- il y a 4 heures
One bond.
One rejection.
One dangerous lie.
In The False Mate, she finally finds her destined Alpha—only to be publicly rejected and humiliated.
Stripped of her place, her pride, and her future…
she makes a choice no one expects.
She accepts a false bond with another Alpha—
cold, powerful, and hiding secrets of his own.
What begins as a strategic alliance soon turns into something far more complicated:
a fake mate relationship that feels too real
a rival Alpha who suddenly wants her back
and a hidden truth about her power that could change everything
As tensions rise between packs, betrayal and desire collide.
But this time…
she won’t be the one abandoned.
Will she return to the mate who rejected her…
or claim her place beside the one who chose her?
This addictive werewolf drama delivers:
Rejected mate → comeback arc
Fake mate / contract bond trope
Alpha vs Alpha rivalry
Strong female lead rising in power
Revenge, desire & second-chance tension
Because sometimes…
the wrong mate is the right destiny.
#WerewolfRomance #RejectedMate #AlphaLove #FakeMate #PackDrama #ForbiddenLove #StrongFemaleLead #MiniDrama #FantasyRomance #AddictiveDrama
#ShortDrama #MicroDrama #ShortDramaFullMovie #MicroDramaFull #VerticalDrama #MiniSeries #DramaFullMovie #RomanticDrama #RevengeDrama #TrendingDrama #BingeWatch #FullEpisode #ShortFilm #DramaSeries #ViralDrama
One rejection.
One dangerous lie.
In The False Mate, she finally finds her destined Alpha—only to be publicly rejected and humiliated.
Stripped of her place, her pride, and her future…
she makes a choice no one expects.
She accepts a false bond with another Alpha—
cold, powerful, and hiding secrets of his own.
What begins as a strategic alliance soon turns into something far more complicated:
a fake mate relationship that feels too real
a rival Alpha who suddenly wants her back
and a hidden truth about her power that could change everything
As tensions rise between packs, betrayal and desire collide.
But this time…
she won’t be the one abandoned.
Will she return to the mate who rejected her…
or claim her place beside the one who chose her?
This addictive werewolf drama delivers:
Rejected mate → comeback arc
Fake mate / contract bond trope
Alpha vs Alpha rivalry
Strong female lead rising in power
Revenge, desire & second-chance tension
Because sometimes…
the wrong mate is the right destiny.
#WerewolfRomance #RejectedMate #AlphaLove #FakeMate #PackDrama #ForbiddenLove #StrongFemaleLead #MiniDrama #FantasyRomance #AddictiveDrama
#ShortDrama #MicroDrama #ShortDramaFullMovie #MicroDramaFull #VerticalDrama #MiniSeries #DramaFullMovie #RomanticDrama #RevengeDrama #TrendingDrama #BingeWatch #FullEpisode #ShortFilm #DramaSeries #ViralDrama
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Court métrageTranscription
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 pass by the pack house.
01:55She's just a substitute.
01:57Don't take it seriously.
02:00Hey! 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,
02:15I'm the one who won the bet.
02:17According to the agreement,
02:19the winner gets Sarah all to himself.
02:22So, they were pursuing me relentlessly,
02:25begging me to marry them.
02:26It was just a bet.
02:28Whoever wins my heart can mate Sarah Zayn.
02:31Zayn happily left to prepare for the mate pairing ceremony.
02:36I managed to sob.
02:40Kayden overheard and turned.
02:45Now,
02:48I 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,
03:06I 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,
03:23my chinked guns on the Vlodders.
03:25Nothing from Alpha King's Packhouse leaves with you.
03:28I closed my eyes,
03:30reached up,
03:30and started taking it all off.
03:32Piece by piece
03:34until 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.
04:12Whatever I asked for,
04:13as long as it was in his power,
04:15he 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.
04:50I 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.
05:02The 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,
05:18my feet were red and aching.
05:20I crouched down and wrapped my hands around my ankles,
05:23trying to get some warmth back.
05:25A convoy of vehicles rolled past.
05:27Sarah only came back half a month ago,
05:29and already the beta is sending her the rarest gifts to court her.
05:32He really never stopped.
05:33Didn'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,
05:43they never would have bothered finishing the game.
05:45The voices faded.
05:46I felt nothing.
05:48I felt nothing.
05:49Just 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,
06:04wrapped my arms around myself,
06:05and walked out past the gates.
06:08Outside, the wind was worse.
06:10My hands and feet had gone completely rigid.
