- 12 hours ago
The False Mate
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00I look almost exactly like their first love, Sarah.
00:02Who made her fall in love with him first?
00:04The loser. Give up Sarah.
00:07They made a bet.
00:08Whoever could win my true heart first would be the one to mate Sarah.
00:12Evelyn, will you marry me?
00:15The Alpha King lavished me with every luxury the world had to offer.
00:20Zane, the aloof and distant Gamma Zane will grant all my wishes.
00:24Do you need me to do anything?
00:27Evelyn, please love me more.
00:33I won't let you down.
00:35They all begged for my love. They vowed they would never fail me.
00:40I never expected that the second I agreed to marry Zane...
00:44You made me lose.
00:46Look how ugly you are. Never dream of marrying me!
00:53You were just a dirty secret.
00:55Caden had his men strip me of my clothes and throw me into the deep forest.
01:02Then I reborn.
01:03The famously powerful Alpha King and Gamma actually enjoyed sharing women.
01:07It is well known that they were infatuated with a witch named Sarah.
01:11They toyed with her daily, possessing her madly.
01:14Until Sarah couldn't take it anymore and ran away forever.
01:17When they first met me, I was being bullied by several rogue wolves barely clothed.
01:21Let's see who dares touch her.
01:23Their fragrance wafted towards me.
01:26They were my mates. I had two mates.
01:31That night, they knelt beside my bed, gently caring for me and marking me.
01:38Evelyn, marry me.
01:39Evelyn, you should have married me.
01:41They were all whispering possessively in my ear.
01:49But beautiful things never last long.
01:52Three months later, I passed by the pack house.
01:55She's just a substituted.
01:57Don't take it seriously.
01:59Hey! Sarah's coming back!
02:02But we're already sharing Evelyn now.
02:04Forget about that poor Omega.
02:06Have you forgotten how painful it was for us when we lost Sarah?
02:10Evelyn was just a bet.
02:12Fine.
02:13Anyway, I'm the one who won the bet.
02:17According to the agreement, the winner gets Sarah all to himself.
02:22So, they were pursuing me relentlessly, begging me to marry them.
02:27It was just a bet.
02:28Whoever wins my heart can mate Sarah Zane.
02:31Zane happily left to prepare for the mate pairing ceremony.
02:36I managed to sob.
02:40Kayden overheard and turned.
02:47Now, I am back.
02:53I want revenge.
02:54I am not reconciled.
02:57Still here?
02:59You heard all?
03:00He didn't even bother to explain.
03:03He looked at me like I was a trash.
03:05Whatever happens, I will never hurt you.
03:08I will protect you.
03:09I will keep you close forever.
03:12I didn't have much to say either.
03:15I swallowed the sting and turned to leave.
03:17A pack Omega stopped me at the door.
03:20Miss Evelyn.
03:22Nights, my chinked guns on the Vlodders.
03:25Nothing from Alpha King's pack house leaves with you.
03:28I closed my eyes, reached up, and started taking it all off.
03:32Piece by piece until I was standing in nothing but a plain white undershirt.
03:37The coat.
03:38The pins.
03:39The jewelry.
03:42Enough.
03:43What do you think yourself?
03:47Do you think that the things we gave you in the past was for free?
03:51Never.
03:54I think you need to pay me for oral sex right now.
04:02You promised me one thing.
04:04Does that still stand?
04:06I once had taken an attack for him.
04:08He had made his promise in front of the whole pack.
04:11Whatever I asked for, as long as it was in his power, he would give it.
04:21Zane doesn't want you.
04:23Neither do I.
04:26Don't think any of this was real.
04:28My mate will be Sarah.
04:30No one else comes close.
04:32I only ask one thing.
04:34Let me walk out of here in what I'm wearing.
04:36I just wanted to leave with my dignity intact.
04:38That was all.
04:39That's all you want?
04:41Nothing else?
04:42He had expected screaming.
04:44Threats.
04:45A scene he could use to justify getting rid of me for good.
04:48He didn't know I had lived this before.
04:51I stopped wanting anything.
04:52Get out.
04:53He waved his hand.
04:54I stood and pulled open the door without looking back.
04:57It was just after December.
04:59The snow was still heavy.
05:01The cold swallowed me the second I stepped outside.
05:04I walked barefoot into it.
05:07My feet went numb fast.
05:08My face went white.
05:10I didn't make a sound.
05:11I just moved toward the pack gate.
05:14One step at a time.
05:16By the time I reached the gates, my feet were red and aching.
05:20I crouched down and wrapped my hands around my ankles trying to get some warmth back.
05:25A convoy of vehicles rolled past.
05:27Sarah only came back half a month ago and already the Beta is sending her the rarest gifts to court
05:31her.
05:32He really never stopped.
