- 10 hours ago
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00He forced me to destroy his child. He made me wait upon the woman he truly cherished.
00:06I endured every humiliation in silence, counting down the days until the poison in my body finally claimed my life.
00:13And yet, when he learned the truth, his hair turned white in a single night, and he fell to his
00:17knees before me, begging for forgiveness.
00:20Too late. Kieran.mywolf's soul had already scattered.
00:26I was the daughter of the alpha of the blood moon pack.
00:30To bring an end to the endless bloodshed between our two packs, I had gone willingly to the alpha known
00:35across the north as the warlord of the north, Kieran, my fated mate.
00:39On the night of our mating rite, beneath the full moon, that savage alpha did more than mark me.
00:44He lost himself completely, taking and taking as though he meant to tear me apart, for three whole days, until
00:51I collapsed from exhaustion, my human form no longer able to endure it.
00:55I had once been foolish enough to believe Kieran loved me, or at the very least that he had yielded
01:00to the pull of the mating bond.
01:02The moon goddess had woven between us.
01:04But later, it was that same Kieran who personally led the wolf host of the Black River Pack to breach
01:10our territory.
01:11He forced me to remain in wolf form, and pinned me beneath his foot so that I had no choice
01:16but to watch.
01:17My father, our revered alpha, was torn apart by the frenzied pack until his body lay in pieces.
01:23My brother, heir to our bloodline, had his throat ripped out by Kieran's own jaws.
01:28Those Black River brutes even, disgraced my mother before leaving her to collapse in a pool of blood.
01:34Then Kieran shifted into his human form, and looked down at me from above.
01:38In those molten gold wolf eyes, there was not the slightest trace of feeling.
01:43Alara, did you truly think that a wretched mating bond would be enough to win my heart?
01:47What? Do you have any idea how many of my people your blood moon pack slaughtered?
01:52And you thought sending me one woman would wipe out a hatred written in blood?
01:56In the end, Kieran devoured every pack in his path, and rose as the supreme wolf king.
02:02At his side stood his cherished chosen mate, Bella.
02:09As for me, I was imprisoned in the slave pens at the edge of the territory.
02:13My name was stripped from me.
02:15I survived like some lonely rope, clinging to life without dignity.
02:19Each time I tried to kill myself, he would dig up the bones of one of my kin from the
02:23wolf's graveyard,
02:24and grind them to dust before my eyes.
02:26Without my command, you are not allowed to die.
02:29Your life belongs to me.
02:31So I stopped fighting.
02:32After all, there were only three days left until the wolf's spay draft I had swallowed years ago.
02:38To save him finally took effect and killed me.
02:40Today was the birthday feast of the new Luna.
02:43Bella, for once, Kieran had given orders that I was to be allowed out of the gloomy old stone keep.
02:50Dragging my heavy shackles behind me, I made my way step by step into the dazzling peck house.
02:55My eyes reddened as I looked towards the woman seated high above, wearing the moonstone crown.
03:00That crown had once been my mother's most treasured possession.
03:03It was the symbol of every blood moon Luna who had come before her.
03:07Impudent slave, how dare you stand before the Alpha King and Luda without kneeling?
03:11A broad-shouldered beta guard drove a brutal kick into the back of me.
03:14I hit the stone floor with a sickening crack.
03:17Pain shot through me so sharply that my vision blurred.
03:20I did not resist.
03:21Obediently, I pressed my forehead to the ground and performed the bow reserved for the very lowest of wolf's slaves.
03:28Kieran sat high upon a throne draped in fur and did not tell me to rise.
03:33His voice cut through the noise of the hall and came crashing down upon me, cold and expressionless.
03:39Ilara, you are half an hour late.
03:42Was that a deliberate slight against Bella?
03:48I would never dare.
03:50I knocked my forehead hard against the floor again until blood began to be to my brow.
03:54I offered no excuse.
03:56My legs had been injured during earlier torments and had never properly healed.
04:01I only lowered my head further.
04:03I did not explain that one of my legs had once been badly mangled in an iron trap
04:07and that every step from the slave pens to this hall had left a trail of blood behind me.
04:11A flicker of mockery crossed Kieran's face.
04:14You have at last learned obedience like a well-trained dog.
04:18The last time I had failed to obey, he had thrown me into the fighting pit
04:22and made me battle several maddened bears, bleeding away nearly half the blood in my body.