06:13At some point,
06:13my legs gave out,
06:14and I went down in the snow,
06:16darkness 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.
06:27I walked through it without looking at anyone
06:29and knocked on the door.
06:30No one answered.
06:32My eyes burned.
06:34I let out a short, bitter sound
06:36and knocked harder.
06:37The Omega servant inside finally spoke,
06:40low and reluctant.
06:41Miss 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
06:51was pressing through my ribs,
06:53spreading out slow.
06:55I pulled my hand back.
06:56The tears came without permission.
06:58In my last life,
07:00the moment my family found out
07:02the Alpha King had cast 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
07:13and drove me to a border outpost to be forgotten.
07:16They had me poisoned.
07:17I died somewhere.
07:18No one would find me.
07:19But I still remember.
07:21Before I was chosen by Alpha King,
07:23my grandmother and my father
07:25held my hands with tears in their eyes.
07:27Evelyn,
07:29if the Alpha King is ever cruel to you,
07:31come home.
07:33We'll always be here.
07:35They said that.
07:36And then they locked the door.
07:37I could have gone somewhere else,
07:39but I knew they wouldn't let me disappear quietly.
07:42The only way to be free
07:43was to disappear completely.
07:45So I came back.
07:47The door opened.
07:48My father stared at me with his jaw set
07:50and contempt in every line of his face.
07:53Do you have any idea what you've done to this family?
07:57Why didn't you just go?
07:59You got thrown out.
08:01Why come back
08:02and drag your sisters into this?
08:05Behind him,
08:06my half-sister's eyes were full of something vicious.
08:09My grandmother stepped forward
08:10and took my hand with practiced tenderness.
08:14Evelyn,
08:15this isn't your fault
08:16that 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.
08:26Doesn't that sound better?
08:28Her voice was gentle,
08:30but her eyes held something sharp and ruthless.
08:33And underneath it,
08:34a sliver of guilt too faint to name.
08:37So it wasn't only Caden and Zane who wanted me dead.
08:40It was my family too.
08:42In the end,
08:43I got into the vehicle.
08:45I kept my hand wrapped around a small pin the whole way.
08:48I didn't let go.
08:50Same as last time.
08:51The estate manager at the outpost had his orders
08:54and 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
09:15and 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.
09:26The 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.
09:34I heard you make good osmangra cake.
09:38Want to come work in my kitchen?
09:40She lifted her veil as she said it.
09:42The 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
09:54had 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,
10:05start a fire,
10:06and let the world think I was dead.
10:08But this changed everything.
10:11She must have seen something in my face because her expression softened.
10:15And before I could speak,
10:16she 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,
10:34dropping his black coat 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.
10:44Everyone 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.
10:54Whatever 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.
11:20This 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.
11:34I'm grateful Sarah saved my life.
11:36I'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.
11:44I 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.
12:02He 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.
12:10My chest stayed quiet.
12:12After Zane left, he looked back at me once.
12:15Something unreadable moving across his face.
12:17I didn't look up.
12:18Then arms came around me from behind.
12:20You're okay.
12:21Thank God.
12:22Sarah 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.
12:32Her 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.
12:47That 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.
12:57I 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.
13:07Right 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.
13:25I 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?
13:43She 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.
13:53Should have finished it properly.
13:56Evelyn, I should have gotten rid of you when I had the chance.
13:59I hadn't done anything.
14:00The pressure on my throat made my vision blur.
14:03My back hit the wall, hard and cold.
14:07It wasn't me.
14:08Something 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.
14:19He felt the heat in his cheek.
14:21His eyes went dark.
14:23Evelyn.
14:24I pressed my hand to my chest and pulled in long, slow breaths.
14:29Whatever 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.
14:44And your family goes down with you.
14:47Caden hadn't spoken yet, but the intent in his eyes was already building.
14:51Two men who use someone else's feelings as a bet chip.
14:55And you think you get to accuse me of playing games.
14:58I drove the pin into Zane's wrist.
15:01He pulled back with a hiss.
15:03Caden moved toward me, jaw tight.
15:05For 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.
15:29I really can't bond with either of you.
15:31Then she reached up and started undoing her coat.
15:34Zane had brought guards.
15:36I stepped in front of her and grabbed her arms.
15:38Even if you don't want them.
15:39Don't ruin your own reputation doing it like this.
15:42I got my arms around her waist to stop her.
15:44And then I felt it.
15:46No softness.
15:47Solid muscle, flat and warm and very clearly.
