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Whispers in the Dark Alpha's Bed
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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.
00:23So 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.
00:31Firstly 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.
01:28A pause.
01:28My heart stopped.
01:29The tincture.
01:31So 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.
02:11Offered 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.
02:31Desperate, 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.
03:25I 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.
03:55The 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.
04:41Kaelin 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.
04:54Sister, 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 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,
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.
05:29Not 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,
05:38but things got away from me.
05:39Don't hold it against me.
05:41Of 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.
05:54The voice, the build.
05:55Close enough.
05:55How old is she?
05:56Thirteen or fourteen?
05:58Then,
05:59could 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 unmated female is supposed to be matched eventually.
06:27Eventually?
06:28Was I supposed to be her substitute?
06:31In bed?
06:32For 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.
06:40A man with a child's mind.
06:42And fists like hammers.
06:44Hitting because it was the only thing he knew.
06:46Only by being bound to someone that broken,
06:49would I remain useful.
06:50And too far gone to threaten her.
06:53Kaelin returned.
06:54To find me kneeling.
06:56You'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 unmated female in the pack.
07:10A spirit bond sounds like a curse to them.
07:13None 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,
07:28my mother might finally look at you differently.
07:32N.
07:33Every time Kaelin came back from the border,
07:35he 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,
08:00I 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.
08:32That would fracture our bond.
08:33She was right.
08:34A she-wolf taken for free.
08:36Why give her a title?
08:38What 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.
08:48You'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.
08:55Bonded females.
08:55All with bloodlines.
08:57Gifts from allied packs.
08:59And yet, since Vivian came,
09:02he never touched them.
09:03The pack praised him for devotion.
09:05And he wore that praise like armor.
09:08A handmaid, born to serve,
09:11was never meant to stand beside him.
09:13The colder I became,
09:15I was born low.
09:16I don't deserve a rank.
09:18And 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,
09:24Briar 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,
09:34then twisted into something darker.
09:36If I couldn't escape fate,
09:38I would choose it.
09:40I will take the spirit bond with Lucien.
09:42The matriarch stared,
09:44then broke into astonished relief.
09:45She asked my name,
09:47my birth date,
09:47my bloodline.
09:48The pack shaman consulted the moon charts
09:50and looked up,
09:51nodding.
09:52This female's spirit signature
09:53aligns with the airs in a way I have not seen in decades.
09:57She was born into hardship,
09:59which means she carries the kind of resilience
10:01that 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,
10:10working the tension from her ankles.
10:12Caelan's voice came first,
10:14amused,
10:15sharp.
10:15This is the female who agreed to bond with my brother?
10:18Whoever's handmaid she is,
10:19she has a rare heart.
10:21Mother,
10:21you must reward her well.
10:22I turned and faced them.
10:24Caelan went very still.
10:25It's me,
10:26Alpha 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,
10:42you'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.
10:50He stared at me like I had become something he didn't recognize.
10:53Child,
10:53tell me what you want.
10:55Silver,
10:56land,
10:57titles,
10:57anything 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,
11:06I dropped my eyes.
11:07I have a younger sister,
11:09Briar.
11:09I 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,
11:20Briar came with my dowie pack.
11:21She's my bonded household.
11:22I'd hate to be ungenerous,
11:24but-
11:24She's a handmaid.
11:25Mother wants her.
11:26Give her over.
11:27Caelan's voice cut across hers,
11:29flat and final.
11:30The matriarch's expression had gone stone cold.
11:33Bring 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 Lucien with everything I have.
11:53When the matriarch spoke of her eldest son,
11:55she couldn't stop the break in her voice.
11:57I was pregnant with Lucien during the Dark Coven War.
12:02The fear marked him at birth.
12:04He came into the world without breath,
12:07without a wolf spirit.
12:09His father had returned victorious that same night
12:11and 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 Lucien back from the edge of nothing.
12:21It should have been a miracle,
12:22but the shaman warned them.
12:24Pulling a spirit back across that threshold
12:25was a transgression against the laws of wolf and moon.