05:34Didn't the Beta and the Alpha King both treat that Omega sex soy differently?
05:37Like they actually cared?
05:38That's old news.
05:39Everyone always knew she was just something they used to pass the time.
05:42If Sarah hadn't come back, they never would have bothered finishing the game.
05:45The voices faded.
05:47I felt nothing.
05:48Just numb.
05:50So everyone had known all along.
05:52They both loved Sarah.
05:54Only I had been stupid enough to believe it was real.
05:57I didn't find out until I was already dying.
06:00I don't know how long I crouched there.
06:02Then I stood, wrapped my arms around myself, and walked out past the gates.
06:08Outside, the wind was worse.
06:10My hands and feet had gone completely rigid.
06:13At some point, my legs gave out and I went down in the snow, darkness flooding in at the edges.
06:18But I made it back to my own family house.
06:21Same as last time.
06:23One extra layer of clothing.
06:25Same stairs.
06:26I walked through it without looking at anyone and knocked on the door.
06:30No one answered.
06:32My eyes burned.
06:34I let out a short, bitter sound and knocked harder.
06:37The Omega Servant inside finally spoke, low and reluctant.
06:42Miss Evelyn.
06:43The family can't take you in.
06:46Please go.
06:47My hand froze in the air.
06:49It felt like something small and dense was pressing through my ribs.
06:53Spreading out slow.
06:55I pulled my hand back.
06:56The tears came without permission.
06:59In my last life.
07:00The moment my family found out the Alpha King had passed me off.
07:04They shut the door on me.
07:06They were afraid of what my presence would cost them.
07:09Afraid of what people would say.
07:11So they put me in a vehicle and drove me to a border outpost to be forgotten.
07:16They had me poisoned.
07:17I died somewhere, no one would find me.
07:19But I still remember.
07:21Before I was chosen by Alpha King, my grandmother and my father held my hands with tears in their eyes.
07:27Evelyn.
07:29If the Alpha King is ever cruel to you, come home.
07:34We'll always be here.
07:35They said that.
07:36And then they locked the door.
07:38I could have gone somewhere else.
07:39But I knew they wouldn't let me disappear quietly.
07:42The only way to be free was to disappear completely.
07:45So I came back.
07:47The door opened.
07:48My father stared at me with his jaw set and contempt in every line of his face.
07:53Do you have any idea what you've done to this family?
07:58Why didn't you just go?
08:00You got thrown out.
08:01Why come back and drag your sisters into this?
08:05Behind him, my half-sister's eyes were full of something vicious.
08:09My grandmother stepped forward and took my hand with practiced tenderness.
08:14Evelyn, this isn't your fault that the family can't have a daughter like you.
08:19Let grandmother send you to the border outpost.
08:22We'll tell everyone you passed away.
08:25The past stays buried.
08:27Doesn't that sound better?
08:28Her voice was gentle.
08:30But her eyes held something sharp and ruthless.
08:33And underneath it, a sliver of guilt too faint to name.
08:37So it wasn't only Caden and Zane who wanted me dead.
08:41It was my family too.
08:43In the end, I got into the vehicle.
08:45I kept my hand wrapped around a small pin the whole way.
08:49I didn't let go.
08:50Same as last time.
08:51The estate manager at the outpost had his orders, and he followed them without hesitation.
08:57He locked me in a storage room.
09:00Now he stood over me.
09:01You really thought you'd survive this?
09:03You humiliated the Alpha King and the Beta.
09:08The family can't keep something like you alive.
09:11Samey words as last time.
09:13I stared down at the floor and tightened my grip on the pin.
09:17He moved toward me with a small bottle.
09:19I raised my hand without thinking.
09:22The pin aimed at his throat.
09:24Then the door exploded inward.
09:27The estate manager went sideways as a shape moved through the room.
09:30A figure in white caught my arm and pulled me upright.
09:33Voice calm and even.
09:35I heard you make good osmangra cake.
09:38Want to come work in my kitchen?
09:40She lifted her veil as she said it.
09:43The face underneath matched the portrait Caden kept locked in his private office.
09:47Stunning.
09:48Unmistakable.
09:49One look and I knew.
09:50This was Sarah.
09:52The fated mate.
09:53Both Zane and Caden had built their whole obsession around.
09:57In my last life, the poison went down and the body burned.
10:00No one came.
10:02I had planned to take the estate manager out myself, start a fire, and let the world think
10:08I was dead.
10:09But this changed everything.
10:11She must have seen something in my face because her expression softened.
10:15And before I could speak, she draped her outer coat over my shoulders.
10:19It's cold.
10:21Don't get sick.
10:23Most girls from high-ranked families smelled like powder and perfume.
10:27She smelled like green wood and clean air.
10:30I was still processing it when Zane appeared in the doorway behind her, dropping his black
10:35coat over her shoulders before she could shiver.
