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(2026) - FULL ENGSUB | Reelshort Hot HD
Full Chinese Movie EngSub
Chinese Drama English Sub Full HD
#shortdrama #bestdrama #actionmovie #Drama #Film #Show #Anime #Movie #cdrama #Movies #BILLIONAIRE #shortdrama #dramashort #shortfilmdrama #minidrama #shortstorydrama #webdrama #indiedrama #shortfilmseries #shortdramaseries #dramashorts #englishmovie #cdrama #drama #movieshortfull
#BillionaireObsession #VirginAuction #MrDelaney #AlphaRomance #DarkDesire #SoldToHim #DailymotionDrama
#goodfilms romance #bestfilmromance #romance #filmromance #drama romance
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Short filmTranscript
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.
00:17Every wolf in the pack knows, Kaelin 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, Kaelin'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.
00:47Alpha Kaelin and Lady Vivian had gone deathly pale.
00:50On the full moon night, Kaelin came to Vivian's room again.
00:53I watched them through the crack in the door, his voice low and honeyed,
00:57her 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.
01:11Heart slamming, skin tight.
01:13Why 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.
01:29My heart stopped.
01:30The tincture.
01:31So nice.
01:32His mouth found mine in the dark.
01:35His 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.
01:51Her 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.
02:01As if she were the one.
02:03Vivian was beautiful.
02:04And 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.
02:14Perfect together.
02:15Everyone said so.
02:16As her bonded handmaid, I was genuinely happy for them.
02:19Until their bonding night.
02:24Three 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.
02:37Masking tinctures rubbed into my skin until I smelled like her ghost.
02:41Of 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.
02:54In total darkness, with the masking tinctures working through my skin,
02:57his wolf couldn't tell the difference.
03:00What Vivian hadn't accounted for, I was not fragile.
03:03She broke under Caelan's hands.
03:05I did not.
03:06What she couldn't endure, I simply survived.
03:09Body learning the architecture of his need.
03:12Learning to anticipate it.
03:14Relax.
03:15Only 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 Caelan finally rose.
03:30I 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.
03:41Caelan bit.
03:42Hard.
03:44Darling, you've forgotten Selina is mute.
03:46I nodded quickly.
03:48Serving Vivian meant constant proximity to Caelan,
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.
03:59Sad, almost, how pretty she is.
04:01And 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.
04:09Caelan had pushed too far last night.
04:12I'd wept myself hoarse, then bitten him.
04:15Hard.
04:15He'd walked through silver and hellfire to earn his title.
04:19Scars mapping him from throat to hip.
04:22He 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!
04:31You 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.
04:39No food, no water.
04:41Caelan 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, slipped 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 Caelan be back?
04:59The guards say tonight, and he's going straight to the ladies' room.
05:04What 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.
05:27No high-ranking female would consent.
05:29Not even the lower-ranked handmaids.
05:31At dusk, they released me.
05:32I'd be needed that night.
05:34Selina, I was impulsive.
05:36I meant to release you hours ago, but things got away from me.
05:39Don't hold it against me.
05:41Of course not, my lady.
05:42My lady, it has been three years.
05:45When will I leave the pack mansion?
05:46You want to leave?
05:47Yes.
05:48My body hasn't healed.
05:49Caelan still needs you.
05:50If you insist on leave, I'll simply use Briar instead.
05:53Your sisters, the voice, the build, close enough.
05:55How old is she?
05:56Thirteen or fourteen?
05:58Then, could Caelan at least give me a rank?
06:01Reaching for status now?
06:04If I wanted Caelan 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 Caelan directly.
06:13You're a convenience to him.
06:17Even 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.
06:28Eventually?
06:28Was I supposed to be her substitute in bed for 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 and 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.
06:53Caelan returned to 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.
07:03Caelan stepped over me without a glance.
07:06What's the status on my brother?
07:08I've asked every unmated female in the pack.
07:10The spirit bond sounds like a curse to them.
07:13None of the young wolves will agree.
07:14What's there to agree about?
07:16Find 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.
07:33Every time Caelan 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 matching.
07:51Why so eager tonight?
07:52Did you miss me?
07:54I rarely initiated.
07:56He noticed.
07:57Good girl.
07:58Near dawn, I came back to myself in pieces.
