- 3 hours ago
[Doblado ESP] Susurros en la Cama del Alfa Oscuro
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00:02i was a slave yet every night i had to take luna's place and sleep with the alpha on the
00:08bed
00:08i begged him to mark me and make me one of his mates
00:14what are you thinking you're nothing but a slave
00:19i close my eyes every wolf in the pack knows kaelin doesn't just love lady vivian he worships
00:25her so the next morning i walked straight to the pack matriarch and kneeled before her i volunteered
00:31to marry her eldest son kaelin's dying brother firstly shocked then the pack matriarch's eyes
00:37filled with tears after the ghost marriage is done you'll have to keep widow's ville for your mate
00:43forever my good child have you truly thought this through i will have no regrets alpha kaelin and lady
00:51vivian had gone deathly pale on the full moon night kaelin came to vivian's room again i watched
00:57them through the crack in the door his voice low and honeyed her laugh like silver vivian left to
01:02wash up cheeks ruined with wanting before she went she killed every candle as always an hour later i
01:10stepped into the dark his scent hit me first and my traitorous body answered heart slamming skin tight
01:16why are you so cold i was outside watching the snow truth is i'd been shivering at the threshold in
01:25a
01:25thin slip for an hour waiting for her signal like a good little ghost
01:30you smelled
01:31a pause my heart stopped the tincture
01:34so nice
01:36his mouth found mine in the dark his hardness reached my soul
01:48before dawn i knelt at vivian's feet and recited him every whisper every mark blooming purple on my
01:55throat her expression curdled then she walked back into his arms kaelin caught her hair around one lazy
02:00finger
02:01been sneaking out to find yourself another wolf she swatted him pouting prettily as if she were the one
02:07vivian was beautiful and chronically devastatingly fragile
02:11kaelin saw her at the spring hunt gathering he fell instantly
02:15offered her the first mate rank before the night was over perfect together
02:19everyone said so as her bonded handmaid i was genuinely happy for them
02:24until their bonding night
02:28three nights in a row no completed bond no mating mark overnight vivian became the pack's favorite joke
02:36desperate vivian invented the switch every night candles out handmade substitutes masking tinctures
02:43rubbed into my skin until i smelled like her ghost of all her handmaids only i was a viable double
02:49vivian and i were built from the same blueprint the same narrow waist the same pale slope of shoulder
02:55and throat side by side in daylight the resemblance was unsettling in total darkness with the masking
03:01tinctures working through my skin his wolf couldn't tell the difference what vivian hadn't accounted for
03:06i was not fragile she broke under kaelin's hands i did not what she couldn't endure i simply survived
03:14body learning the architecture of his need learning to anticipate it
03:19relax relax only three years my body will recover then i will give you enough gold
03:25to live well outside the mansion think about it my whole family's safety rested in her hands
03:30i had no choice one hour later vivian and kaelin finally rose
03:35i returned to my quarters briefly then went in to lay out the morning meal
03:42why are you dressed like that i didn't know how to answer i pressed my lips together
03:47kaelin bit hard darling you've forgotten selena is mute i nodded quickly serving vivian meant
03:55constant proximity to kaelin and she was terrified of exposure so she declared me mute the entire pack
04:02believed it your little mute is striking sad almost how pretty she is and what exactly does my alpha
04:08mean by that has she caught your eye i haven't blamed you for anything yet and you're already
04:13turning on me
04:16kaelin had pushed too far last night i'd wept myself hoarse then bitten him hard he'd walked through
04:23silver and hellfire to earn his title scars mapping him from throat to hip he wouldn't care about a few
04:30teeth marks this whole performance was foreplay i don't know how much time passed
04:35you insolent thing you dared bite him are you challenging me i had no time to defend myself
04:42vivian had me bound dragged to the supply outbuilding no food no water kaelin had left for
04:48the border territories however long he was gone i stayed locked up i was barely breathing when my
04:54sister found a way through briar had bribed the guard slipped a bowl of broth under the door
05:00she was my younger sister sister what did you do to make the lady so angry briar when will kaelin
05:05be
05:06back the guard say tonight and he's going straight to the ladies room what else was happening in the
05:12mansion the alpha haired his wolf spirit is fading again the pack healers say there's nothing left to
05:16do they're preparing the rates lucian the elder brother cursed since birth fading never anchored to