10:38You matter more than anything.
10:40He looked at her with a warmth I had never seen aimed at me.
10:43Not once.
10:45Everyone said the beta was cold.
10:47That the softness he showed me had only ever been strategy.
10:51Looking at him now, I could see it.
10:55Whatever was in his eyes when he looked at Sarah was something else entirely.
10:59He seemed to feel my stare.
11:01He turned.
11:02His voice was flat.
11:04Sarah wants your baking.
11:06So you'll go to her estate.
11:08You were sent here to die.
11:10Which means you were guilty of something.
11:13Be grateful you're still breathing.
11:15And don't reach for anything more.
11:17The warmth he had shown was completely gone.
11:21This was the beta I had never been allowed to see.
11:23The boy I thought I knew dissolved out of memory and left a dull ache behind.
11:28So my real feelings had been a death sentence to him.
11:31I pulled the corners of my mouth up slightly.
11:35I'm grateful Sarah saved my life.
11:37I'll serve her well.
11:38And I won't reach for anything else.
11:40I moved to follow Sarah to the vehicle.
11:43Someone caught my wrist.
11:45I looked back into Zane's warning stare.
11:47I pulled my wrist free.
11:49Voice flat.
11:50You don't have to worry.
11:51I won't say anything to Sarah about what happened between us.
11:55Everything before this, I'm burying it.
11:58As far as I'm concerned, we never met.
12:01He didn't speak after that.
12:03He just got into the vehicle ahead of me.
12:05At Sarah's estate, I followed them inside and watched the two of them walk side by side through the entrance
12:10hall.
12:11My chest stayed quiet.
12:12After Zane left, he looked back at me once.
12:15Something unreadable moving across his face.
12:18I didn't look up.
12:19Then arms came around me from behind.
12:21You're okay.
12:22Thank God.
12:23Sarah held on to me.
12:24And despite everything, despite the softness of her face and the slender look of her,
12:29she was taller than I expected.
12:31Close to Zane's height, her arms were solid.
12:34Her voice was lower than I remembered too.
12:36I pushed her back gently, keeping my voice even.
12:40Thank you for coming for me.
12:41She kept her eyes on me.
12:43I'm sorry.
12:45You got used to it because of me.
12:48That wasn't fair to you.
12:49I thought she was drawing a line, a warning dressed up as an apology.
12:53But then she said,
12:54I'm not going to bond with either of them.
12:58I don't want either of them.
12:59I didn't understand what she meant.
13:01I didn't try to.
13:02I just let her set me up in a room and stayed.
13:05My family had shut the door.
13:08Right now, I had no leverage and no choices.
13:10I wasn't in a position to say no.
13:13Sarah seemed to mean what she said.
13:15She never made things hard for me.
13:17And whenever Zane or Caden sent gifts, she turned them away immediately and then came
13:22to find me and explained quietly,
13:24I'm not keeping them.
13:26I didn't understand why she kept doing that.
13:28I just sent her a portion of fresh Osmanthus cake every day.
13:33Zane and Caden showed up at the estate together.
13:36In the side kitchen, Zane had his hand around my throat and his eyes were pure dark fury.
13:42What did you say to her?
13:44She just pulled out her brother's copy of the late Alpha's standing order to dissolve the bonding agreement.
13:50Caden watched from a few steps back and laughed, low and sharp.
13:54Should have finished it properly.
13:56Evelyn, I should have gotten rid of you when I had the chance.
13:59I hadn't done anything.
14:01The pressure on my throat made my vision blur.
14:04My back hit the wall, hard and cold.
14:07It wasn't me.
14:09Something in my expression made Zane's grip loosen slightly.
14:13I used it.
14:14I swung my open hand and caught him across the face hard enough to snap his head to the side.
14:20He felt the heat in his cheek.
14:22His eyes went dark.
14:24Evelyn.
14:24I pressed my hand to my chest and pulled in long, slow breaths.
14:30Whatever Zane said after that, I let it pass through me.
14:33He yanked me back up by the arm.
14:35Go tell Sarah there's nothing between us anymore.
14:38Whatever trick you pulled is done.
14:40If you don't, I will take apart everything you've built.
14:45And your family goes down with you.
14:47Caden hadn't spoken yet, but the intent in his eyes was already building.
14:52Two men who use someone else's feelings as a bet chip.
14:56And you think you get to accuse me of playing games.
14:59I drove the pin into Zane's wrist.
15:01He pulled back with a hiss.
15:03Caden moved toward me, jaw tight.
15:06For a second I was ready to take them both down with me if that is what it came to.
15:10Then Sarah stepped between us.
15:12Same as the outpost.
15:14Caden stopped.
15:15His face went complicated.
15:17Sarah, don't listen to her.
15:19Whatever you decide, whether you bond or with Mean, you'll be protected.