12:29Lucien could live,
12:30but only for 30 years,
12:31no more.
12:32And so it had been.
12:33Lucien 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,
12:44the weaker his body became.
12:46Eventually,
12:47he stopped leaving his territory altogether,
12:49retreating to a lakeside cabin
12:50at the edge of the pack mansion.
12:52Since I had agreed to the spirit bond,
12:54I was to remain at his side.
12:56Word was that he didn't allow anyone to serve him,
12:58just the shaman,
13:00who had stayed all these years.
13:01The shaman brought me into the cabin
13:03while Lucien 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.
13:13Kaelin was bronze and hard-edged
13:15from years of combat training.
13:16Lucien was fine-boned,
13:18pale as snow,
13:19almost startlingly beautiful
13:21in a way that made you forget to breathe.
13:23I spent the afternoon learning his preferences.
13:25When the sun touched the horizon,
13:27Lucien finally woke.
13:28It was time for his medicine.
13:30I'd spent the afternoon learning
13:31to brew it from the shaman.
13:32So you're the female
13:33who 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?
13:45Lucien looked up,
13:46a thread of provocation in his gaze.
13:48The shaman had told me
13:49Lucien was a person of pure instinct,
13:51all feeling, no armor,
13:53earned honors at 15,
13:55and had the makings
13:56of something extraordinary ahead of him.
13:58Then one evening,
13:59a hunting trip with Kaelin
14:01ended with Lucien falling off the cliff
14:03and drowned in the water,
14:05his wolf spirit seizing,
14:06and three days of unconsciousness.
14:08The matriarch had broken
14:09every servant in his household
14:11for failing him
14:12and sold the rest.
14:13Lucien didn't treat servants
14:15like livestock.
14:16He'd read too much
14:17and thought too hard to do that.
14:20Alpha hair,
14:22I genuinely can't force you,
14:25but since we're going
14:26to be bonded eventually,
14:28perhaps...
14:28I looked down at the dark liquid.
14:30Perhaps I should start exercising
14:32a mate's authority now.
14:34Either you drink this
14:36or...
14:37or what?
14:39The shaman had told me
14:40Lucien had refused medicine
14:42for six months.
14:43That was why he was hovering
14:44at the edge of nothing.
14:45At this rate,
14:46he wouldn't survive to spring.
15:01When I looked at him again,
15:03vivid color had bloomed across his face
15:05like dawn breaking over frost.
15:07Those butterfly-winged lashes
15:09were trembling.
15:10With outrage,
15:11I thought,
15:11distantly,
15:12of every arrogant she-wolf
15:14Kaelin had ever teased
15:15into furious,
15:16helpless blushing.
15:17Lucien's expression
15:18was painfully similar.
15:20A prick of guilt
15:20moved through me.
15:22I forced my own pulse to slow,
15:24keeping my voice steady.
15:25If you won't drink,
15:26I'll be forced to do that again.
15:45Alpha hair,
15:45your color has improved
15:46over 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,
15:56he'll be heartbroken.
15:58Watch.
16:00Testing the temperature alone
16:01takes constant checking
16:03to preserve the potency.
16:04I've only been doing it a few days
16:06and my hands already look like this.
16:08He pressed his lips together,
16:10said nothing,
16:11and drank the rest of the bowl
16:12without being asked.
16:14After that,
16:14he never made me beg him
16:16to drink his medicine again.
16:19Half a month later,
16:20the shaman gave the matriarch
16:22his report.
16:22Lucian had genuinely improved,
16:24no longer at death's edge.
16:27Could it be a final surge
16:29before the end?
16:30No, it's real healing.
16:33This one is responsible.
16:34I told you before,
16:35her wolf spirit signature
16:36is a natural compliment to his.
16:38She steadies him.
16:40The matriarch looked satisfied.
16:42When she turned to me,
16:43her eyes were almost tender.
16:45How has Selina been caring for you?
16:51She's been taking
16:52very good care of me.