05:22this world he's never taken a mate the matriarch doesn't want him to cross alone she's looking for
05:27someone willing to complete a spirit bond a spirit bond with a dying alpha heir meant grieving him
05:32forever no high-ranking female would consent not even the lower-ranked handmaids at dusk they
05:39released me i'd be needed that night selena i was impulsive i meant to release you hours ago but
05:45things got away from me don't hold it against me of course not my lady my lady it has been
05:51three years
05:52when will i leave the pack mansion you want to leave yes my body hasn't healed kaelin still needs
05:58you if you insist on leave i'll simply use briar instead your sisters the voice the build close
06:03enough how old is she 13 or 14 then could kaelin at least give me a rank reaching for status
06:10now
06:12if i wanted kaelin to take a new mate i have a hundred candidates you would never make that list
06:18don't bother trying to go through kaelin directly you're a convenience to him
06:24even if you ended up in his quarters permanently i could have you removed with a single word
06:32but every unmated female is supposed to be matched eventually eventually was i supposed to be her
06:38substitute in bed for the rest of my life the gatekeeper's son is your age when you turn 16 next
06:45year i'll arrange the match the gatekeeper's son a man with a child's mind and fists like hammers
06:52hitting because it was the only thing he knew only by being bound to someone that broken
06:57would i remain useful and too far gone to threaten her kaelin returned to find me kneeling
07:04you're home you must be exhausted this girl broke the crystal chalice from the western alliance
07:10i've had her kneeling kaelin stepped over me without a glance what's the status on my brother
07:17i've asked every unmated female in the pack a spirit bond sounds like a curse to them none of
07:22the young wolves will agree what's there to agree about find a female threaten someone she loves and
07:27it's done that kind of coercion would be hard to hide from your mother enough gold and fear will find
07:32a
07:33willing body and if you handle this well my mother might finally look at you differently
07:42every time kaelin came back from the border he spent the whole night making up for lost time
07:48he was an alpha who'd spent weeks at war he came home hungry and he made that hunger my problem
07:55that night i gave him everything pushed past my own limits to match him why so eager tonight did you
08:02miss me i rarely initiated he noticed good girl near dawn i came back to myself in pieces trying to
08:14run again
08:17my wolf has always been sent sensitive
08:23i've known about your lady's little switch since the beginning no wonder he grew bolder every time
08:29which meant he never held back it was all for me then why won't you give me a rank a
08:36rank she's the
08:38one who brought you here i'm not going to be the one to claim her handmaid that would fracture our
08:42bond
08:43she was right a she-wolf taken for free why give her a title what grows in the dark stays
08:49small
08:51speechless with joy thank you for your generosities alpha i'm afraid i don't have the kind of luck to
08:57deserve it you've shared my bed for years don't get ideas above your station he didn't like greedy
09:02she-wolves he had others bonded females all with bloodlines gifts from allied packs and yet since
09:11vivian came he never touched them the pack praised him for devotion and he wore that praise like
09:17armor a handmaid born to serve was never meant to stand beside him the colder i became i was born
09:26low
09:27i don't deserve a rank and i don't belong in your quarters i only hope you and the lady are
09:31devoted to
09:32each other until the end the next morning the briar heard of vivian's plan to marry me off to the
09:36gatekeeper's son we served her faithfully how can she be this cruel that brute would be a slow death
09:43the thought lingered then twisted into something darker if i couldn't escape fate i would choose it
09:51i will take the spirit bond with lucian the matriarch stared then broke into astonished relief
09:56she asked my name my birth date my bloodline the pack shaman consulted the moon charts and looked up
10:02nodding this female spirit signature aligns with the heirs in a way i have not seen in decades
10:08she was born into hardship which means she carries the kind of resilience that could anchor him
10:13the bond will serve him well in the next life cailin and vivian arrived quickly once word spread
10:18they walked in together to find me sitting at the matriarch's feet working the tension from her ankles
10:23cailin's voice came first amused sharp this is the female who agreed to bond with my brother
10:29whoever's handmaid she is she has a rare heart mother you must reward her well i turned and
10:34faced them cailin went very still it's me alpha cailin lady vivian's
10:42you're supposed to be mute i can speak my lady simply prefers i don't
10:47vivian's face turned to chalk i didn't know your household contained such a loyal soul but once this