08:04Trying to run again?
08:08My wolf has always been sent sensitive.
08:14I've known about your lady's little switch since the beginning.
08:16No 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.
08:56All 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.
09:08A 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.
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, 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.
09:40I will take the spirit bond with Lucian.
09:42The matriarch stared, then broke into astonished relief.
09:46She asked my name, my birth date, 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.
10:05Kaylin and Vivian arrived quickly once word spread.
10:07They walked in together to find me sitting at the matriarch's feet,
10:11working the tension from her ankles.
10:12Kaylin'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.
10:24Kaylin went very still.
10:25It's me, Alpha Kaylin, 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.
10:47The hand hanging at Kaylin'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.
11:09Briar, 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-
11:24She's a handmaid.
11:25Mother wants her.
11:26Give her over.
11:27Kaylin's voice cut across hers, flat 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.
11:40You 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.
12:02The 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 Lucian back from the edge of nothing.
12:21It should have been a miracle, but the shaman warned them.
12:23Pulling a spirit back across that threshold
12:25was 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.
12:49Retreating to a lakeside cabin at 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.
12:59Just the shaman.
13:00Who 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 Kaylin.
13:1027.
13:11The brothers looked nothing alike.
13:13Kaylin was bronze and hard-edged from years of combat training.
13:16Lucian was fine-boned.
13:18Pale as snow.
13:19Almost startlingly beautiful in a way that made you forget 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 Kaylin ended with Lucian falling off the cliff and
14:03drown 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, 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.
14:34Either 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 on the frost.
15:07Those butterfly-winged lashes were trembling.
15:10With outrage, I thought, distantly, of every arrogant she-wolf Kaylin had ever teased into furious, helpless blushing.
15:17Lucian's expression was painfully similar.
15:20A prick of guilt moved through me.
15:22I 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.
15:47Your skin isn't as cold as it was.
15:49That's the medicine working.
15:51The medicine 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.
16:14After 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.
16:33This 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?
17:12Vivian, you are young, but that is no excuse for ignorance of pack law.
17:19Shut up!
17:20Stop embarrassing yourself!
17:23Days later, did 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.
17:31She'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.
17:42Vivian had fainted.
17:43And then, he 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? Especially 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.
19:42I 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 Maid 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.
20:19Including 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. Impressive.
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.
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.
21:36I looked away.
21:37Did I mean it?
21:37It didn't matter.
21:38What mattered was,
21:39the shaman's ritual apparently worked.
21:42Because 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.
22:03That 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,
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.
22:18I'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.
22:41I 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.
23:00She'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.
23:14Even 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.
23:26And 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.
23:40I'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.
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.
24:10I 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 Pao Shen, 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.
24:56Padded 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.
25:07I was a slave.
25:08Yet every night, I had to take Luna's place and sleep with the Alpha.
25:12On the bed, I begged him to mark me and make me one of his mates.
25:15Please, make me your wife.
25:18What are you thinking?
25:21You're nothing but a slave.
25:23I closed my eyes.
25:25Every wolf in the pack knows Kaelin doesn't just love Lady Vivian.
25:29He worships her.
25:30So the next morning, I walked straight to the pack matriarch and kneeled before her.
25:34I volunteered to marry her eldest son, Kaelin's dying brother.
25:38Firstly shocked, then the pack matriarch's eyes filled with tears.
25:43After the ghost marriage is done, you'll have to keep Widowsville for your mate forever.
25:47My good child, have you truly thought this through?
25:52I will have no regrets.
25:54Alpha Kaelin and Lady Vivian had gone deathly pale.
25:57On the full moon night, Kaelin came to Vivian's room again.
26:00I watched them through the crack in the door, his voice low and honeyed, her laugh like silver.
26:05Vivian left to wash up, cheeks ruined with wanting.
26:09Before she went, she killed every candle, as always.
26:12An hour later, I stepped into the dark.
26:14His scent hit me first, and my traitorous body answered.
26:18Heart slamming, skin tight.
26:20Why are you so cold?
26:22I was outside, watching the snow.
26:25Truth is, I'd been shivering at the threshold in a thin slip for an hour,
26:29waiting for her signal like a good little ghost.
26:34You smelled.
26:35A pause.
26:36My heart stopped.