15:24You'll have everything.
15:26He pushed hard, but Sarah just let out a slow breath.
15:30I really can't bond with either of you.
15:32Then she reached up and started undoing her coat.
15:35Zane had brought guards.
15:36I stepped in front of her and grabbed her arms.
15:38Even if you don't want them.
15:40Don't ruin your own reputation doing it like this.
15:42I got my arms around her waist to stop her.
15:45And then I felt it.
15:46No softness.
15:47Solid muscle, flat and warm and very clearly.
15:50Not what I had been expecting.
15:53Sarah wrapped me in close and murmured into my hair.
15:55Easy.
15:57Stop touching.
15:58My brain went completely blank.
16:00Sarah was a man.
16:02He looked up at the two stunned alphas in front of him with total calm.
16:07Still want to claim me now?
16:09Both of them stood frozen.
16:10The fury drained and something ugly took its place.
16:17Warrior Asher.
16:19Why are you impersonating your own sister?
16:21They had seen the near identical faces and assumed it was some kind of prank.
16:26There has never been a daughter in my family.
16:28Anyone who looked would have found that out.
16:33Wearing women's clothing is just a preference of mine.
16:36I hope neither of you are telling me you've developed a thing for men.
16:40Zane's fist tightened slowly.
16:42He thought back over the last few days and it sat in his gut like something rotten.
16:47Caden's expression stayed perfectly still.
16:49He turned and walked out.
16:51He didn't want to stay in the room another second.
16:54The moment they were both gone, Asher looked down at me, amused.
16:58Done yet?
16:59Or did you need more time?
17:01I realized my fingers were still curled against him.
17:05I'm sorry.
17:06I didn't know you addressed.
17:07I made my exit fast.
17:09I wanted to leave the estate.
17:11Leave the whole city.
17:12But Asher caught my hand.
17:13And his voice when he spoke was easy and direct.
17:16I've been stuck out at the border for years.
17:17Which means I've aged out of the easy options.
17:20What do you think about staying on as a warrior's mate?
17:23We had known each other for less than a week.
17:25Where was this coming from?
17:26I didn't get the chance to answer.
17:27The kitchen door exploded open again.
17:30Both men went back.
17:31Faces dark.
17:31Caden's eyes locked on me.
17:33Cold and direct.
17:34She's not bonding with him.
17:38Evelyn.
17:39Come here.
17:40Zane said nothing.
17:42His bandaged wrist said it for him.
17:45Same as inside the stronghold.
17:47Come when called.
17:48Go when dismissed.
17:49A wolf they could use and discard whenever the mood shifted.
17:52What exactly are you two doing right now?
17:56Are you telling me a warrior of this pack can't choose his own mate?
18:00Evelyn.
18:02Come back with me.
18:03I'll make you a ranked mate inside the stronghold.
18:07Our agreement still stands.
18:09I'll bond with you.
18:10Their fated mate had turned out to be a man.
18:12So now they reversed course.
18:14And tried to pull me back into the same fire they had thrown me into before.
18:18Both of them looked at me now with that warmth I used to fall for.
18:21For a second the image wavered.
18:23Before everything happened.
18:25Two men who had seemed so sure about me.
18:27But I knew there was nothing real in any of it.
18:30I was just the new prize in a new round of the same game.
18:33My voice came out steady and empty.
18:35I believe the Alpha King and the Beta both told me not to reach for anything beyond my place.
18:41I haven't forgotten.
18:43Both of them went still.
18:44The silence stretched between them.
18:46And somewhere inside it guilt surfaced.
18:49They had assumed I would always orbit them.
18:50Always react to them.
18:52Years of shared history had a weight to it.
18:54And they had just started to feel it.
18:56I'm sorry.
18:57He finally understood.
18:58I was not going to trust him again.
19:00Not by one degree.
19:01Zane moved in close.
19:02Please don't.
19:04Evelyn.
19:05Come with me.
19:06Everything I promised you it still counts.
19:08I was still working out how to make them leave when Asher's voice cut through the room.
19:12Five years ago you two were ambushed at Silvermore Lodge.
19:15A girl saved you.
19:17And you've held on to that.
19:17Has it occurred to you that the girl might not have been me?
19:21You mean the girl who covered our escape wasn't you?
19:23If it had been Asher, protecting the pack's leadership would have been part of his duty.
19:28But if it wasn't him, then neither of them had been unknowingly fixated on a man for years.
19:34The brief flicker of something like hope showed before they could stop it.
19:38Asher confirmed it.
19:39Neither of them looked at me again.
19:41They exchanged one glance and walked out together.
19:44I had seen that look before.
19:47Stakes.
19:48A score to settle.
19:49They didn't know the first thing about caring for someone.
19:52They only knew how to compete.
19:54How to manipulate.