15:50Not what I had been expecting.
15:52Sarah wrapped me in close and murmured into my hair.
15:55Easy.
15:56Stop touching.
15:58My brain went completely blank.
16:00Sarah was a man.
16:01He looked up at the two stunned alphas in front of him with total calm.
16:06Still want to claim me now?
16:08Both of them stood frozen.
16:10The fury drained and something ugly took its place.
16:17Warrior Asher.
16:18Why 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.
16:32Wearing women's clothing is just a preference of mine.
16:35I hope neither of you are telling me you've developed a thing for men.
16:39Zane's fist tightened slowly.
16:41He 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.
17:04I'm sorry.
17:05I didn't know you were dressed.
17:07I made my exit fast.
17:09I wanted to leave the estate.
17:10Leave the whole city.
17:11But Asher caught my hand.
17:13And his voice when he spoke was easy and direct.
17:15I'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?
17:22We had known each other for less than a week.
17:24Where was this coming from?
17:25I didn't get the chance to answer.
17:27The kitchen door exploded open again.
17:29Both men were back.
17:30Faces 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.
17:41His bandaged wrist said it for him.
17:44Same as inside the stronghold.
17:46Come when called.
17:47Go when dismissed.
17:48A wolf they could use and discard whenever the mood shifted.
17:52What exactly are you two doing right now?
17:55Are you telling me a warrior of this pack can't choose his own mate?
18:00Evelyn.
18:01Come back with me.
18:03I'll make you a ranked mate inside the stronghold.
18:07Our agreement still stands.
18:08I'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.
18:17Both 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.
18:24Two men who had seemed so sure about me.
18:27But I knew there was nothing real in any of it.
18:29I was just the new prize in a new round of the same game.
18:32My 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.
18:40I haven't forgotten.
18:42Both of them went still.
18:44The silence stretched between them.
18:46And somewhere inside it guilt surfaced.
18:48They 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.
19:01They moved in close.
19:02Please don't.
19:03Evelyn.
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.
19:16And 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.
19:27But if it wasn't him, then neither of them had been unknowingly fixated on a man for years.
19:33The brief flicker of something like hope showed before they could stop it.
19:37Asher 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.
19:46Stakes.
19:47A score to settle.
19:49They didn't know the first thing about caring for someone.
19:52They only knew how to compete.
19:53How 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.
20:06Five years ago.
20:08Were you the boy whose father forced him into a dress to perform?
20:12I can't believe you still remembered.
20:14The person in front of me slowly matched the memory.
20:17A 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.
20:28I'm going to find you and claim you.
20:30Put on the dress.
20:32And went out onto that stage.
20:33You're a ranked warrior now.
20:35That means you got out.
20:36So why keep wearing the dress?
20:40The old man's gone.
20:41He asked me before he died to be his mate's reflection a few more days.
20:46His ghost wanted to see.
20:48He told me.
20:49His mother had died in labor because of him.
20:51His father couldn't kill him but couldn't forgive him either.
20:54The face was too much like hers.
20:56So from the time he was small he was dressed and trained as the family's daughter.
21:00Forced 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.
21:09You 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.
21:20For choosing to come back for me.
21:21One 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 were mine too.
21:31But I heard it and I smiled.
21:32What I said before about claiming you.
21:35I was being stupid.
21:38Wherever you end up, bonded or not, just stay safe.
21:41Asher 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.
21:57When I got my bearings back, Caden was there too.
22:01Both of them looking at me with that heat I recognized and wanted nothing to do with.
22:05I 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.
22:13Asher stepped between us and pulled me behind him, voice like ice.
22:17What are you doing here at this hour?
22:19I'm here for my mate.
22:20Evelyn already agreed to bond with me.
22:23What I did was wrong.
22:24I know that.
22:25But 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?
22:32Fine.
22:32Yell at me.
22:33Hit me.
22:33Just come back.
22:35I went too far before.
22:37I shouldn't have made you leave in almost nothing.
22:39Come back to the stronghold with me.
22:41We can go back to the way things were.
22:43Voice full of the kind of sincerity he was very good at.
22:46I think the Alpha King and the Beta are confused.
22:49I'm a mid-rank wolf's daughter.
22:51Five years ago, I would have pulled anyone out of that situation, including a stray.
22:57If that's the reason you're both standing here, you can let it go.
23:00It really doesn't matter to me.
23:01I understood them now.
23:03They were unpredictable.
23:05Performative.