26:37The tincture.
26:40His mouth found mine in the dark.
26:42His hardness reached my soul.
26:51Before dawn, I knelt at Vivian's feet and recited him.
26:54Every whisper, every mark blooming purple on my throat.
26:58Her expression curdled, then she walked back into his arms.
27:01Kaelin caught her hair around one lazy finger.
27:04You've been sneaking out to find yourself another wolf.
27:07She swatted him, pouting prettily, as if she were the one.
27:10Vivian was beautiful, and chronically, devastatingly fragile.
27:14Kaelin saw her at the spring hunt gathering.
27:16He fell, instantly.
27:18Offered her the first mate rank before the night was over.
27:21Perfect together.
27:22Everyone said so.
27:23As her bonded handmaid, I was genuinely happy for them.
27:27Until their bonding night.
27:31Three nights in a row, no completed bond, no mating mark.
27:35Overnight, Vivian became the pack's favorite joke.
27:38Desperate, Vivian invented the switch.
27:41Every night, candles out, handmade substitutes.
27:44Masking tinctures rubbed into my skin until I smelled like her ghost.
27:48Of all her handmaids, only I was a viable double.
27:51Vivian and I were built from the same blueprint.
27:53The same narrow waist, the same pale slope of shoulder and throat.
27:57Side by side in daylight, the resemblance was unsettling.
28:01In total darkness, with the masking tinctures working through my skin,
28:05his wolf couldn't tell the difference.
28:07What Vivian hadn't accounted for, I was not fragile.
28:10She broke under Kaelin's hands.
28:12I did not.
28:14What she couldn't endure, I simply survived.
28:16Body learning the architecture of his need.
28:19Learning to anticipate it.
28:21Relax.
28:22Only three years.
28:23My body will recover.
28:25Then I will give you enough gold to live well outside the mansion.
28:28Think about it.
28:29My whole family's safety rested in her hands.
28:32I had no choice.
28:33One hour later, Vivian and Kaelin finally rose.
28:37I returned to my quarters briefly, then went in to lay out the morning meal.
28:44Why are you dressed like that?
28:45I didn't know how to answer.
28:46I pressed my lips together.
28:49Kaelin bit.
28:50Hard.
28:51Darling, you've forgotten Selena is mute.
28:53I nodded quickly.
28:55Serving Vivian meant constant proximity to Kaelin,
28:58and she was terrified of exposure.
29:00So she declared me mute.
29:02The entire pack believed it.
29:04Your little mute is striking.
29:06Sad, almost, how pretty she is.
29:08And what exactly does my alpha mean by that?
29:10Has she caught your eye?
29:12I haven't blamed you for anything yet, and you're already turning on me.
29:17Kaelin had pushed too far last night.
29:19I'd wept myself hoarse, then bitten him.
29:22Hard.
29:23He'd walked through silver and hellfire to earn his title.
29:26Scars mapping him from throat to hip.
29:29He wouldn't care about a few teeth marks.
29:32This whole performance was foreplay.
29:34I don't know how much time passed.
29:37You insolent thing!
29:38You dared bite him?
29:39Are you challenging me?
29:41I had no time to defend myself.
29:43Vivian had me bound, dragged to the supply outbuilding.
29:46No food, no water.
29:48Kaelin had left for the border territories.
29:50However long he was gone, I stayed locked up.
29:53I was barely breathing when my sister found a way through.
29:56Briar had bribed the guard, slipped a bowl of broth under the door.
30:00She was my younger sister.
30:02Sister, what did you do to make the lady so angry?
30:04Briar, when will Kaelin be back?
30:07The guards say tonight, and he's going straight to the ladies room.
30:11What else was happening in the mansion?
30:13The alpha-haired, his wolf spirit is fading again.
30:15The pack healers say there's nothing left to do.
30:16They're preparing the rates.
30:17Lucian, the elder brother, cursed since birth, fading, never anchored to this world.
30:23He's never taken a mate.
30:24The matriarch doesn't want him to cross alone.
30:26She's looking for someone willing to complete a spirit bond.
30:30A spirit bond with a dying alpha heir meant grieving him forever.
30:34No high-ranking female would consent.
30:36Not even the lower-ranked handmaids.
30:38At dusk, they released me.