16:56Alpha Lucian may not know,
16:58but when Selina was serving
16:59in my household,
17:00her skill at attending to Caelan
17:02was quite exceptional as well.
17:04Such a good servant.
17:06The air went very still.
17:09Is that how you speak
17:10to your future sister-in-law?
17:13Vivian,
17:14you are young,
17:15but that is no excuse
17:16for ignorance of pack law.
17:19Shut up!
17:20Stop embarrassing yourself!
17:23Days later,
17:24did you hear about it?
17:26Vivian had found
17:26another substitute.
17:28She looked for a maid again,
17:29not from the pack's own hand-aids.
17:31She'd bought a woman
17:31from outside,
17:32trained and shaped
17:33to match her voice
17:34and build exactly.
17:35How do you know?
17:35Because Caelan lit every lantern
17:37in the room that night,
17:38and when he saw what he saw,
17:39he beat woman half to death
17:40and threw her at Vivian's feet.
17:42Vivian had fainted.
17:43And then,
17:43he said if she refused
17:44to truly share his bed,
17:45he would never come
17:46to her rooms again.
17:47They're sleeping
17:48in separate dens now.
17:49Separate dens meant
17:50every wolf in the pack
17:51knew the bond was broken.
17:53No mate's devotion.
17:54No matriarch's approval.
17:56No pups.
17:57No wonder Vivian looked
17:58like she hadn't slept
17:59in a month.
18:04He looked fragile
18:06in the lake wind,
18:07unsteadying.
18:08I went back
18:08to get his cloak.
18:15Is it you?
18:19Was it always you?
18:22Answer me.
18:24You think you can
18:25play mute with me again?
18:28No.
18:32Silence won't save you.
18:35I don't need your voice
18:36to confirm it.
18:38One night,
18:39and I'd know for certain.
18:40Had he lost his mind?
18:43I spent three years
18:44with a woman,
18:46and she's going
18:46to be bonded to my brother.
18:49How dare you make fools
18:50of us both?
18:51Especially me!
18:52Would a rank at my side
18:54really be worse
18:54than grieving
18:55a dead man forever?
18:56Do you actually want
18:58to bond with a corpse?
19:01I just want
19:02to survive!
19:06If I didn't do this,
19:08she'd give me
19:08to someone
19:09who'd break me.
19:11A formal bond,
19:12even a broken one,
19:13would have made me
19:14untouchable.
19:16Useful to no one.
19:19Forced to stay
19:20her shadow forever.
19:22Before he could recover,
19:23I stomped hard
19:24on his foot
19:25and ran.
19:25I was still stumbling
19:26when I rounded the corner.
19:28What took you so long?
19:32I smiled,
19:33walked over,
19:34and settled the cloak
19:35around his shoulders.
19:36But he simply
19:37brushed my hand away.
19:38Somehow he lost balance
19:39and fell.
19:40His chest had
19:41a severe bruise.
19:42Just leave me.
19:43I am not your burden.
19:47Lucian liked to sit there,
19:49open a book
19:50in the shade.
19:51Why did you really
19:52agree to the spirit bond?
19:54I didn't want to be
19:55given to the given
19:56to the gatekeeper's son.
19:58I thought it would be
19:59something like that.
20:01What is it to guess
20:02that it would be like this?
20:03The shaman pressed
20:04a small wooden box
20:05into my hands.
20:06Should I start calling you
20:08mate of the alpha?
20:08Please don't.
20:10My future,
20:11most likely,
20:12was a silent room
20:13in a shrine,
20:14grieving him in his name
20:15until I followed.
20:16With the shaman gone,
20:17I took on more responsibility,
20:19including helping Lucian bathe.
20:24I watched his ears
20:25and tried not to smile.
20:27Had no one ever
20:28helped him bathe?
20:29Kaelin had always kept
20:30half a dozen female attendants
20:32for bathing.
20:33A younger version of me
20:34would have died
20:35of the blush alone.
20:36But I wasn't that
20:37innocent girl anymore.