19:55How to turn everything into a game.
19:57Thinking that the weight I had carried in my chest since my last life finally broke apart.
20:02These two weren't worth the grief.
20:04When I turned to say goodbye to Asher.
20:07Five years ago.
20:09Were you the boy whose father forced him into a dress to perform?
20:13I can't believe you still remembered.
20:15The person in front of me slowly matched the memory.
20:18A rail-thin boy covered in marks being forced into a costume.
20:22Backstage at Silver Moon Lodge.
20:24I stepped in.
20:26Blocked the knife.
20:27When I get out of this, I'm going to find you and claim you.
20:31Put on the dress.
20:32And went out onto that stage.
20:34You're a ranked warrior now.
20:35That means you got out, so why keep wearing the dress?
20:40The old man's gone.
20:42He asked me before he died to be his mate's reflection a few more days.
20:47His ghost wanted to see.
20:49He told me his mother had died in labor because of him.
20:52His father couldn't kill him, but couldn't forgive him either.
20:55The face was too much like hers.
20:56So from the time he was small, he was dressed and trained as the family's daughter.
21:01Forced to learn performance, music, painting.
21:03Same as five years ago, I pressed my hand lightly to his forehead.
21:07Asher, I told you then and I'll tell you now.
21:10You are a good person.
21:12You have never, not once, been anything else.
21:15In my last life, he made warrior rank and never came back.
21:18Thank you for choosing to come back for me.
21:22One sentence and he understood.
21:25How could I let my moonlight disappear from this world?
21:28His voice was barely above a whisper.
21:30You are mine too.
21:31But I heard it and I smiled.
21:33What I said before, about claiming you, I was being stupid.
21:39Wherever you end up, bonded or not, just stay safe.
21:42Asher didn't try to hide how much he didn't want me to go.
21:44I was one step too slow.
21:47Zane came in fast on horseback and pulled me into his arms.
21:52Where are you going?
21:56The ground tilted.
21:58When I got my bearings back, Caden was there too.
22:02Both of them looking at me with that heat I recognized and wanted nothing to do with.
22:06I felt Zane's hand at my waist and drove my knife into his arm without pausing.
22:10He had been stabbed by me enough times now that he released me on instinct.
22:14Asher stepped between us and pulled me behind him, voice like ice.
22:18What are you doing here at this hour?
22:19I'm here for my mate.
22:21Evelyn already agreed to bond with me.
22:23What I did was wrong.
22:24I know that.
22:26But if I had known from the start that you were the one at Silvermoon Lodge, I never would have
22:30hurt you.
22:31You want to be angry at me?
22:33Fine, yell at me, hit me.
22:34Just come back.
22:35I went too far before.
22:37I shouldn't have made you leave in almost nothing.
22:40Come back to the stronghold with me.
22:42We can go back to the way things were.
22:43Voice full of the kind of sincerity he was very good at.
22:47I think the Alpha King and the Beta are confused.
22:49I'm a mid-rank wolf's daughter.
22:52Five years ago, I would have pulled anyone out of that situation, including Astray.
22:57If that's the reason you're both standing here, you can let it go.
23:00It really doesn't matter to me.
23:02I understood them now.
23:03They were unpredictable.
23:05Performative.
23:07Asher had his hand at my back and was moving me toward the estate entrance.
23:11The door shut behind us.
23:13Solid.
23:14And final.
23:15From the upper floor, I could see Zane and Caden still standing in the snow, letting it fall on them.
23:20Asher came to stand beside me.
23:23I'll find a way to get you out of the city.
23:25A few days.
23:26In the meantime, I'll teach you some defense techniques.
23:29Sound good?
23:29But he knew me well enough to understand that wasn't what I needed to hear.
23:33And I said yes without hesitating.
23:35Every woman I had ever known had been told to be soft and steady and careful.
23:39No one had ever asked what I actually wanted.
23:42I had read about fighters and wide-open borderlands my whole life and never been allowed to reach
23:47for any of them.
23:49I wanted to be strong enough to protect myself.
23:52To never be at someone else's mercy again.
23:54In the days that followed, Caden and Zane seemed to understand they had lost the right
23:58to force anything.
23:59They didn't come at me directly.
24:01But every day they showed up and ran through the same performance they had used before.
24:05Rare items kept arriving at the estate.
24:07Then they finally ran out of patience and sent my family.
24:11My half-sister showed up at the gate crying.
24:13Half-sister, the things that happened at the outpost, that was father making a terrible mistake.
24:18Grandmother found out.
24:20She's been sick ever since and she only wants to see you.
24:23The tears were convincing.
24:25The calculation in her eyes wasn't.
24:27I didn't refuse.
24:28I smiled.
24:33Alright, let's go see Grandmother.
24:36The snow had stopped.