30:40I'd be needed that night.
30:41Selina, I was impulsive.
30:43I meant to release you hours ago, but things got away from me.
30:46Don't hold it against me.
30:48Of course not, my lady.
30:49My lady, it has been three years.
30:52When will I leave the pack mansion?
30:54You want to leave?
30:55Yes.
30:55My body hasn't healed.
30:56Kaelin still needs you.
30:58If you insist on leave, I'll simply use Briar instead.
31:00Your sisters.
31:01The voice.
31:01The build.
31:02Close enough.
31:03How old is she?
31:03Thirteen or fourteen?
31:06Then, could Kaelin at least give me a rank?
31:09Reaching for status now?
31:12If I wanted Kaelin to take a new mate, I have a hundred candidates.
31:15You would never make that list.
31:17Don't bother trying to go through Kaelin directly.
31:20You're a convenience to him.
31:24Even if you ended up in his quarters permanently, I could have you removed with a single word.
31:31But every unmated female is supposed to be matched eventually.
31:35Eventually, was I supposed to be her substitute in bed for the rest of my life?
31:41The gatekeeper's son is your age.
31:42When you turn sixteen next year, I'll arrange the match.
31:45The gatekeeper's son.
31:47A man with a child's mind and fists like hammers, hitting because it was the only thing he knew.
31:53Only by being bound to someone that broken would I remain useful, and too far gone to threaten her.
32:00Kaelin returned, to find me kneeling.
32:03You're home!
32:04You must be exhausted!
32:06This girl broke the crystal chalice from the Western Alliance.
32:09I've had her kneeling.
32:10Kaelin stepped over me, without a glance.
32:13What's the status on my brother?
32:15I've asked every unmated female in the pack.
32:18A spirit bond sounds like a curse to them.
32:20None of the young wolves will agree.
32:21What's there to agree about?
32:23Find a female, threaten someone she loves, and it's done.
32:26That kind of coercion would be hard to hide from your mother.
32:29Enough gold and fear will find a willing body.
32:33And, if you handle this well, my mother might finally look at you differently.
32:40N.
32:41Every time Kaelin came back from the border, he spent the whole night making up for lost time.
32:46He was an alpha who'd spent weeks at war.
32:49He came home hungry, and he made that hunger my problem.
32:53That night, I gave him everything.
32:56Pushed past my own limits to match him.
32:58Why so eager tonight?
33:00Did you miss me?
33:01I rarely initiated.
33:03He noticed.
33:04Good girl.
33:06Good girl.
33:06Near dawn, I came back to myself in pieces.
33:11Trying to run again?
33:15My wolf has always been scent sensitive.
33:21I've known about your lady's little switch since the beginning.
33:24No wonder.
33:25He grew bolder every time, which meant he never held back.
33:29It was all for me.
33:31Then why won't you give me a rank?
33:33A rank?
33:35She's the one who brought you here.
33:36I'm not going to be the one to claim her handmaid.
33:39That would fracture our bond.
33:41She was right.
33:41A she-wolf, taken for free.
33:44Why give her a title?
33:45What grows in the dark, stays small.
33:49Speechless with joy?
33:50Thank you for your generosities, Alpha.
33:52I'm afraid I don't have the kind of luck to deserve it.
33:55You've shared my bed for years.
33:57Don't get ideas above your station.
33:58He didn't like greedy she-wolves.
34:01He had others.
34:02Bonded females.
34:03All with bloodlines.
34:05Gifts from allied packs.
34:07And yet, since Vivian came, he never touched them.
34:10The pack praised him for devotion.
34:12And he wore that praise like armor.
34:15A handmaid, born to serve, was never meant to stand beside him.
34:20The colder I became, I was born low.
34:24I don't deserve a rank.
34:25And I don't belong in your quarters.
34:27I only hope you and the lady are devoted to each other until the end.
34:30The next morning, Briar heard of Vivian's plan to marry me off to the gatekeeper's son.
34:34We served her faithfully.
34:35How can she be this cruel?
34:38That brute would be a slow death.
34:40The thought lingered, then twisted into something darker.
34:43If I couldn't escape fate, I would choose it.
34:47I will take the spirit bond with Lucien.
34:49The matriarch stared, then broke into astonished relief.