23:06Asher had his hand at my back and was moving me toward the estate entrance.
23:10The door shut behind us.
23:13Solid.
23:13And final.
23:14From the upper floor, I could see Zane and Caden still standing in the snow, letting it
23:19fall on them.
23:20Asher came to stand beside me.
23:22I'll find a way to get you out of the city.
23:24A few days.
23:26In the meantime, I'll teach you some defense techniques.
23:28Sound good?
23:29But he knew me well enough to understand that wasn't what I needed to hear.
23:32And I said yes without hesitating.
23:34Every woman I had ever known had been told to be soft and steady and careful.
23:38No 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.
23:48I wanted to be strong enough to protect myself.
23:51To 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.
24:00But 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.
24:10My half-sister showed up at the gate crying.
24:13Half-sister, the things that happened at the outpost, that was father making a terrible
24:17mistake.
24:18Grandmother found out.
24:20She's been sick ever since and she only wants to see you.
24:22The tears were convincing.
24:24The calculation in her eyes wasn't.
24:26I didn't refuse.
24:28I smiled.
24:32All right, let's go see Grandmother.
24:36The snow had stopped.
24:37But the streets got unfamiliar fast.
24:40And my smile went thin.
24:41Asking me to come back.
24:42Asking me to think of the family name.
24:44But the splinter was already in.
24:46It wasn't coming out easily.
24:48I had known since my last life exactly what my family was.
24:51They could accept me when I brought them something to gain.
24:54They could also leave me to die when I stopped being useful.
24:57I stopped being easy to manage.
24:59So they sent the half-sister who looked most like me.
25:02I watched the streets get worse and jumped out of the moving vehicle.
25:07My 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.
25:17It was father's idea.
25:19He said if you wouldn't cooperate, he'd replace you.
25:21I just didn't want to be invisible anymore.
25:23She was going for sympathy.
25:24Someone else got there first.
25:26Caden looked down at her from a few feet away.
25:28Expression flat.
25:29I asked your family to speak on my behalf.
25:31Is this what they call helping?
25:33She went pale and started shaking her head.
25:35But Caden didn't want to hear it.
25:37He had her removed.
25:38Then his attention came back to me.
25:40Evelyn, stop making this hard.
25:43Are you really done caring about your family?
25:45I 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.
25:57I didn't owe my family anything.
26:00Zane had been stationed outside the estate every day, making sure I couldn't leave quietly.
26:04But 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
26:12outer 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.
26:18Time to go.
26:19Everything moved smoothly.
26:20I found a vehicle heading for the coast.
26:22But something sat wrong in my stomach.
26:25We need to move fast.
26:26The city's shifting.
26:28Asher's estate just got raided.
26:29The ruling family doesn't care.
26:31Use people up and throw them away.
26:33That's what tyrants do.
26:33Three 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.
26:42I closed my eyes.
26:44Then I turned my horse around and rode back.
26:48I am very happy with him.
26:50I cannot lose him.
26:53I will find you and claim you.
26:57Evelyn, ready to come home now?
26:59Release, 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.
27:10He overruled every council member.
27:14And 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.
27:31When he found out what my family had tried to do at the outpost,
27:34he acted on it immediately.
27:36A new attendant helped me prepare one morning and shook her head in admiration.
27:41My lady, the Alpha King loves you so much.
27:43Everyone in the whole territory knows it now.
27:45He has a chosen one.
27:46Her name is Evelyn.
27:47One bond, one mate, forever.
27:49People 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.
27:58Caden was loudly performing his devotion to the whole kingdom.
28:01But I had not forgotten what he looked like when he told me I was nothing but a bet.
28:06A 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.
28:18His eyes were burning.
28:19Aiden dropped every pretense of being a patient older brother.
28:23Brother, Evelyn belongs with me.
28:25They tore the masks off for the first time and showed each other the actual hatred underneath.
28:29Everyone said they were close, that the bond between them ran deep.
28:34No one knew they had always despised each other.
28:36So they competed for the same things.
28:39Wanted the same people, just to settle the score.
28:43While the stronghold descended into chaos, I stepped behind a dividing screen.
28:47Dropped a fire starter.
28:49And ran.
28:50I already had a mount ready.
28:52I had Caden's seal, and I used it to open the dungeon.
28:55I came to the dungeon to rescue Asher.
29:08Caden 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.
29:23They had helped pull him free.
29:25He had shed the dress for good.
29:27Dark clothing, straight-backed, easy in his own skin.
