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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?
00:45I 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.
00:53I 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.
01:54Kaelin caught her hair around one lazy finger.
01:57You've been sneaking out to find yourself another wolf.
01:59She swatted him, pouting prettily, as if she were the one.
02:03Vivian was beautiful, and chronically, devastatingly fragile.
02:07Kaelin 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.
02:15As 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.
02:48The 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.
03:01I was not fragile.
03:03She broke under Kaelin's hands.
03:05I did not.
03:06What she couldn't endure, I simply survived.
03:08Body learning the architecture of his need.
03:11Learning to anticipate it.
03:14Relax.
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.
03:26One hour later, Vivian and Kaelin finally rose.
03:29I returned to my quarters briefly,
03:31then 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.
03:41Kaelin bit.
03:42Hard.
03:43Darling, you've forgotten Selena is mute.
03:46I nodded quickly.
03:47Serving Vivian meant constant proximity to Kaelin,
03:50and she was terrified of exposure.
03:53So 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,
04:06and you're already turning on me.
04:36Kaelin had pushed too far last night.
04:37I dragged to the supply outbuilding.
04:39No food, no water.
04:40Kaelin had left for the border territories.
04:43However long he was gone, I stayed locked up.
04:46I was barely breathing when my sister found a way through.
04:49Briar had bribed the guard,
04:51slipped a bowl of broth under the door.
04:53She was my younger sister.
04:55Sister, what did you do to make the lady so angry?
04:57Briar, when will Kaelin be back?
04:59The guards say tonight,
05:00and he's going straight to the ladies' 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,
05:12cursed since birth, fading,
05:14never 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
05:24meant 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,
05:37but 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.
05:48My body hasn't healed.
05:49Kaelin still needs you.
05:50If you insist on leave,
05:51I'll simply use Briar instead.
05:53Your sisters.
05:53The voice, the build.
05:55Close enough.
05:55How old is she?
05:56Thirteen or fourteen?
05:58Then, could Kaelin at least give me a rank?
06:01Reaching for status now?
06:04If I wanted Kaelin to take a new mate,
06:06I have a hundred candidates.
06:08You would never make that list.
06:10Don't bother trying to go through Kaelin directly.
06:13You're a convenience to him.
06:16Even if you ended up in his quarters permanently,
06:19I could have you removed with a single word.
06:23But every un-mated female is supposed to be matched eventually.
06:27Eventually?
06:28Eventually?
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.
06:41And fists like hammers.
06:44Hitting because it was the only thing he knew.
06:46Only by being bound to someone that broken would I remain useful.
06:50And too far gone to threaten her.
06:53Kaelin returned.
06:54To find me kneeling.
06:55You're home!
06:57You must be exhausted!
06:58This girl broke the crystal chalice from the Western Alliance.
07:01I've had her kneeling.
07:03Kaelin stepped over me, without a glance.
07:06What's the status on my brother?
07:08I'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.
07:33And...
07:33Every time Kaelin 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.
07:43And 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?
07:54I rarely initiated.
07:55He noticed.
07:57Good girl.
07:58Near dawn.
07:59I came back to myself in pieces.
08:03Trying to run again?
08:08My wolf has always been sense-sensitive.
08:14I've known about your lady's little switch since the beginning.
08:17No wonder.
08:18He grew bolder every time.
08:20Which meant he never held back.
08:22It was all for me.
08:24Then why won't you give me a rank?
08:26A rank?
08:27She's the one who brought you here.
08:29I'm not going to be the one to claim her handmaid.
08:31That would fracture our bond.
08:33She was right.
08:34A she-wolf, taken for free.
08:36Why give her a title?
08:37What grows in the dark, stays small.
08:42Speechless with joy?
08:43Thank you for your generosities, Alpha.
08:45I'm afraid I don't have the kind of luck to deserve it.
08:47You've shared my bed for years.
08:49Don't get ideas above your station.
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.
09:02The pack praised him for devotion, and he wore that praise like armor.
09:08A 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.
09:27We 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.
09:52This 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.
10:05Caelan 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.
10:21Mother, you must reward her well.
10:22I turned and faced them.
10:24Caelan went very still.
10:25It's me, Alpha Caelan.
10:27Lady 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.
10:53Child, 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.
11:19Mother, Briar came with my dowie pack.
11:21She's my bonded household.
11:22I'd hate to be ungenerous, but-
11:24She'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.
11:53When 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
12:13deep 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, but the shaman warned them.
12:23Pulling a spirit back across that threshold was a transgression against the laws of wolf
12:28and 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, unable to shift into warrior form.
12:37But razor sharp in mind, a natural strategist, a scholar.
12:41He'd won council honors young, but the older he got, the weaker his body became.
12:46Eventually, he stopped leaving his territory altogether, retreating to a lakeside cabin
12:50at 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, just the shaman, who had stayed
13:00all 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, 27.
13:11The brothers looked nothing alike.
13:13Kaelin was bronze and hard-edged from years of combat training.
13:16Lucian was fine-boned, pale as snow, almost startlingly beautiful in a way that made you
13:22forget to breathe.