34:53She asked my name, my birthdate, my bloodline.
34:56The pack shaman consulted the moon charts and looked up, nodding.
34:59This female's spirit signature aligns with the heirs in a way I have not seen in decades.
35:04She was born into hardship, which means she carries the kind of resilience that could anchor him.
35:10The bond will serve him well in the next life.
35:12Kaylin and Vivian arrived quickly once word spread.
35:15They walked in together to find me sitting at the matriarch's feet, working the tension from her ankles.
35:20Kaylin's voice came first, amused, sharp.
35:23This is the female who agreed to bond with my brother?
35:25Whoever's handmaid she is, she has a rare heart.
35:28Mother, you must reward her well.
35:30I turned and faced them. Kaylin went very still.
35:32It's me, Alpha Kaylin, Lady Vivian's.
35:38You're supposed to be mute.
35:39I can speak. My lady simply prefers I don't.
35:43Vivian's face turned to chalk.
35:45I didn't know your household contained such a loyal soul.
35:48But once this bond is sealed, you'll carry his grief for the rest of your days.
35:52Are you certain?
35:53I will never regret it.
35:54The hand hanging at Kaylin's side curled into a fist.
35:57He stared at me like I had become something he didn't recognize.
36:00Child, tell me what you want. Silver, land, titles, anything I can grant is yours.
36:07I turned and looked at Vivian.
36:09She held her smile together.
36:10But she took half a step back.
36:12After a long pause, I dropped my eyes.
36:15I have a younger sister, Briar.
36:16I ask that she be transferred to your personal household matriarch.
36:19She's already part of this pack.
36:21I'll see to her for the rest of her life.
36:23Vivian's smile pulled thin.
36:26Mother, Briar came with my dowie pack.
36:28She's my bonded household.
36:30I'd hate to be ungenerous, but-
36:31She's a handmaid.
36:32Mother wants her.
36:34Give her over.
36:34Kaylin's voice cut across hers.
36:36Flat and final.
36:37The matriarch's expression had gone stone cold.
36:40Bring the bond papers.
36:43I will find Briar a secure place before I pass.
36:47You don't have to worry about her ever again.
36:50I hadn't expected the matriarch to think about her entire future.
36:53Moved beyond words.
36:56Thank you, matriarch.
36:57I promise to care for Lucian with everything I have.
37:00When the matriarch spoke of her eldest son, she couldn't stop the break in her voice.
37:05I was pregnant with Lucian during the Dark Coven War.
37:09The fear marked him at birth.
37:11He came into the world without breath.
37:14Without a wolf spirit.
37:16His father had returned victorious that same night, and brought someone with him from the
37:20deep forest.
37:21A shaman.
37:22The shaman's methods were outside anything the pack had seen.
37:26He brought Lucian back from the edge of nothing.
37:28It should have been a miracle.
37:29But the shaman warned them.
37:31Pulling a spirit back across that threshold was a transgression against the laws of wolf and moon.
37:36Lucian could live, but only for 30 years.
37:39No more.
37:39And so it had been.
37:40Lucian had grown up slight, unable to shift into warrior form.
37:44But razor sharp in mind.
37:46A natural strategist.
37:48A scholar.
37:48He'd won council honors young.
37:50But the older he got, the weaker his body became.
37:53Eventually, he stopped leaving his territory altogether,
37:56retreating to a lakeside cabin at the edge of the pack mansion.
37:59Since I had agreed to the spirit bond, I was to remain at his side.
38:03Word was that he didn't allow anyone to serve him.
38:06Just the shaman, who had stayed all these years.
38:09The shaman brought me into the cabin while Lucian was asleep.
38:11I looked at his face.
38:12His lashes trembled faintly with each shallow breath.
38:16He was two years older than Kaelin.
38:1727.
38:18The brothers looked nothing alike.
38:20Kaelin was bronze and hard-edged from years of combat training.
38:24Lucian was fine-boned, pale as snow.
38:27Almost startlingly beautiful in a way that made you forget to breathe.
38:30I spent the afternoon learning his preferences.
38:32When the sun touched the horizon, Lucian finally woke.
38:36It was time for his medicine.
38:37I'd spent the afternoon learning to brew it from the shaman.
38:39So you're the female who plans to bond with my corpse?