24:38But the streets got unfamiliar fast.
24:40And my smile went thin.
24:42Asking me to come back.
24:43Asking me to think of the family name.
24:45But the splinter was already in.
24:47It wasn't coming out easily.
24:48I had known since my last life exactly what my family was.
24:52They could accept me when I brought them something to gain.
24:54They could also leave me to die when I stopped being useful.
24:58I stopped being easy to manage.
25:00So they sent the half-sister who looked most like me.
25:02I watched the streets get worse and jumped out of the moving vehicle.
25:08My half-sister came after me with a knife.
25:10Before, she might have succeeded.
25:12Now I had her wrist and my other hand at her throat.
25:15Grip tightening slowly.
25:18It was father's idea.
25:20He said if you wouldn't cooperate he'd replace you.
25:22I just didn't want to be invisible anymore.
25:23She was going for sympathy.
25:25Someone else got there first.
25:26Caden looked down at her from a few feet away.
25:29Expression flat.
25:29I asked your family to speak on my behalf.
25:32Is this what they call helping?
25:33She went pale and started shaking her head.
25:36But Caden didn't want to hear it.
25:37He had her removed.
25:39Then his attention came back to me.
25:41Evelyn, stop making this hard.
25:44Are you really done caring about your family?
25:46I moved back before he could.
25:48I am.
25:50And the Alpha King doesn't wipe out whole families without reason, does he?
25:54I turned and walked away.
25:56Everything has consequences.
25:58I didn't owe my family anything.
26:00Zane had been stationed outside the estate every day, making sure I couldn't leave quietly.
26:05But now, following Caden's lead, he was gone.
26:08I looked at the broken down buildings along the road and headed straight for the city's outer boundary.
26:13I had already told Asher I wouldn't let any exit go to waste.
26:17We didn't need to draw this out.
26:19Time to go.
26:20Everything moved smoothly.
26:21I found a vehicle heading for the coast, but something sat wrong in my stomach.
26:26We need to move fast.
26:27The city's shifting.
26:28Asher's estate just got raided.
26:30The ruling family doesn't care.
26:32Use people up and throw them away.
26:33That's what tyrants do.
26:34Three years of watching Caden.
26:36I knew how much he cared about how the pack saw him.
26:39He had never done anything this openly reckless before.
26:43I closed my eyes.
26:44Then I turned my horse around and rode back.
26:49I am very happy with him.
26:51I cannot lose him.
26:54I will find you and claim you.
26:57Evelyn, ready to come home now?
27:00Release, Ashel.
27:01Done.
27:02I went back into the stronghold.
27:05This time Caden outdid everything from those three years.
27:09He cleared out the stronghold.
27:11He overruled every council member.
27:15And announced he would make me his official mate.
27:18A permanent bond.
27:20Just the two of us.
27:22He stayed close every day.
27:25Warm and obsessive and relentless.
27:28Every Omega who had watched me be humiliated was reassigned.
27:32When he found out what my family had tried to do at the outpost, he acted on it immediately.
27:37A new attendant helped me prepare one morning and shook her head in admiration.
27:41My lady, the Alpha King loves you so much.
27:44Everyone in the whole territory knows it now.
27:46He has a chosen one.
27:47Her name is Evelyn.
27:48One bond, one mate, forever.
27:50People are saying it everywhere.
27:51Through them, I found out what I needed to know.
27:54Asher was being held in the pack dungeon.
27:56Zane had been confined to his estate.
27:59Caden was loudly performing his devotion to the whole kingdom.
28:02But I had not forgotten what he looked like when he told me I was nothing but a bet.
28:07A plaything.
28:08Not worth the air between us.
28:10Every moment of my last life was still in me.
28:13So I helped Zane get out.
28:15At the bonding ceremony, he came in with a blade raised.
28:19His eyes were burning.
28:20Aiden dropped every pretense of being a patient older brother.
28:23Brother, Evelyn belongs with me.
28:26They tore the masks off for the first time and showed each other the actual hatred underneath.
28:30Everyone said they were close.
28:32That the bond between them ran deep.
28:34No one knew they had always despised each other.
28:37So they competed for the same things.
28:40Wanted the same people.
28:41Just to settle the score.
28:43While the stronghold descended into chaos, I stepped behind a dividing screen.
28:48Dropped a fire starter.
28:49And ran.
28:51I already had a mount ready.
28:53I had Caden's seal.
28:54And I used it to open the dungeon.
28:56I came to the dungeon to rescue Asher.
29:09Caden was unconscious for two weeks.
29:11By the time he came back and gave the order, there was no trace of me or Asher left anywhere
29:16in the kingdom.
29:17In a village no one had heard of, Asher and I stayed.
29:20The people there were mostly fighters he had mustered out from the border.
29:24They had helped pull him free.
29:26He had shed the dress for good.