20:38There was a phrase
20:39I'd found in one of his books.
20:40A broken moon.
20:42A she-wolf
20:42who'd been claimed
20:43and discarded.
20:45The text said
20:45that's what I was.
20:47What strange things
20:48are you reading now?
20:50I tucked it behind my back.
20:52I'd memorized a passage
20:54and presented it to him
20:55like a prize.
20:56Look at you.
20:57Impressive.
20:58You sound like
20:59you're humeering a child.
21:02How old are you?
21:03Eighteen.
21:04I have almost a decade on you.
21:06To me,
21:08you are a child.
21:10The shaman had introduced
21:11new compounds,
21:12performed old rituals
21:13at the edge of firelight,
21:15burned offerings
21:16and whispered things
21:17I didn't catch.
21:18Speak a wish.
21:20You do it.
21:22I want you to be happy.
21:24What does that look like?
21:26Your body heals.
21:27You find a mate
21:28who deserves you.
21:29A pack of your own.
21:30A life that finally
21:31goes 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.
21:39What mattered was,
21:40the shaman's ritual
21:41apparently worked
21:42because Lucien decided
21:43he wanted to leave the cabin.
21:45I asked him
21:46where he wanted to go.
21:47He studied me
21:48for a long moment.
21:49There's a moon festival
21:50gathering tonight.
21:51I've heard the town
21:52lights the whole river.
21:53Festival fires
21:54were always burning somewhere.
21:55Nothing special.
21:56But since coming
21:57into Vivienne's household,
21:58I hadn't been
21:59to a single one.
22:00The longing
22:00had been sitting quietly
22:01in me for years.
22:03That night,
22:03a young noblewoman
22:04arrived with her escort.
22:06They said,
22:07used to getting
22:07everything she reached for.
22:08In the river of lantern light
22:10and moving bodies,
22:11she found Lucien in seconds.
22:12Loser buys dinner
22:13at the finest inn
22:14in the city.
22:15What do you say?
22:16And she walked straight up
22:17and challenged him
22:18to a game of darts.
22:19I've forgotten who won.
22:20I only remember
22:21the brightness in her eyes.
22:23Lucien turned
22:24to look at me.
22:25If you'd like to go,
22:26I'll wait outside.
22:27I hadn't behaved
22:28like a servant
22:29in front of him
22:29in a long time,
22:30but there were
22:31others watching.
22:32She didn't wait.
22:33She stepped around me
22:33cheerfully
22:34and reached for Lucien's chair.
22:36I watched them
22:36move into the crowd,
22:37and I felt something
22:38leave me that I hadn't
22:39known was mine to lose.
22:41I stood in the cold
22:42for a very long time.
22:43Then I remembered.
22:44Today was my birthday.
22:45She was the regent's
22:47only daughter.
22:47Every door
22:48in the wolf world
22:49was open to her.
22:50When the regent
22:51and his mate
22:51arrived at the pack mansion
22:53to formally propose the match,
22:55the matriarch looked
22:55more shaken than pleased.
22:57Through Briar,
22:58I learned the truth.
22:59It wasn't love
23:00at first sight.
23:01She'd fallen for Lucien
23:02over a decade ago,
23:03back when he was
23:04a young scholar
23:05with fire in his eyes
23:06and a future
23:07everyone could see.
23:08She'd been carrying it
23:09ever since,
23:10refusing every other offer.
23:11Lucien's potential mating
23:13became the pack's
23:14entire focus.
23:15Even the news
23:15that Kaylin's
23:16quartermate had conceived
23:17was forgotten.
23:18If the match succeeded,
23:20the matriarch
23:20would have been overjoyed,
23:21but Lucien
23:22was already bound
23:23by the spirit bond.
23:24To take a living mate,
23:25the bond had to be dissolved
23:27and so I knew
23:28exactly what I had to do.
23:29Just as I'd once
23:30knelt before the matriarch
23:31and volunteered,
23:33I came before her again.
23:36I'm willing to step aside.