29:31The village women could not stop talking about how handsome he was.
29:35And they kept looking between us and nudging each other.
29:38Little Evelyn, you two even have the same eyes.
29:41Made for each other.
29:43The way that boy watches you, his eyes are practically stuck.
29:46Why aren't you together yet?
29:48It had been because of the resemblance to Asher that I had become Caden and Zane's target in the first
29:53place.
29:54Now that all of it was finally behind me, I wanted peace.
29:58Morning training with Asher, and eventually to get out and see the Borderlands I had read about my whole life.
30:04After saying goodbye to the woman, I turned toward the house and walked straight into Asher's face.
30:10My cheeks went hot.
30:11Before I could speak, he said,
30:13Don't listen to her.
30:14She talks too much.
30:16I don't have feelings for you.
30:18You're my sister.
30:19There's conflict at the border.
30:21I'm going.
30:22Take care of yourself.
30:24And then he was gone.
30:25Voice cold like it had never been warm.
30:27Like the tenderness I had seen in him was something I had imagined.
30:30I didn't stop him.
30:31I just watched him go, and something hollow opened in my chest without warning.
30:35I thought about what the woman had said.
30:37I let out a quiet, slightly sad sound.
30:41Six months passed.
30:42I had no news from outside.
30:44Then I went into town for medicine, and found out everything had changed.
30:48Six months ago the Alpha King had turned tyrant.
30:51Asher had gone back to the capital voluntarily to end the conflict.
30:55Caden had chained him to the outer wall of the stronghold for three days in the open before exiling him
31:00to the border.
31:01These 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 whole territory
31:12looking for a girl with Evelyn's face.
31:14For reasons no one fully understood, Caden's hatred for Asher had become personal.
31:19He cut the border supplies.
31:21People were talking on every corner.
31:23The rogues are closing in.
31:24The Alpha King has lost his mind.
31:26And the pack is falling.
31:28I sent back the medicine and rode for the border.
31:31The fighters who had been with Asher saw me ride in, and the relief in their faces shifted to grief
31:36fast.
31:37Evelyn, you should say goodbye to him while you can.
31:40I 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.
31:50He was worse.
31:53He's basically invincible in a fight.
31:55How did this happen?
31:58Since about six months ago, he's been coughing blood.
32:02Getting weaker.
32:04The healers couldn't explain it.
32:06He kept going out to fight anyway.
32:08Last 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.
32:22Asher.
32:24I'm here.
32:26You said you needed a mate.
32:29How are you allowed to go down like this?
32:32Asher has been through worse than this since he was small.
32:36Even what his father put him through didn't break him.
32:39The coughing blood.
32:41The weakness.
32:42That's because he went to the Eclipse Pack and paid with his lifestyle for something.
32:46I asked him what he got.
32:48He wouldn't say.
32:50But that same day he left the border for the first time and went straight to an outpost at the
32:55edge of the territory.
32:58Word was, you almost died there.
33:01I stood very still.
33:02Everyone knew about the Eclipse Pack.
33:04A reclusive wolf clan who could reverse fate and bend time.
33:07The cost was always the same in your life.
33:10Now I knew why I had come back.
33:12At some point the fighter left.
33:13My tears came down and my vision blurred.
33:17Asher.
33:18You absolute idiot.
33:22In my last life I loved the wrong people.
33:25And I paid for it the way I deserved.
33:27This life I felt everything fully.
33:29And I didn't regret a single choice I made.
33:32But now I regretted stepping in that night at Silvermoon Lodge.
33:36If we had never crossed paths, he would have been fine.
33:39He would have made warrior rank without owing anything to anyone.
33:43He would have had a full, clean life.
33:45Instead, because of me, all of it changed.
33:48Another tear fell and fingers caught it.
33:51Asher's lip curved slightly.
33:53What are you crying for if not for you?
33:56I would have died back then.
34:00I don't regret it.
34:04I just...
34:05He stopped.
34:06I really wanted to claim you.
34:09I wanted to take you to the border and show you everything.
34:13All of it.
34:19I guess I can't anymore.
34:21His voice was rough and full of want.
34:23But he still managed to smile.
34:25When you find someone, be smart about it.
34:28He needs to at least...
34:30He needs to love you more than I did.
34:33That's the only way he deserves you.
34:35Another wave hit and I couldn't hold it.
34:37Tell me where they are.
34:40Please.
34:40What happened to him was my fault.