10:52bond is sealed you'll carry his grief for the rest of your days are you certain i will never regret
10:58it
10:58the hand hanging at cailin's side curled into a fist he stared at me like i had become something
11:03he didn't recognize tell me what you want silver land titles anything i can grant is yours i turned
11:12and looked at vivian she held her smile together but she took half a step back after a long pause
11:18i
11:18dropped my eyes i have a younger sister briar i asked that she be transferred to your personal household
11:23matriarch she's already part of this pack i'll see to her for the rest of her life vivian's smile pulled
11:29thin mother briar came with my dowie pack she's my bonded household i'd hate to be ungenerous but she's a
11:36handmaid mother wants her give her over cailin's voice cut across hers flat and final the matriarch's
11:43expression had gone stone cold bring the bond papers i will find briar a secure place before i pass
11:52you don't have to worry about her ever again i hadn't expected the matriarch to think about her
11:57entire future moved beyond words thank you matriarch i promise to care for lucian with everything i have
12:05when the matriarch spoke of her eldest son she couldn't stop the break in her voice
12:09i was pregnant with lucian during the dark coven war the fear marked him at birth he came into the
12:18world without breath without a wolf spirit his father had returned victorious that same night
12:24and brought someone with him from the deep forest a shaman the shaman's methods were outside anything
12:30the pack had seen he brought lucian back from the edge of nothing it should have been a miracle
12:34but the shaman warned them pulling a spirit back across that threshold was a transgression against
12:40the laws of wolf and moon lucian could live but only for 30 years no more and so it had
12:46been lucian
12:47had grown up slight unable to shift into warrior form but razor sharp in mind a natural strategist
12:53a scholar he'd won council honors young but the older he got the weaker his body became eventually he
13:00stopped leaving his territory altogether retreating to a lakeside cabin at the edge of the pack mansion
13:05since i had agreed to the spirit bond i was to remain at his side word was that he didn't
13:10allow
13:11anyone to serve him just the shaman who had stayed all these years the shaman brought me into the
13:16cabin while lucian was asleep i looked at his face his lashes trembled faintly with each shallow breath he
13:22was two years older than kaylin 27 the brothers looked nothing alike kaylin was bronze and hard-edged
13:28from years of combat training lucian was fine boned pale as snow almost startlingly beautiful in a
13:35way that made you forget to breathe i spent the afternoon learning his preferences when the sun
13:39touched the horizon lucian finally woke it was time for his medicine i'd spent the afternoon learning to
13:45brew it from the shaman so you're the female who plans to bond with my corpse yes get up he
13:51picked up
13:52the bowl calmly i don't want it what are you going to do about it lucian looked up a thread
14:00of provocation
14:01in his gaze the shaman had told me lucian was a person of pure instinct all feeling no armor earned
14:08honors at 15 and had the makings of something extraordinary ahead of him then one evening a
14:13hunting trip with kaylin ended with lucian falling off the cliff and drown in the water his wolf spirit
14:20seizing and three days of unconsciousness the matriarch had broken every servant in his
14:25household for failing him and sold the rest lucian didn't treat servants like livestock he'd read too
14:31much and thought too hard to do that alpha hair i genuinely can't force you but since we're going to
14:41be bonded eventually perhaps i looked down at the dark liquid perhaps i should start exercising a mate's
14:47authority now either you drink this or or what the shaman had told me lucian had refused medicine
14:56for six months that was why he was hovering at the edge of nothing at this rate he wouldn't survive
15:01to
15:15when i looked at him again vivid color had bloomed across his face like dawn breaking over frost those
15:22butterfly wing lashes were trembling with outrage i thought distantly of every arrogant she-wolf
15:29kaylin had ever teased into furious helpless blushing lucian's expression was painfully similar
15:34a prick of guilt moved through me i forced my own pulse to slow keeping my voice steady
15:40if you won't drink i'll be forced to do that again
16:00alpha hair your color has improved over these past few days your skin isn't as cold as it was that's
16:05the
16:05medicine working medicine is useless the shaman works hard to brew it if you pour it out every
16:11time he'll be heartbroken watch testing the temperature alone takes constant checking to
16:18preserve the potency i've only been doing it a few days and my hands already look like this
16:24he pressed his lips together said nothing and drank the rest of the bowl without being asked