23:38I want Lucien
23:39to have this.
23:41I'd had the shaman
23:42check their spirit signatures
23:43as well.
23:44They aligned perfectly.
23:45She was born to rank,
23:47polished in every art,
23:48and her love for Lucien
23:50had outlasted
23:50years of silence.
23:51If he died,
23:53she would grieve him
23:53faithfully.
23:54There was nothing more
23:55I could offer
23:55that she couldn't match.
23:57So, what do you want
23:58in return?
24:00Money?
24:01Is it still about status?
24:03The matriarch
24:03squeezed my hands
24:04and asked what I wanted
24:06in return.
24:06I pressed the gold
24:07I'd saved over two years
24:09into her palm.
24:10I asked to be released
24:11from the pack's bond records.
24:13I want to be a free wolf.
24:16Child,
24:18you could ask me
24:19for so much more.
24:20I held the bow
24:21and didn't move.
24:22Tears fell,
24:23one by one,
24:24onto the stone.
24:25Take me with you, okay?
24:28Outside the pack Paushin,
24:30life was uncertain
24:31and hard.
24:32Inside,
24:33with the matriarch's protection,
24:34you would be safe.
24:35Stay,
24:36serve well,
24:37don't make enemies.
24:39The rest would come.
24:42Briar wept
24:43and pressed gold
24:44into my hands anyway.
24:45On the morning I left,
24:47many of the other handmaids
24:48came to see me off.
24:49The shaman also walked
24:50towards me in the crowd.
24:52May your ancestors
24:53guide your path.
24:56Patted my shoulder
24:57and then walked
24:58towards the crowd.
25:01I turned around
25:03and walked towards the door.
25:04But in the crowd,
25:05I saw Karen also there.
25:07Kaylin grabbed me
25:08to the corner.
25:09He caged me
25:10against the wall
25:10and looked at me
25:11like he wanted
25:11to devour me.
25:14Say the word
25:14and I'll take you
25:15as a formal mate.
25:18Serve me like you used to
25:20and I'll give you rank
25:21above the others.
25:23I stared at him
25:24for a long time.
25:30Don't look at me
25:31like that.
25:33What?
25:34You think Lucian's
25:35gonna come running
25:36after you?
25:36You're deluding yourself.
25:40He's probably not even
25:41thinking of you.
25:42Once his body improved,
25:43he didn't need you anymore.
25:44You were useful
25:44and now you're spare.
25:46And don't expect him
25:47to remember you in a year.
25:48He didn't even come
25:49to see you off.
25:50That tells you exactly
25:51where you rank to him.
25:53Hmph.
25:54Something in my chest seized.
25:55The truth was,
25:56Lucian and I had been
25:57in a cold war for weeks.
25:59It had started on the way
26:00home from the festival.
26:01If I was happy.
26:05Yes, the warmth vanished
26:06from 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
26:16and that's what makes you happy?
26:17She's extraordinary.
26:19She might become
26:19the Pax Future First Luna.
26:20Of course I'm happy.
26:21Selina,
26:23I didn't know you could be
26:24so heartless.
26:26My parents had died years ago
26:27in the household
26:28where 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
26:34knew my name.
26:35But the second Cailin's
26:36and Vivian's faces
26:37floated up behind my eyes,
26:39I was on my feet,
26:40booking passage
26:41on the first river ferry south
26:43before I'd finished the thought.
26:46Property deeds.
26:48Golds, a house,
26:49a plot of land.
26:50Somewhere in the south.
26:52I tried to remember
26:54when the shaman
26:54had touched my bag.
26:55He'd had his hands on it
26:57during 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
27:05and found boots
27:06surrounding me
27:07on three sides.
27:08Then I was bound,
27:09carried ashore,
27:10and pushed into a carriage.
27:13When the blindfold came down,
27:20Vivian, smiling.
27:22I couldn't stop
27:23the bitter laugh
27:23from escaping.
27:24Briar had been right.
27:26For all the years
27:26I'd served her,
27:27and this was still
27:28where we ended up.