38:42Yes.
38:43Get up.
38:44He picked up the bowl calmly.
38:49I don't want it.
38:51What are you going to do about it?
38:52Lucian looked up, a thread of provocation in his gaze.
38:55The shaman had told me Lucian was a person of pure instinct, all feeling, no armor, earned honors at 15,
39:02and had the makings of something extraordinary ahead of him.
39:05Then one evening, a hunting trip with Kaelin ended with Lucian falling off the cliff and drown in the water,
39:12his wolf spirit seizing and three days of unconsciousness.
39:16The matriarch had broken every servant in his household for failing him and sold the rest.
39:21Lucian didn't treat servants like livestock.
39:23He'd read too much and thought too hard to do that.
39:27Alpha hair.
39:30I genuinely can't force you.
39:32But since we're going to be bonded eventually, perhaps...
39:36I looked down at the dark liquid.
39:38Perhaps I should start exercising a mate's authority now.
39:41Either you drink this,
39:44or...
39:45Or what?
39:46The shaman had told me Lucian had refused medicine for six months.
39:50That was why he was hovering at the edge of nothing.
39:52At this rate, he wouldn't survive to spring.
40:08When I looked at him again, vivid color had bloomed across his face,
40:12like dawn breaking over frost.
40:14Those butterfly-winged lashes were trembling.
40:17With outrage, I thought, distantly,
40:19of every arrogant she-wolf Kaelin had ever teased into furious, helpless blushing.
40:25Lucian's expression was painfully similar.
40:27A prick of guilt moved through me.
40:29I forced my own pulse to slow, keeping my voice steady.
40:32If you won't drink, I'll be forced to do that again.
40:47I'll be forced to do that again.
40:50I'll be forced to do that again.
40:50I'll be forced to do that again.
40:52Alpha hair.
40:53Your color has improved over these past few days.
40:55Your skin isn't as cold as it was.
40:57That's the medicine working.
40:58Medicine is useless.
41:00The shaman works hard to brew it.
41:02If you pour it out every time, he'll be heartbroken.
41:06Watch.
41:07Testing the temperature alone takes constant checking to preserve the potency.
41:12I've only been doing it a few days and my hands already look like this.
41:16He pressed his lips together, said nothing, and drank the rest of the bowl without being asked.
41:21After that, he never made me beg him to drink his medicine again.
41:26Half a month later, the shaman gave the matriarch his report.
41:30Lucian had genuinely improved, no longer at death's edge.
41:35Could it be a final surge before the end?
41:37No, it's real healing.
41:40This one is responsible.
41:42I told you before, her wolf spirit signature is a natural complement to his.
41:45She steadies him.
41:47The matriarch looked satisfied.
41:49When she turned to me, her eyes were almost tender.
41:52How has Selina been caring for you?
41:58She's been taking very good care of me.
42:03Alpha Lucian may not know, but when Selina was serving in my household, her skill at attending
42:09to Kaelin was quite exceptional as well.
42:11Such a good servant.
42:14The air went very still.
42:16Is that how you speak to your future sister-in-law?
42:20Vivian, you are young.
42:22But that is no excuse for ignorance of pack law.
42:26Shut up!
42:27Stop embarrassing yourself!
42:30Days later...
42:31Did you hear about it?
42:33Vivian had found another substitute.
42:35She looked for a maid again?
42:36Not from the pack's own hand aids.
42:38She'd bought a woman from outside, trained and shaped to match her voice and build exactly.
42:42How do you know?
42:43Because Kaelin lit every lantern in the room that night, and when he saw what he saw,
42:46he beat woman half to death and threw her at Vivian's feet.
42:49Vivian had fainted.
42:50And then, he said if she refused to truly share his bed, he would never come to her rooms again.
42:54They're sleeping in separate dens now.
42:56Separate dens meant every wolf in the pack knew the bond was broken.
43:00No mate's devotion.
43:01No matriarch's approval.
43:03No pups.
43:04No wonder Vivian looked like she hadn't slept in a month.
43:12He looked fragile in the lake wind, unsteadying.
43:15I went back to get his cloak.
43:22Is it you?
43:26Was it always you?
43:29Answer me.
43:31You think you can play mute with me again?
43:39Silence won't save you.