29:28Dark clothing.
29:29Straight-backed, easy in his own skin.
29:32The village women could not stop talking about how handsome he was.
29:35And they kept looking between us and nudging each other.
29:39Little Evelyn, you two even have the same eyes.
29:42Made for each other.
29:43The way that boy watches you, his eyes are practically stuck.
29:47Why aren't you together yet?
29:49It had been because of the resemblance to Asher that I had become Caden and Zane's target
29:53in the first place.
29:54Now that all of it was finally behind me, I wanted peace.
29:59Morning training with Asher.
30:00And eventually to get out and see the borderlands I had read about my whole life.
30:05After saying goodbye to the woman, I turned toward the house and walked straight into
30:10Asher's face.
30:11My cheeks went hot.
30:12Before I could speak, he said,
30:14Don't listen to her.
30:15She talks too much.
30:17I don't have feelings for you.
30:18You're my sister.
30:20There's conflict at the border.
30:22I'm going.
30:23Take care of yourself.
30:24And then he was gone.
30:26Voice cold like it had never been warm.
30:28Like the tenderness I had seen in him was something I had imagined.
30:30I didn't stop him.
30:32I just watched him go.
30:33And something hollow opened in my chest without warning.
30:36I thought about what the woman had said.
30:38I let out a quiet, slightly sad sound.
30:41Six months passed.
30:43I had no news from outside.
30:45Then I went into town for medicine.
30:46And found out everything had changed.
30:49Six months ago the Alpha King had turned tyrant.
30:52Asher had gone back to the capital voluntarily to end the conflict.
30:56Caden had chained him to the outer wall of the stronghold for three days in the open
30:59before exiling him to the border.
31:02These last six months, rogue forces had grown stronger than they had been in years.
31:06But Caden spent his days in a rage, locked Zane in the estate, and sent people across the
31:12whole territory looking for a girl with Evelyn's face.
31:15For reasons no one fully understood, Caden's hatred for Asher had become personal.
31:20He cut the border supplies.
31:21People were talking on every corner.
31:23The rogues are closing in.
31:25The Alpha King has lost his mind.
31:27And the pack is falling.
31:29I sent back the medicine and rode for the border.
31:32The fighters who had been with Asher saw me ride in.
31:34And the relief in their faces shifted to grief fast.
31:38Evelyn, you should say goodbye to him while you can.
31:41I gripped my reins, got off the horse, and walked into the command tent one step at a time.
31:48Asher was laid out there, barely breathing.
31:51He was worse.
31:54He's basically invincible in a fight.
31:56How did this happen?
31:58Since about six months ago, he's been coughing blood.
32:02Getting weaker.
32:05The healers couldn't explain it.
32:07He kept going out to fight anyway.
32:09Last time he had an episode mid-battle and took a blade directly to a vital point.
32:13The healer said there wasn't much time left, but he kept saying your name.
32:17We were just writing the message when you showed up.
32:23Asher.
32:25I'm here.
32:27You said you needed a mate.
32:29How are you allowed to go down like this?
32:33Asher has been through worse than this since he was small.
32:36Even what his father put him through didn't break him.
32:40The coughing blood.
32:41The weakness.
32:43That's because he went to the Eclipse Pack and paid with his lifestyle for something.
32:47I asked him what he got.
32:49He wouldn't say.
32:50But that same day he left the border for the first time and went straight to an outpost at the
32:56edge of the territory.
32:59Word was, you almost died there.
33:02I stood very still.
33:03Everyone knew about the Eclipse Pack.
33:05A reclusive wolf clan who could reverse fate and bend time.
33:08The cost was always the same in your life.
33:10Now I knew why I had come back.
33:12At some point the fighter left.
33:14My tears came down and my vision blurred.
33:18Asher.
33:18You absolute idiot.
33:23In my last life I loved the wrong people.
33:26And I paid for it the way I deserved.
33:28This life I felt everything fully.
33:30And I didn't regret a single choice I made.
33:33But now I regretted stepping in that night at Silvermoon Lodge.
33:37If we had never crossed paths, he would have been fine.
33:40He would have made warrior rank without owing anything to anyone.
33:43He would have had a full, clean life.
33:46Instead, because of me, all of it changed.
33:49Another tear fell and fingers caught it.
33:52Asher's lip curved slightly.
33:54What are you crying for if not for you?
33:57I would have died back then.
34:01I don't regret it.
34:05I just...
34:06He stopped.
34:07I really wanted to claim you.
34:10I wanted to take you to the border and show you everything.
34:14All of it.
34:20I guess I can't anymore.
34:22His voice was rough and full of want.
34:24But he still managed to smile.
34:26When you find someone, be smart about it.
34:29He needs to at least...
34:31He needs to love you more than I did.
34:33That's the only way he deserves you.