13:22I 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, earned
13:53honors 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
14:03drowned in the water, his wolf spirit seizing, and three days of unconsciousness.
14:08The matriarch had broken every servant in his household for failing him and sold the rest.
14:13Lucian didn't treat servants like livestock.
14:15He'd read too much and thought too hard to do that.
14:20Alpha hair.
14:22I 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.
14:34Either you drink this, or...
14:37Or what?
14:39The shaman had told me Lucian had refused medicine for six months.
14:43That was why he was hovering at the edge of nothing.
14:45At this rate, he wouldn't survive to spring.
14:48I can't do my soul.
14:53I'm a dead man.
14:57I'm a dead man.
15:01I'm a dead man.
15:01When I looked at him again, vivid color had bloomed across his face, like dawn breaking over frost.
15:07Those butterfly-winged lashes were trembling.
15:09With outrage, I thought, distantly, of every arrogant she-wolf Kaelin had ever teased into furious, helpless blushing.
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 hair, your color has improved over these past few days.
15:48Your skin isn't as cold as it was.
15:49That's the medicine working.
15:51Medicine is useless.
15:52The shaman works hard to brew it.
15:55If you pour it out every time, he'll be heartbroken.
15:59Watch.
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.
16:14After 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?
16:51She's been taking very good care of me.
16:56Alpha 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?
17:13Vivian, you are young, but that is no excuse for ignorance of pack law.
17:19Shut up!
17:20Stop 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 pack'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,
17:38and when he saw what he saw, he beat woman half to death and threw her at Vivian's feet.
17:42Vivian 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.
17:49Separate dens meant every wolf in the pack knew the bond was broken.
17:53No mate's devotion.
17:54No matriarch's approval.
17:56No pups.
17:57No wonder Vivian looked like she hadn't slept in a month.
18:04He looked fragile in the lake wind, unsteadying.
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, and 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.
19:22Before 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.
19:40His chest had a severe bruise.
19:42Just leave me.
19:43I am not your burden.
19:47Lucian liked to sit there.
19:49Open a book in the shade.
19:51Why 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,
20:14grieving him in his name until I followed.
20:16With the shaman gone, I took on more responsibility,
20:19including helping Lucian 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.
20:33A 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.
20:42A 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.
20:57Impressive.
20:58You sound like you're humeering a child.
21:02How 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, performed old rituals at the edge of firelight, burned offerings, and whispered things I
21:17didn't catch.
21:18Speak a wish.
21:20You do it.
21:22I want you to be happy.
21:24What does that look like?
21:26Your 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.
21:36I looked away.
21:37Did I mean it?
21:37It didn't matter.
21:38What mattered was, the shaman's ritual apparently worked, because Lucien decided he wanted to leave the cabin.
21:45I asked him where he wanted to go.
21:47He studied me for a long moment.
21:49There's a moon festival gathering tonight.
21:50I'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, I hadn't been to a single one.
22:00The longing had been sitting quietly in me for years.
22:03That night, a young noblewoman arrived with her escort.
22:06They said, used to getting everything she reached for.
22:08In the river of lantern light and moving bodies, she found Lucien in seconds.
22:12Loser buys dinner at the finest inn in the city.
22:15What do you say?
22:16And she walked straight up and challenged him to a game of darts.
22:19I've forgotten who won.
22:20I only remember the brightness in her eyes.
22:23Lucien 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.
22:32She didn't wait.
22:33She stepped around me cheerfully and reached for Lucien's chair.
22:36I watched them move into the crowd.
22:37And I felt something leave me that I hadn't known was mine to lose.
22:41I 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.
23:01She'd fallen for Lucien 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.
23:11Lucien's potential mating became the pack's entire focus.
23:15Even the news that Kaelin's quartermate had conceived was forgotten.
23:18If the match succeeded, the matriarch would have been overjoyed.
23:21But Lucien 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, I came before her again.
23:41I'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 Lucien 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.
23:57So, what do you want in return?
24:00Money?
24:01Is it still about status?
24:03The 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.
24:10I asked to be released from the pack's bond records.
24:13I want to be a free wolf.
24:17Child, you 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 paushin, 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.
24:52May 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.
25:07Kaylin 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.
25:46And 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.
25:59It had started on the way home from the festival.
26:00If I was happy.
26:05Yes.
26:05The warmth vanished from Lucian's face.
26:08Happy about the fireworks?
26:10No.
26:10Watching you walk with her.
26:12You 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.
26:33Find a city where no one knew my name.
26:35But the second Caelan's and Vivian's faces floated up behind my eyes,
26:39I was on my feet.
26:40Booking passage on the first river ferry south before 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.
26:58But where had he gotten this?
26:59The ferry listed suddenly.
27:01I 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...
27:20Vivian, smiling.
27:22I 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 now 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.
27:51Ungrateful, ungrateful, traitorous.
27:53Have 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 half.
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.
28:14The second day, she used silver-tipped needles on my hand.
28:18The third day, she locked me in the holding den beneath the estate.
28:22I found my parents' remains there.