34:43He shouldn't have to carry it.
34:45He closed his mouth and kept it shut, no matter how many ways I asked.
34:50I asked every fighter close to him.
34:52No one told me anything useful.
34:54In the end, I found red ceremonial clothing and I brought it back.
34:58We held the bonding ritual right there.
35:01Asher, I'm yours.
35:04Even now, with no time left, the tent was filled with red.
35:08Asher leaned against the frame, and the light in his eyes was scattered and bright like something
35:14broken and beautiful at the same time.
35:17Evelyn, I'm so glad.
35:20He laughed, and blood ran down his cheek.
35:23I reached up.
35:25Don't talk.
35:26He went quiet, and then his lips pressed against mine.
35:30It lasted a long time.
35:32When I finally opened my eyes, all the tears had gone.
35:38Asher wasn't breathing anymore.
35:40But the smile was still on his face.
35:43I held his hand, and I didn't let go.
35:45Sometime later, the rogue forces attacked again.
35:48The fighters who had nothing left stood in their gear, quiet and certain, ready to fight
35:53one last time for the pack they belonged to.
35:56The fighter who had told me everything offered to take me and Asher somewhere safe.
36:00I shook my head.
36:02I want to stay at the border with him.
36:04That day I put on Asher's battle armor, and picked up his sword and used everything he
36:08had taught me to go out onto that field.
36:11The first kill.
36:12Blood everywhere.
36:13I didn't freeze.
36:15Because I knew he was right there beside me.
36:17I could protect myself.
36:19And I could protect everything he had cared about.
36:21I wore Asher's helmet with the mask down, and they thought I was him.
36:25The legend of a warrior who couldn't be killed unnerved them, and they wanted out.
36:29I wore that mask and signed the agreement.
36:31After 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.
36:39His rule got darker by the week.
36:41For half a year we scattered and moved.
36:44Caden unable to find me or Asher grew more brutal.
36:47He taxed and squeezed the pack into misery, using the search as an excuse for everything.
36:52The fighters who had followed Asher found me eventually.
36:55They looked exhausted, and they looked like they were asking for something they weren't
36:59sure I could give.
37:00My lady, every wolf in this territory knows what kind of man Asher was.
37:05Caden is not fit to lead.
37:07We're asking you to put on the mask.
37:09Use his name.
37:10Call the fighters together and take the stronghold.
37:12I put my hand over the pendant at my chest.
37:16I put on the mask.
37:17This time, under his name.
37:20The people lined both sides of the road.
37:23Caden stood on the stronghold wall.
37:25Fury and something else tangled together in his face.
37:28Asher, you stole my mate.
37:31And now you have the nerve to on my territory.
37:34Our eyes met from a distance.
37:36He could always read me in a way that other people couldn't.
37:39Evelyn, you came back.
37:41Get in here.
37:42We'll finish the ceremony.
37:43You'll be my only mate forever, please.
37:45I was wrong before.
37:47Can you forgive me?
37:49His expression went strange.
37:51Open the gates.
37:52Let Evelyn in.
37:54He came down fast and moved toward me.
37:56I raised my bow and put an arrow through his chest.
37:59A tyrant fools to the people he failed.
38:05Caden looked down at the blood on his hand, completely at a loss.
38:09Evelyn.
38:10I had already walked past him and taken the fighters inside.
38:14The arrow hadn't killed him.
38:17I found a member of the ruling bloodline with a clean record and helped him take the seat.
38:22Under Asher's name, I became the PAX commander.
38:25If Asher had lived, it would have been his.
38:27Now it was his regardless.
38:30He had earned it.
38:30The new alpha was declared in front of the whole pack.
38:34The old one was dealt with in the open, giving the pack somewhere to put its grief and anger.
38:39Zane had been let out of confinement.
38:41Not long after the new alpha took power, he walked out of the capital and was never found again.
38:47I applied to the station at the border permanently and left the capital with the fighters who had been Asher's
38:52family.
38:54Time passed.
38:55I rode across open grassland with the pendant at my chest catching the light.
38:59Asher appeared in front of me.
39:01So, what does it feel like, being a warrior?
39:05I laughed and rode toward him.
39:07He drifted the way things drifted in the wind.
39:10The neighbor lady was right, you know.
39:12We really did look like we were meant for each other.
39:16Next life.
39:17We do it right.
39:19Deal.
39:19I closed my eyes.
39:21One tear disappeared into my hair.
39:23Deal.
39:23I'll see you next time.
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