34:36Another wave hit and I couldn't hold it.
34:38Tell me where they are.
34:40Please.
34:42What happened to him was my fault.
34:44He shouldn't have to carry it.
34:45He closed his mouth and kept it shut.
34:48No matter how many ways I asked.
34:50I asked every fighter close to him.
34:53No one told me anything useful.
34:55In the end, I found red ceremonial clothing and I brought it back.
34:59We held the bonding ritual right there.
35:02Asher...
35:03I'm yours.
35:05Even now, with no time left, the tent was filled with red.
35:09Asher leaned against the frame.
35:11And the light in his eyes was scattered and bright like something broken and beautiful at the same time.
35:19Evelyn...
35:19I'm so glad.
35:21He laughed.
35:22And blood ran down his cheek.
35:24I reached up.
35:26Don't...
35:27He went quiet.
35:29And then his lips pressed against mine.
35:31It lasted a long time.
35:34When I finally opened my eyes, all the tears had gone.
35:38Asher wasn't breathing anymore.
35:41But the smile was still on his face.
35:43I held his hand and I didn't let go.
35:46Sometime later, the rogue forces attacked again.
35:49The fighters who had nothing left stood in their gear.
35:52Quiet and certain.
35:54Ready to fight one last time for the pack they belonged to.
35:57The fighter who had told me everything offered to take me and Asher somewhere safe.
36:01I shook my head.
36:02I want to stay at the border with him.
36:04That day I put on Asher's battle armor.
36:07And picked up his sword and used everything he had taught me to go out onto that field.
36:11The first kill.
36:13Blood everywhere.
36:14I didn't freeze.
36:16Because I knew he was right there beside me.
36:18I could protect myself.
36:20And I could protect everything he had cared about.
36:22I wore Asher's helmet with the mask down and they thought I was him.
36:26The legend of a warrior who couldn't be killed unnerved them and they wanted out.
36:30I wore that mask and signed the agreement.
36:32After the battle, Caden tried to pin the charge of betrayal on Asher's name.
36:36He had the fighters who had been with Asher hunted down and destroyed.
36:40His rule got darker by the week.
36:42For half a year we scattered and moved.
36:44Caden unable to find me or Asher grew more brutal.
36:48He taxed and squeezed the pack into misery.
36:51Using the search as an excuse for everything.
36:53The fighters who had followed Asher found me eventually.
36:56They looked exhausted.
36:58And they looked like they were asking for something they weren't sure I could give.
37:01My lady, every wolf in this territory knows what kind of man Asher was.
37:06Caden is not fit to lead.
37:08We're asking you to put on the mask.
37:10Use his name.
37:11Call the fighters together and take the stronghold.
37:13I put my hand over the pendant at my chest.
37:16I put on the mask.
37:18This time, under his name.
37:21The people lined both sides of the road.
37:23Caden stood on the stronghold wall.
37:26Fury and something else tangled together in his face.
37:29Asher, you stole my mate.
37:32And now you have the nerve on my territory.
37:35Our eyes met from a distance.
37:37He could always read me in a way that other people couldn't.
37:40Evelyn, you came back.
37:42Get in here.
37:43We'll finish the ceremony.
37:44You'll be my only mate forever.
37:45Please.
37:46I was wrong before.
37:48Can you forgive me?
37:50His expression went strange.
37:52Open the gates.
37:53Let Evelyn in.
37:55He came down fast and moved toward me.
37:57I raised my bow and put an arrow through his chest.
38:00A tyrant falls to the people he failed.
38:06Caden looked down at the blood on his hand, completely at a loss.
38:10Evelyn.
38:11I had already walked past him and taken the fighters inside.
38:15The arrow hadn't killed him.
38:18I found a member of the ruling bloodline with a clean record and helped him take the seat.
38:23Under Asher's name, I became the pack's commander.
38:26If Asher had lived, it would have been his.
38:28Now it was his regardless.
38:30He had earned it.
38:32The new alpha was declared in front of the whole pack.
38:35The old one was dealt with in the open.
38:37Giving the pack somewhere to put its grief and anger.
38:40Zane had been let out of confinement.
38:42Not long after the new alpha took power, he walked out of the capital and was never found again.
38:48I applied to the station at the border permanently and left the capital with the fighters who had been Asher's
38:53family.
38:55Time passed.
38:56I rode across open grassland with the pendant at my chest catching the light.
39:00Asher appeared in front of me.
39:02So, what does it feel like being a warrior?
39:06I laughed and rode toward him.
39:08He drifted the way things drifted in the wind.
39:11The neighbor lady was right, you know.
39:13We really did look like we were meant for each other.
39:17Next life.
39:18We do it right.
39:20Deal.
39:20I closed my eyes.
39:22One tear disappeared into my hair.
39:24Deal.
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