27:29They brought out women
27:30with strong hands
27:31to deal with me.
27:32The blows were professional
27:33and thorough.
27:34She'd grown thinner
27:35since I last saw her.
27:37The delicate elegance
27:38that had once made her
27:39untouchable
27:39now just made her look
27:41breakable.
27:42What it didn't do
27:42was protect her
27:43inside the pack.
27:46I used your body
27:47I used your body
27:47as a convenience
27:48and you had the nerve
27:48to find your own way out.
27:51Ungrateful.
27:52Traitorous.
27:53Have you forgotten
27:54what you swore?
27:55Loyal service.
27:57Always.
27:58Loyal service.
27:59She wasn't wrong,
28:00but loyalty
28:01is a two-way bond
28:02and she had never
28:03honored her half.
28:05Waited for the anger
28:05to burn out
28:06so I could leave.
28:07I overestimated
28:08her capacity for mercy.
28:10The first day,
28:11only the hitting.
28:12Look at me.
28:14The second day,
28:15she used silver-tipped
28:16needles on my hand.
28:18The third day,
28:19she locked me
28:20in the holding den
28:21beneath the estate.
28:22I found my parents'
28:23remains there.
28:24For a moment,
28:25just one,
28:25I genuinely wanted
28:27to stop fighting.
28:28The young guard outside
28:29pulled me up
28:29before I could follow
28:30the thought all the way.
28:31Delina, come back!
28:33Please!
28:33You saved me!
28:34Do I know you?
28:36Years ago.
28:37A bracelet went missing
28:38in the ladies' rooms.
28:39They were going to use me
28:40as the culprit.
28:41You figured out
28:42who really took it
28:43and you bought me
28:44enough time to prove it.
28:45I kept all my fingers
28:46because of you.
28:47You're one of the kindest
28:48people I've ever known.
28:49Why is she doing this to you?
28:51Because I wasn't loyal enough.
28:54What's happening
28:55at the pack mansion?
28:57The alpha-haired?
28:58Is he truly going to bond
28:59with the regent's daughter?
29:01The matriarch is frantic.
29:02The whole bonding is off.
29:04The regent's family
29:05pulled their daughter out
29:05the night his wolf spirit
29:06nearly went dark completely.
29:08She agreed to cancel it?
29:11She's never been
29:11this close to real death
29:12before they say she ran.
29:14Selene,
29:15please stop thinking about them.
29:17Think about yourself.
29:18You have to survive
29:18long enough to be rescued.
29:20Will you let me help you?
29:21Please help me bury my parents.
29:23Is there anything else
29:23I can do for you after that?
29:25I need you to find
29:26a small wooden box.
29:27You buried my parents.
29:29I'll carry that gratitude
29:30into whatever comes next.
29:32On the fifth evening,
29:34Vivian returned.
29:35She examined her nails
29:36as if nothing else mattered.
29:38I could barely hold my head up.
29:40You're still alive.
29:41Heaven must want you
29:43to suffer longer.
29:44Begging me to stop?
29:46Don't bother.
29:47I wasn't begging.
29:48I was cursing her.
29:50Quietly.
29:51Steadily.
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,
30:00it went slack.
30:02A second cruelty?
30:04Another method?
30:05Noise poured in
30:06from every direction.
30:07Someone was calling my name.
30:09Someone was in the water.
30:10Selena!
30:11Selena!
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 hit a cold chest
30:26and stayed there.
30:27Whoever held me
30:28dropped to their knees.
30:30Their arms locked around me
30:31like I might disappear.
30:35Lucian.
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
30:50to the lakeside cabin.
30:52The shaman had prepared
30:53a medicinal bath.
30:54Something old.
30:55Something meant
30:55for deep wounds.
30:56Lucian washed me himself.
30:58Every new injury he found
31:00made the skin around his eyes
31:02darken.
31:02Deeper.
31:03Redder.
31:04In the blur between waking
31:05and sleep,
31:06I felt like I was drifting.
