with those moth-wing lashes, and that expression that always meant he'd run out of arguments,
36:00and was trying not to show how much he felt.
36:03Celine.
36:04You don't have to.
36:05I know.
36:08I might still...
36:10I know that, too.
36:12And what are you doing?
36:15Choosing.
36:15The shaman's voice peaked.
36:18The circle ignited.
36:19Not fire, exactly.
36:20Something older.
36:22Silver blue, rising from the water's surface.
36:24I felt the pull of it in my chest.
36:27Not pain.
36:28Not fear.
36:28Something more like...
36:30Recognition.
36:31Lucian's hand tightened on mine.
36:33And I felt the moment it happened.
36:35A snap, deep in the core of me.
36:37Like a lock giving way.
36:38Like something that had been held closed for thirty years finally opening.
36:43Lucian made a sound I'd never heard from him before.
36:45Not pain.
36:46The opposite of pain.
36:48He dropped to his knees in the silver circle.
36:50And his wolf, his wolf spirit, which I had never seen, which he had never been able to fully call,
36:56tore out of him with a howl that shook the lake.
36:59White.
37:00Enormous.
37:00Blazing like a comet above the water.
37:03He threw his head back and howled again.
37:05The sound broke over the forest.
37:07Over the pack mansion.
37:09Over every territory for miles.
37:11And from far away, from every direction at once, howls began to answer.
37:16The shaman wept.
37:17I didn't realize it until I saw his shoulders shaking.
37:20Lucian's wolf settled around him like a second skin.
37:23The color returned to his face.
37:25Not the brief flush of fever, but real warmth.
37:28Steady.
37:29And permanent.
37:29He touched his own hands like he was checking they were real.
37:33Then he looked at me.
37:34And his eyes, those beautiful, exhausted, fighting to stay open eyes, were the clearest I'd ever seen them.
37:42Selena.
37:43Just my name.
37:45The way he said it cracked something open in me.
37:48I pressed my face against his chest and stayed there for a long, long time.
37:52His heartbeat was strong, steady, warm.
37:56Not borrowed time.
37:59Just him.
38:00The matriarch came to the lake the next morning.
38:03She took one look at Lucian, standing in the early light, no chair, no shawl, real color in his face.
38:09And she sat down on the nearest bench and didn't move for several minutes.
38:13How?
38:14Thanks to Selena, who sacrificed herself willingly.
38:18She was a good girl.
38:20The shaman explained what had happened.
38:22Then she reached out and drew me to sit beside her, as she'd done before.
38:26What do you want?
38:29I once hoped my sister would be safe and that I could be free.
38:32But now, all I want is for Lucian to return as leader, safe and happy.
38:38It happened at the next full moon.
38:41Briar stood beside me.
38:45It's already more than enough.
38:46You have a thread.
38:47Right there.
38:48Hold.
38:50Briar.
38:51What?
38:59Lucian was waiting at the lake's edge.
39:01He'd learned to stand like he meant it.
39:04May your life together be filled with love, laughter and happiness.
39:08May your home always be warm and your hearts always full.
39:13I had survived every single thing.
39:15And I was here, free, loved, his mate and mine.
39:25Selena, I'm not going to die.
39:29I'm not going to die.
39:33Thank you for the surprise looking.
39:34The new home.
39:34For me, sip, and pay attention for my Rodgers.
39:34You're sitting there waiting to talk to my wife because I can't.
39:34Then I'llep was to run and dieé‚Š.
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