28:24For a moment, just one, I genuinely wanted to stop fighting.
28:28The 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 going to 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.
28:47You'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?
28:57The alpha-haired.
28:58Is he truly going to bond with the regent's daughter?
29:01The 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?
29:11She's never been this close to real death before.
29:13They say she ran.
29:14Selene, please stop thinking about them.
29:16Think about yourself.
29:17You have to survive long enough to be rescued.
29:20Will you let me help you?
29:21Please 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.
29:35She 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.
29:47I 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!
30:11Selene!
30:12Selene!
30:12Selene!
30:12Selene!
30:13Selene!
30:15Selene!
30:16Selene!
30:16Selene!
30:16I'm sorry.
30:18I'm sorry.
30:19Please don't leave me.
30:21I was lifted.
30:23Carried.
30:23Fast.
30:24Too fast.
30:25And then I hid a cold chest and stayed there.
30:28Whoever held me dropped to their knees.
30:30Their arms locked around me like I might disappear.
30:34Lucian.
30:36Where are you?
30:37I am here.
30:39I am here.
30:40I thought I had lost you.
30:41Selene.
30:42I'm so sorry.
30:45I should have found you sooner.
30:49Lucian brought me back to the lakeside cabin.
30:52The shaman had prepared a medicinal bath.
30:54Something old.
30:55Something meant for deep wounds.
30:56Lucian 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, I 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 and my arms closing around it.
31:19But I slept for a very long time.
31:30Where's Lucian?
31:31He kept watch over you for days.
31:33I added something to his tea.
31:34He's out.
31:35Is he having an episode?
31:37His 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.
31:53What 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, you two would never have found each other.
32:01I sat very still.
32:03Something inside me was splitting apart.
32:06Lucian woke to find me staring into nothing.
32:10What's wrong?
32:11His voice came out rough with sleep.
32:13I wiped my face.
32:14Said nothing.
32:15My fingers rested against his throat, feeling his pulse.
32:19I'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 was like a thread of warmth in a blizzard.
32:36Brief and so easy to lose.
32:41Lucian, 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, moving with purpose, and sat across from us.
33:08I've been doing a great deal of thinking.
33:11That's usually ominous.
33:12The curse on you, the life debt your father made with the witch clan, it was sealed with sacrifice.
33:17The sacrifice, specifically the sacrifice of a wolf spirit, sacrifice can be answered with sacrifice, or with something equal and
33:25opposite, a bond freely chosen, a mating bond, a true one, not a spirit bond with a corpse, a living,
33:33breathing, voluntary mating bond, freely given, both sides willing, under the full moon.
33:37If the bond takes hold, if the bond takes hold, the original sacrifice is fulfilled differently, life for life, but
33:46instead of taking, it gives, the curse breaks.
33:50Has this worked before?
33:52I believe it will.
33:55Yes.
33:58The next few days passed in controlled chaos.
34:00The matriarch convened a pack circle.
34:03Vivian's crimes had not gone unnoticed.
34:05The poisoning of Kaylin's quartermate and the unborn pup had been confirmed.
34:09By pack law, that was grounds for exile.
34:12Vivian was removed, quietly, finally.
34:14The regent's daughter came to the cabin one more time.
34:17He told me at the festival, you know, the night we went to dinner.
34:20What to say?
34:22He talked about you for three hours straight without realizing it.
34:26I'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.
34:34Don't let him die.
34:35Then she was gone.
34:41Kaylin came to the cabin the night before the ritual.
34:43He stood in the doorway, and for the first time in the years I'd known him, he looked genuinely lost.
34:50My brother.
34:52He's going to be all right?
34:54The shaman believes so.
34:57I never saw you.
34:58Do you know?
35:00For three years, I've actually never given you a proper look.
35:05For whatever it's worth, I'm sorry.
35:06I thought about everything I could say.
35:09What I said was,
35:12Take care of yourself, Kaylin.
35:15He nodded, turned, walked away.
35:18It 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.
35:30Silver dust.
35:31Wolf herbs.
35:32Old fire.
35:32Lucian 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, the language of the curse
35:52that had been turned, tonight, into something else.
35:55He looked at me with those moth-winged lashes, and that expression that always meant he'd run out of arguments,
36:00and was trying not to show how much he felt.
36:03Selene, you don't have to.
36:05I know.
36:08I might still...
36:09I know that, too.
36:12Then what are you doing?
36:15Choosing.
36:16The shaman's voice peaked.
36:18The circle ignited.
36:19Not fire, exactly.
36:21Something older.
36:22Silver blue, thriving from the water's surface.
36:25I felt the pull of it in my chest.
36:27Not pain.
36:28Not fear.
36:29Something 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.
36:39Like something that had been held closed for 30 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, enormous, blazing like a comet above the water.
37:02He 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, steady and 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.
37:43Selena.
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.
37:53His 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.
38:06No chair, no shawl.
38:08Real color in his face.
38:10And 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.
38:23Then 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.
38:39It 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.
39:25Selina, I'm not going to die.
39:34Selina, I'm not going to die.
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