31:08Held up by careful hands
31:10in warm water.
31:11Rocking.
31:12Gently.
31:12The last thing I remembered
31:14was a soft bed
31:16rising up to catch me
31:17and my arms closing around it.
31:20I slept
31:20for 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
31:39since you left.
31:40His wolf didn't want to be steady.
31:41I couldn't do much.
31:43You were the only person
31:44keeping him anchored.
31:45That was never me.
31:46Don't cry.
31:48He'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
31:59for early death,
32:00you two would never
32:00have found each other.
32:01I sat very still.
32:03Something inside me
32:05was splitting apart.
32:06Lucian woke
32:07to find me
32:08staring into nothing.
32:10What's wrong?
32:10His voice came out
32:12rough with sleep.
32:13I wiped my face,
32:14said nothing.
32:15My fingers rested
32:16against his throat,
32:17feeling his pulse.
32:19I'm going to kiss you.
32:21Say yes or no.
32:23You were a lot less polite
32:25the first time.
32:30His mouth was cold
32:32and his breath against mine
32:34was like a thread
32:35of warmth
32:35and a blizzard.
32:36Brief
32:37and so easy to lose.
32:40Lucian,
32:42I love you.
32:47I love you too.
32:53I never expected
32:54to fall in love
32:55with someone
32:55within 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
33:09a great deal of thinking.
33:11That's usually ominous.
33:12The curse on you,
33:14the life debt
33:14your father made
33:15with the witch clan,
33:16it was sealed
33:16with sacrifice.
33:18Specifically,
33:18the sacrifice
33:19of a wolf spirit.
33:21Sacrifice can be answered
33:22with sacrifice,
33:23or with something
33:25equal and opposite.
33:26A bond freely chosen.
33:28A mating bond.
33:29A true one.
33:30Not a spirit bond
33:31with a corpse.
33:32A living,
33:33breathing,
33:33voluntary mating bond.
33:35Freely given,
33:36both sides willing,
33:37under the full moon.
33:38If the bond takes hold,
33:41the original sacrifice
33:42is fulfilled differently.
33:44Life for life.
33:46But instead of taking,
33:48it gives.
33:49The curse breaks.
33:50Has this worked before?
33:52I believe it will.
33:56Yes.
33:58The next few days
33:59passed in controlled chaos.
34:01The matriarch convened
34:02a pack circle.
34:03Vivian's crimes
34:04had not gone unnoticed.
34:05The poisoning of
34:06Kaylin's quartermate
34:07and the unborn pup
34:08had been confirmed.
34:09By pack law,
34:10that was grounds for exile.
34:12Vivian was removed.
34:13Quietly.
34:14Finally.
34:15The regent's daughter
34:16came to the cabin
34:16one more time.
34:18He told me at the festival,
34:19you know.
34:19The night we went to dinner.
34:21What to say?
34:22He talked about you
34:23for three hours straight
34:24without realizing it.
34:26I'm sorry I was slow
34:27to understand.
34:28Her expression unreadable.
34:29I didn't know what to say.
34:31She stepped forward
34:32and squeezed my hand once.
34:34Don't let him die.
34:35Then she was gone.
34:41Kaylin came to the cabin
34:42the night before the ritual.
34:43He stood in the doorway
34:44and for the first time
34:46in the years I'd known him,
34:47he looked genuinely lost.
34:50My brother.
34:52He's going to be alright?
34:54The shaman believes so.
35:05I thought about everything
35:09I could say.
35:09What I said was,
35:12take care of yourself,
35:14Kaylin.
35:15He nodded,
35:16turned,
35:17walked away.
35:18It wasn't forgiveness.
35:20Not yet.
35:22But it was a beginning.
35:24The full moon rose over the lake
35:26like a white flame.
35:27The shaman built the circle
35:28at the water's edge.
35:30Silver dust,
35:31wolf herbs,
35:32old fire.
35:33Lucian stood at the center.
35:34He'd refused the chair tonight.
