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