16:29after that he never made me beg him to drink his medicine again half a month later the shaman gave
16:37the matriarch his report lucian had genuinely improved no longer at death's edge could it be a final surge
16:45before the end no it's real healing this one is responsible i told you before her wolf spirit
16:52signature is a natural compliment to his she steadies him the matriarch looked satisfied when she turned to
16:59me her eyes were almost tender how has selena been caring for you she's been taking very good care of
17:09me alpha lucian may not know but when selena was serving in my household her skill at attending to
17:18cailin was quite exceptional as well such a good servant the air went very still is that how you speak
17:26to your future sister-in-law vivian you are young but that is no excuse for ignorance of pac law
17:35shut up
17:36stop embarrassing yourself days later did you hear about it vivian had found another substitute
17:44she looked for a maid again not from the pack's own hand aids she'd bought a woman from outside trained
17:49and
17:50shaped to match her voice and build exactly how do you know because cailin lit every lantern in the room
17:54that night and when he saw what he saw he beat woman half to death and threw her at vivian's
17:58feet
17:58viviana fainted and then he said if she refused to truly share his bed he would never come to her
18:03rooms again they're sleeping in separate dens now separate dens meant every wolf in the pack knew the
18:09bond was broken no mate's devotion no matriarch's approval no pups no wonder vivian looked like she
18:15hadn't slept in a month he looked fragile in the lake wind unsteadying i went back to get his cloak
18:32is it you
18:36was it always you
18:40answer me you think you can play mute with me again
18:49silence won't save you
18:53i don't need your voice to confirm it one night and i'd know for certain had he lost his mind
19:00i spent three years with a woman and she's going to be bonded to my brother how dare you
19:07make fools of us both especially me would a rank at my side really be worse than grieving a dead
19:13man
19:13forever do you actually want to bond with a corpse i just want to survive
19:24if i didn't do this she'd give me to someone who'd break me
19:29a formal bond even a broken one would have made me untouchable
19:34useful to no one forced to stay her shadow forever before he could recover i stomped hard
19:42on his foot and ran i was still stumbling when i rounded the corner what took you so long
19:50i smiled walked over and settled the cloak around his shoulders but he simply brushed my
19:56hand away somehow he lost balance and fell his chest had a severe bruise just leave me i am not
20:02your
20:02burden
20:06lucian liked to sit there open a book in the shade why did you really agree to the spirit bond
20:13i didn't want to be given to the given to the gatekeeper's son i thought it would be something
20:18like that what is it to guess that it would be like this the shaman pressed a small wooden box
20:24into
20:24my hands should i start calling you mate of the alpha please don't my future most likely was a silent
20:31room in a shrine grieving him in his name until i followed with the shaman gone i took on more
20:37responsibility including helping lucian bathe i watched his ears and tried not to smile had no
20:46one ever helped him bathe kailen had always kept half a dozen female attendants for bathing
20:51a younger version of me would have died of the blush alone but i wasn't that innocent girl anymore
20:57there was a phrase i'd found in one of his books a broken moon a she-wolf who'd been claimed
21:03and
21:03discarded the text said that's what i was what strange things are you reading now i tucked it
21:10behind my back i'd memorized a passage and presented it to him like a prize look at you impressive you
21:18sound like you're humeering a child how old are you 18 i have almost a decade on you to me
21:27you are a child the shaman had introduced new compounds performed old rituals at the edge of
21:34firelight burned offerings and whispered things i didn't catch speak a wish you do it i want you to
21:43be happy what does that look like your body heals you find a mate who deserves you a pack of
21:49your own
21:50a life that finally goes the way it should have do you mean that our eyes met i looked away
21:57did i
21:57mean it it didn't matter what mattered was the shaman's ritual apparently worked because lucian
22:03decided he wanted to leave the cabin i asked him where he wanted to go he studied me for a
22:08long moment
22:08there's a moon festival gathering tonight i've heard the town lights the whole river festival fires were
22:14always burning somewhere nothing special but since coming into vivienne's household i hadn't been to
22:19a single one the longing had been sitting quietly in me for years that night a young noble woman
22:24arrived on her escort they said used to getting everything she reached for in the river of lantern