35:36He was standing on his own,
35:37in the moonlight,
35:38and the sight of him,
35:40pale and slight,
35:41and stubbornly,
35:42impossibly upright,
35:44hit me somewhere
35:44I didn't have words for.
35:46The shaman's voice
35:47rose over the water,
35:48speaking old words
35:49in the witch clan's tongue,
35:51the language of the curse
35:52that had been turned,
35:53tonight,
35:54into something else.
35:55He looked at me
35:56with those moth-wing lashes
35:57and that expression
35:58that always meant
35:59he'd run out of arguments
36:00and was trying not to show
36:02how much he felt.
36:03Selene,
36:04you 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,
36:23rising from the water's surface.
36:25I felt the pull of it
36:26in 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,
36:36deep in the core of me,
36:37like a lock giving way.
36:39Like something that had been
36:40held closed for 30 years
36:41finally opening.
36:43Lucian made a sound
36:44I'd never heard from him before.
36:45Not pain.
36:47The opposite of pain.
36:48He dropped to his knees
36:49in the silver circle,
36:50and his wolf,
36:51his wolf spirit,
36:52which I had never seen,
36:54which he had never been able
36:55to fully call,
36:56tore out of him
36:57with a howl
36:58that shook the lake.
36:59White,
37:00enormous,
37:01blazing like a comet
37:02above the water.
37:03He threw his head back
37:04and howled again.
37:05The sound broke over the forest,
37:08over the pack mansion,
37:09over every territory for miles,
37:11and from far away,
37:13from every direction at once,
37:14howls began to answer.
37:16The shaman wept.
37:17I didn't realize it
37:18until I saw his shoulders shaking.
37:20Lucian's wolf settled around him
37:22like a second skin.
37:23The color returned to his face.
37:25Not the brief flush of fever,
37:27but real warmth,
37:28steady,
37:29and permanent.
37:30He touched his own hands
37:31like he was checking
37:32they were real.
37:33Then he looked at me,
37:34and his eyes,
37:35those beautiful,
37:36exhausted,
37:37fighting to stay open eyes,
37:39were the clearest
37:40I'd ever seen them.
37:43Selena.
37:44Just my name.
37:45The way he said it
37:46cracked something open in me.
37:48I pressed my face
37:49against his chest
37:50and stayed there
37:51for a long, long time.
37:53His heartbeat was strong,
37:54steady, warm,
37:56not borrowed time.
37:59Just him.
38:01The matriarch came to the lake
38:02the next morning.
38:03She took one look at Lucian,
38:05standing in the early light,
38:07no chair,
38:07no shawl,
38:08real color in his face,
38:10and she sat down
38:10on the nearest bench
38:11and didn't move
38:12for several minutes.
38:13How?
38:14Thanks to Selena,
38:16who sacrificed herself
38:17willingly.
38:18She was a good girl.
38:20The shaman explained
38:21what had happened.
38:23Then she reached out
38:24and drew me to sit beside her
38:25as she'd done before.
38:27What do you want?
38:29I once hoped my sister
38:30would be safe
38:31and that I could be free.
38:32But now,
38:33all I want is for Lucian
38:35to return as leader,
38:36safe and happy.
38:39It happened at the next full moon.
38:41Briar stood beside me.
38:45It's already more than enough.
38:47You have a thread.
38:48Right there.
38:48Hold.
38:50Briar.
38:51What?
38:54Thank you.
38:59Lucian was waiting
39:00at the lake's edge.
39:01He'd learned to stand
39:02like he meant it.
39:04May your life together
39:05be filled with love,
39:07laughter,
39:07and happiness.
39:08May your home
39:09always be warm
39:10and your hearts
39:12always full.
39:13I had survived
39:14every single thing
39:15and I was here,
39:17free,
39:17loved,
39:18his mate,
39:19and mine.
39:25Selena,
39:26I'm not going to die.
39:29I'm not going to die.
39:33I'm not going to die.
39:33내가 왜 problems
39:33like he does not
39:34I'm not going to die.
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