43:42I don't need your voice to confirm it.
43:45One night, and I'd know for certain.
43:47Had he lost his mind?
43:50I spent three years with a woman, and she's going to be bonded to my brother.
43:56How dare you make fools of us both? Especially me!
44:00Would a rank at my side really be worse than grieving a dead man forever?
44:04Do you actually want to bond with a corpse?
44:09I just want to survive!
44:13If I didn't do this, she'd give me to someone who'd break me!
44:18A formal bond, even a broken one, would have made me untouchable, useful to no one, forced to stay her
44:27shadow forever.
44:29Before he could recover, I stomped hard on his foot and ran.
44:32I was still stumbling when I rounded the corner.
44:35What took you so long?
44:39I smiled, walked over, and settled the cloak around his shoulders.
44:43But he simply brushed my hand away. Somehow he lost balance and fell. His chest had a severe bruise.
44:49Just leave me. I am not your burden.
44:54Lucian liked to sit there. Open a book in the shade.
44:58Why did you really agree to the spirit bond?
45:01I didn't want to be given to the given to the gatekeeper's son.
45:05I thought it would be something like that.
45:08What is it to guess that it would be like this?
45:10The shaman pressed a small wooden box into my hands.
45:14Should I start calling you mate of the alpha?
45:16Please don't.
45:17My future, most likely, was a silent room in a shrine, grieving him in his name until I followed.
45:23With the shaman gone, I took on more responsibility, including helping Lucian bathe.
45:31I watched his ears and tried not to smile. Had no one ever helped him bathe?
45:36Kaelin had always kept half a dozen female attendants for bathing.
45:40A younger version of me would have died of the blush alone.
45:43But I wasn't that innocent girl anymore.
45:45There was a phrase I'd found in one of his books.
45:48A broken moon. A she-wolf who'd been claimed and discarded.
45:52The text said that's what I was.
45:54What strange things are you reading now?
45:57I tucked it behind my back.
45:59I'd memorized a passage and presented it to him like a prize.
46:03Look at you. Impressive.
46:05You sound like you're humeering a child.
46:09How old are you?
46:10Eighteen.
46:11I have almost a decade on you. To me, you are a child.
46:17The shaman had introduced new compounds, performed old rituals at the edge of firelight,
46:22burned offerings, and whispered things I didn't catch.
46:25Speak a wish.
46:28You do it.
46:30I want you to be happy.
46:32What does that look like?
46:33Your body heals.
46:34You find a mate who deserves you.
46:36A pack of your own.
46:37A life that finally goes the way it should have.
46:40Do you mean that?
46:42Our eyes met. I looked away.
46:44Did I mean it? It didn't matter.
46:46What mattered was, the shaman's ritual apparently worked, because Lucien decided he wanted to leave
46:51the cabin. I asked him where he wanted to go. He studied me for a long moment.
46:56There's a moon festival gathering tonight. I've heard the town lights the whole river.
47:00Festival fires were always burning somewhere. Nothing special. But since coming into Vivienne's
47:05household, I hadn't been to a single one. The longing had been sitting quietly in me for years.
47:10That night, a young noblewoman arrived with her escort.
47:13They said, used to getting everything she reached for.
47:15In the river of lantern light and moving bodies, she found Lucien in seconds.
47:20Loser buys dinner at the finest inn in the city. What do you say?
47:23And she walked straight up and challenged him to a game of darts. I've forgotten who won.
47:27I only remember the brightness in her eyes. Lucien turned to look at me.
47:32If you'd like to go, I'll wait outside. I hadn't behaved like a servant in front of him in a
47:37long
47:37time. But there were others watching. She didn't wait. She stepped around me cheerfully and reached
47:42for Lucien's chair. I watched them move into the crowd. And I felt something leave me that I hadn't
47:47known was mine to lose. I stood in the cold for a very long time. Then I remembered. Today was
47:52my
47:52birthday. She was the regent's only daughter. Every door in the wolf world was open to her.
47:57When the regent and his mate arrived at the pack mansion to formally propose the match,
48:02the matriarch looked more shaken than pleased. Through Briar, I learned the truth. It wasn't
48:07love at first sight. She'd fallen for Lucien over a decade ago, back when he was a young scholar
48:12with fire in his eyes and a future everyone could see. She'd been carrying it ever since,
48:17refusing every other offer. Lucien's potential mating became the pack's entire focus. Even the news
48:23that Kaelin's quartermate had conceived was forgotten. If the match succeeded,
48:27the matriarch would have been overjoyed. But Lucien was already bound by the spirit bond.