22:30light and moving bodies she found lucian in seconds loser buys dinner at the finest inn in the city
22:35what do you say and she walked straight up and challenged him to a game of darts
22:39i've forgotten who won i only remember the brightness in her eyes lucian turned to look at me
22:45if you'd like to go i'll wait outside i hadn't behaved like a servant in front of him in a
22:50long
22:50time but there were others watching she didn't wait she stepped around me cheerfully and reached
22:55for lucian's chair i watched them move into the crowd and i felt something leave me that i hadn't known
23:00was mine to lose i stood in the cold for a very long time then i remembered today was my
23:06birthday
23:06she was the regent's only daughter every door in the wolf world was open to her when the regent and
23:12his mate arrived at the pack mansion to formally propose the match the matriarch looked more shaken
23:17than pleased through briar i learned the truth it wasn't love at first sight she'd fallen for lucian
23:23over a decade ago back when he was a young scholar with fire in his eyes and a future everyone
23:28could
23:28see she'd been carrying it ever since refusing every other offer lucian's potential mating became the
23:34pack's entire focus even the news that kaylin's quartermate had conceived was forgotten if the
23:40match succeeded the matriarch would have been overjoyed but lucian was already bound by the
23:44spirit bond to take a living mate the bond had to be dissolved and so i knew exactly what i
23:50had to do
23:50just as i'd once knelt before the matriarch and volunteered i came before her again
23:57i'm willing to step aside i want lucian to have this
24:02i'd had the shaman check their spirit signatures as well they aligned perfectly she was born to
24:08rank polished in every art and her love for lucian had outlasted years of silence if he died
24:14she would grieve him faithfully there was nothing more i could offer that she couldn't match
24:19so what do you want in return money is it still about status the matriarch squeezed my hands and
24:26asked what i wanted in return i pressed the gold i'd saved over two years into her palm i asked
24:32to be
24:32released from the pack's bond records i want to be a free wolf child you could ask me for so
24:41much more
24:42i held the bow and didn't move tears fell one by one onto the stone take me with you okay
24:50outside the pack passion life was uncertain and hard inside with the matriarch's protection you would
24:57be safe stay serve well don't make enemies the rest would come
25:04briar wept and pressed gold into my hands anyway on the morning i left many of the other handmaids
25:10came to see me off the shaman also walked towards me in the crowd may your ancestors guide your path
25:19patted my shoulder and then walked towards the crowd
25:24i turned around and walked towards the door but in the crowd i saw karen also there
25:30kaylin grabbed me to the corner he caged me against the wall and looked at me like he wanted to
25:34devour me
25:36say the word and i'll take you as a formal mate
25:41serve me like you used to and i'll give you rank above the others
25:45i stared at him for a long time
25:53don't look at me like that
25:56what you think lucian's gonna come running after you you're deluding yourself
26:03he's probably not even thinking of you once his body improved he didn't need you anymore
26:07you were useful and now you're spare and don't expect him to remember you in a year
26:11he didn't even come to see you off that tells you exactly where you rank to him
26:17something in my chest seized the truth was lucian and i had been in a cold war for weeks it
26:22had started
26:22on the way home from the festival if i was happy
26:28yes the warmth vanished from lucian's face happy about the fireworks no watching you walk with her
26:35you look like you belong together my wish is starting to work that made me happy you see me
26:39with another female and that's what makes you happy she's extraordinary she might become the pax
26:43future first luna of course i'm happy selena i didn't know you could be so heartless
26:49my parents had died years ago in the household where i was born into service i had no home to
26:54return to i'd planned to head south find a city where no one knew my name but the second kaylin's
27:00and vivian's faces floated up behind my eyes i was on my feet booking passage on the first river ferry
27:06south before i'd finished the thought property deeds golds a house a plot of land somewhere in the south
27:16i tried to remember when the shaman had touched my bag he'd had his hands on it during the send
27:21-off
27:21but where had he gotten the ferry listed suddenly i nearly went over the rail
27:28i scrambled upright and found boots surrounding me on three sides then i was bound carried ashore
27:34and pushed into a carriage when the blindfold came down
27:44vivian smiling i couldn't stop the bitter laugh from escaping briar had been right for all the years
27:51i'd served her and this was still where we ended up they brought out women with strong hands to deal
27:56with me the blows were professional and thorough she'd grown thinner since i last saw her the delicate
28:02elegance that had once made her untouchable now just made her look breakable what it didn't do was
28:07protect her inside the pack i used your body as a convenience and you had the nerve to find your
28:14own
28:14way out ungrateful traitorous have you forgotten what you swore loyal service always loyal service she
28:24wasn't wrong but loyalty is a two-way bond and she had never honored her half waited for the anger
28:30to burn
28:31out so i could leave i overestimated her capacity for mercy the first day i knew the hitting look at
28:37me the second day she used silver tipped needles on my hand the third day she locked me in the
28:45holding
28:45den beneath the estate i found my parents remains there for a moment just one i genuinely wanted to
28:51stop fighting the young guard outside pulled me up before i could follow the thought all the way
28:56delena come back please you saved me do i know you years ago a bracelet went missing in the ladies
29:03rooms they were going to use me as the culprit you figured out who really took it and you bought
29:09me enough time to prove it i kept all my fingers because of you you're one of the kindest people
29:13i've
29:13ever known why is she doing this to you because i wasn't loyal enough what's happening at the pack
29:21mansion the alpha haired is he truly going to bond with the regent's daughter the matriarch is frantic
29:27the whole bonding is off the regent's family pulled their daughter out the night his wolf spirit nearly
29:32went dark completely she agreed to cancel it she's never been this close to real death before they say
29:39she ran celine please stop thinking about them think about yourself you have to survive long enough to be
29:44rescued will you let me help you please help me bury my parents is there anything else i can do
29:49for you
29:50after that i need you to find a small wooden box you buried my parents i'll carry that gratitude into
29:56whatever comes next on the fifth evening vivian returned she examined her nails as if nothing else
30:03mattered i could barely hold my head up you're still alive heaven must want you to suffer longer
30:10begging me to stop don't bother i wasn't begging i was cursing her quietly steadily the rope around my neck
30:18tightened i let out a slow breath finally a clean ending it pulled taut tighter until the air was gone
30:26then it went slack a second cruelty another method noise poured in from every direction someone was
30:34calling my name someone was in the water selena selena
30:42i'm sorry i'm sorry please don't leave me
30:47i was lifted carried fast too fast and then i hit a cold chest and stayed there whoever held me
30:55dropped to their knees
30:56their arms locked around me like i might disappear lucian where are you i am here
31:05i am here i thought i had lost you selene i'm so sorry i should have found you sooner
31:16lucian brought me back to the lakeside cabin the shaman had prepared a medicinal bath something old
31:21something meant for deep wounds lucian washed me himself every new injury he found made the skin
31:27around his eyes darken deeper redder in the blur between waking and sleep i felt like i was drifting
31:34held up by careful hands and warm water rocking gently the last thing i remembered was a soft bed
31:42rising up to catch me and my arms closing around it i slept for a very long time
31:56where's lucian he kept watch over you for days i added something to his tea he's out is he having
32:03an episode his wolf spirit he's been destroying himself since you left his wolf didn't want to be
32:08steady i couldn't do much you were the only person keeping him anchored that was never me don't cry
32:15he's alive and he won't die before 30 i made sure of that much what happens at 30 does the
32:22bond snap
32:22he was always going to die early you know this if you weren't fated for early death you two would
32:27never have found each other i sat very still something inside me was splitting apart lucian
32:34woke to find me staring into nothing what's wrong his voice came out rough with sleep i wiped my face
32:41said nothing my fingers rested against his throat feeling his pulse i'm going to kiss you
32:49say yes or no you were a lot less polite the first time
32:57his mouth was cold and his breath against mine was like a thread of warmth in a blizzard brief and
33:05so easy to lose lucian i love you
33:20i never expected to fall in love with someone within such short life
33:27neither did i then the shaman came back he returned three nights later moving with purpose and sat across
33:34from us i've been doing a great deal of thinking that's usually ominous the curse on you the life
33:42debt your father made with the witch clan it was sealed with sacrifice specifically the sacrifice of
33:47a wolf spirit sacrifice can be answered with sacrifice or with something equal and opposite