48:31To take a living mate, the bond had to be dissolved. And so I knew exactly what I had to
48:36do.
48:36Just as I'd once knelt before the matriarch and volunteered, I came before her again.
48:46Lucien. I'd had the shaman check their spirit signatures as well. They aligned perfectly. She
48:52was born to rank, polished in every art. And her love for Lucien had outlasted years of silence.
48:59If he died, she would grieve him faithfully. There was nothing more I could offer that she couldn't
49:03match. So, what do you want in return? Money? Is it still about status? The matriarch squeezed
49:11my hands and asked what I wanted in return. I pressed the gold I'd saved over two years into her
49:16palm.
49:17I asked to be released from the pack's bond records. I want to be a free wolf.
49:24Child, you could ask me for so much more. I held the bow and didn't move. Tears fell,
49:30one by one, onto the stone. Take me with you, okay? Outside the pack paushin, life was uncertain and hard.
49:39Inside, with the matriarch's protection, you would be safe. Stay, serve well, don't make enemies.
49:46The rest would come. Briar wept and pressed gold into my hands anyway. On the morning I left,
49:54many of the other handmaids came to see me off. The shaman also walked towards me in the crowd.
49:58May your ancestors guide your path.
50:03Patted my shoulder and then walked towards the crowd.
50:09I turned around and walked towards the door, but in the crowd I saw Karen also there.
50:15Kaylin grabbed me to the corner. He caged me against the wall and looked at me like he wanted to
50:19devour me.
50:20Say the word and I'll take you as a formal mate.
50:26Serve me like you used to, and I'll give you rank above the others.
50:30I stared at him for a long time.
50:37Don't look at me like that.
50:41What? You think Lucian's gonna come running after you? You're deluding yourself.
50:47He's probably not even thinking of you. Once his body improved, he didn't need you anymore.
50:51You were useful and now you're spare. And don't expect him to remember you in a year.
50:55He didn't even come to see you off. That tells you exactly where you rank to him.
51:01Something in my chest seized. The truth was, Lucian and I had been in a cold war for weeks.
51:06It had started on the way home from the festival.
51:08If I was happy.
51:12Yes. The warmth vanished from Lucian's face.
51:15Happy about the fireworks?
51:17No. Watching you walk with her, you look like you belong together. My wish is starting to work. That made
51:22me happy.
51:22You see me with another female and that's what makes you happy?
51:24She's extraordinary. She might become the Pax Future First Luna. Of course I'm happy.
51:28Selina, I didn't know you could be so heartless.
51:33My parents had died years ago in the household where I was born into service. I had no home to
51:38return to.
51:38I'd planned to head south, find a city where no one knew my name. But the second Kaylin's and Vivian's
51:44faces floated up behind my eyes,
51:46I was on my feet, booking passage on the first river ferry south before I'd finished the thought.
51:57I tried to remember when the shaman had touched my bag. He'd had his hands on it during the send
52:04-off, but where had he gotten this?
52:06The ferry listed suddenly. I nearly went over the rail.
52:11I scrambled upright and found boots surrounding me on three sides. Then I was bound, carried ashore, and pushed into
52:18a carriage.
52:20When the blindfold came down,
52:27Vivian, smiling. I couldn't stop the bitter laugh from escaping.
52:31Briar had been right. For all the years I'd served her, and this was still where we ended up.
52:36They brought out women with strong hands to deal with me. The blows were professional and thorough.
52:41She'd grown thinner since I last saw her. The delicate elegance that had once made her untouchable,
52:47now just made her look breakable. What it didn't do was protect her inside the pack.
52:53I used your body as a convenience, and you had the nerve to find your own way out.
52:58Ungrateful. Traitorous. Have you forgotten what you swore?
53:02Loyal service. Always. Loyal service. She wasn't wrong. But loyalty is a two-way bond,
53:09and she had never honored her half. I waited for the anger to burn out so I could leave. I
53:14overestimated her capacity for mercy.
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