33:54a bond freely chosen a mating bond a true one not a spirit bond with a corpse a living breathing
34:01voluntary mating bond freely given both sides willing under the full moon if the bond takes hold
34:09the original sacrifice is fulfilled differently life for life but instead of taking it gives
34:18the curse breaks has this worked before i believe it will
34:24yes
34:26the next few days passed in controlled chaos the matriarch convened a pack circle vivian's crimes
34:32had not gone unnoticed the poisoning of kaylin's quarter mate and the unborn pup had been confirmed
34:37by pack law that was grounds for exile vivian was removed quietly finally the regent's daughter came to
34:45the cabin one more time he told me at the festival you know the night we went to dinner what
34:50to say
34:51he talked about you for three hours straight without realizing it i'm sorry i was slow to understand her
34:57expression unreadable i didn't know what to say she stepped forward and squeezed my hand once
35:03don't let him die then she was gone
35:10kaylin came to the cabin the night before the ritual he stood in the doorway and for the first time
35:15in the
35:15years i've known him he looked genuinely lost my brother he's going to be all right the shaman believes
35:24so i never saw you do you know for three years i've actually never given you a proper look
35:34for whatever it's worth i'm sorry i thought about everything i could say what i said was
35:42take care of yourself kaylin he nodded turned walked away it wasn't forgiveness not yet but it
35:52was a beginning the full moon rose over the lake like a white flame the shaman built the circle at
35:58the water's edge silver dust wolf herbs old fire lucian stood at the center he refused the chair tonight he
36:06was standing on his own in the moonlight and the sight of him pale and slight and stubbornly impossibly
36:13upright hit me somewhere i didn't have words for the shaman's voice rose over the water speaking old
36:19words in the witch clan's tongue the language of the curse that had been turned tonight into something
36:25else he looked at me with those moth wing lashes and that expression that always meant he'd run out of
36:30arguments and was trying not to show how much he felt celine you don't have to i know
36:38i might still i know that too then what are you doing
36:45choosing the shaman's voice peaked the circle ignited not fire exactly something older silver
36:53blue rising from the water's surface i felt the pull of it in my chest not pain not fear something
37:00more like recognition lucian's hand tightened on mine and i felt the moment it happened a snap deep
37:06in the core of me like a lock giving way like something that had been held closed for 30 years
37:12finally opening lucian made a sound i'd never heard from him before not pain the opposite of pain
37:18he dropped to his knees in the silver circle and his wolf his wolf spirit which i had never seen
37:24which he had never been able to fully call tore out of him with a howl that shook the lake
37:30white
37:30enormous blazing like a comet above the water he threw his head back and howled again the sound broke
37:37over the forest over the pack mansion over every territory for miles and from far away from every
37:44direction at once howls began to answer the shaman wept i didn't realize it until i saw his shoulders
37:51shaking lucian's wolf settled around him like a second skin the color returned to his face not the
37:57brief flush of fever but real warmth steady and permanent he touched his own hands like he was
38:03checking they were real then he looked at me and his eyes those beautiful exhausted fighting to stay
38:09open eyes were the clearest i'd ever seen them selena just my name the way he said it cracked something
38:19open in me i pressed my face against his chest and stayed there for a long long time his heartbeat
38:25was
38:25strong steady warm not borrowed time just him the matriarch came to the lake the next morning she took
38:35one look at lucian standing in the early light no chair no shawl real color in his face and she
38:42sat down
38:42on the nearest bench and didn't move for several minutes how thanks to selena who sacrificed herself
38:49willingly she was a good girl the shaman explained what had happened then she reached out and drew me
38:56to sit beside her as she'd done before what do you want i once hoped my sister would be safe
39:03and that i
39:03could be free but now all i want is for lucian to return as leader safe and happy it happened
39:12at the
39:12next full moon briar stood beside me it's already more than enough you have a thread right there hold
39:23briar what thank you
39:31lucian was waiting at the lake's edge he'd learned to stand like he meant it may your life together be
39:38filled with love laughter and happiness may your home always be warm and your hearts always full i had
39:46survived every single thing and i was here free loved his mate and mine
39:58selena i'm not going to die
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