04:28And when I was on the brink of death, he had calmly ordered a healer to keep me alive by
04:33force with rare herbs.
04:35Do get up, sister.
04:36A honeyed voice drifted down.
04:38Bella descended gracefully from the dais.
04:41And bent to help me to my feet herself.
04:43She wore a perfect smile.
04:45Her words sounded warm enough.
04:47Yet every syllable drove like a blade into the rawest part of my heart.
04:50You were once the noble daughter of an alpha.
04:53Even if your pack has fallen, surely you needn't truly demean yourself like a common servant.
04:58She took my hand, then suddenly went still.
05:01Her gaze had fixed upon the necklace at my throat.
05:03It was an old wolf-fung bracelet, weathered with age, and simple in its make.
05:08A flash of greed lit her eyes, followed by admiration.
05:12Alpha!
05:12She said, turning to Kieran with a soft, coaxing smile.
05:16I like this necklace very much.
05:18Titee has such a strange charm about it.
05:20May I have it as my birthday gift?
05:26Instinctively, I looked at Kieran.
05:28He was lazily turning his wine cup in one hand, utterly unmoved, as though it were nothing more than a
05:34worthless trinket.
05:35But that necklace had once been Kieran's pledge to me.
05:38Every wolf-fung on it had been taken by himself.
05:41From vicious beasts he had hunted himself.
05:44The healer had treated them afterwards.
05:46And even now they carry that strange fragrance which never seemed to fade.
05:49It was said that, if one wore such wolf fangs for long enough, they could soothe an agitated wolf soul,
05:55ease pain, and even prolong life.
05:57I had been frail since childhood.
05:59My wolf soul was unstable, and I was forever ill.
06:03When he first gave it to me, he had stood beneath the moon and sworn, with all the solemnity of
06:07a vow, that he wanted me to live safely and well all my life.
06:11Free from sickness and suffering.
06:12Now, everything had changed beyond recognition.
06:16If the luna likes it, how could I refuse?
06:20My hand trembled as I removed the wolf-fung bracelet from my wrist, where I had worn it for ten
06:25years, and placed it in Bella's hand.
06:27As my fingertips brushed over the smooth-worn veins, it felt as though a blade were twisting in my heart.
06:33I lowered my gaze and said nothing.
06:35Though from somewhere above I thought, I heard the sharp crack of something striking stone.
06:39As if a wine cup had been knocked over, Bella toyed with the bracelet for a moment, smiled in satisfaction,
06:46and casually fastened around her own pale wrist.
06:49Oh, that reminds me.
06:51It was as though some delightful thought had just occurred to her, though there was nothing but malice glittering in
06:56her eyes.
06:56I seem to remember that Alera was once one of the finest dancers among the wolves.
07:01Why not take this chance to perform for everyone?
07:13The hall fell silent for half a beat.
07:16Then laughter broke out everywhere.
07:18I stood where I was, numb, enduring the malicious, eager stares cast at me from every corner of the beast.
07:24Among them were commanders of the Black River Academy, men who had slaughtered my people.
07:28There were also the blood-worn traitors, who had secretly joined hands with the enemy and opened the gates to
07:34welcome them.
07:35I wanted to refuse, but refusal had long since it ceased to be a choice at the best.
07:40One drunken wolf commander suddenly lurched to his feet, a bowl of freshly ladled broth in his hand, still boiling
07:46from the bronze cauldron.
07:48Without warning, he flung it straight at me.
07:50The scalding liquid splashed over my arm and shoulder.
07:53At once the skin blistered and peeled away, angry red and raw.
07:57What are you standing there for? You're the daughter of a defeated alpha.
08:00Do you still think you can put on airs?
08:02You're lucky we left you alive at all. Don't be ungrateful.
08:06Pain hit me with savage force.
08:09Yet I felt less like a living creature than a puppet already hollowed out.
08:13It was as though my soul had gone elsewhere, leaving my body behind.
08:17I did not even cry out.
08:19Quietly, I rose onto my toes.
08:21Before all of them, I turned myself into a dancing girl for their amusement.
08:26Wolfkind had always been wild and unrestrained by nature.
08:29Before long, the drunken brutes were no longer satisfied.
08:33They began shouting and whistling.
08:35Take it, lover.
08:36Strip that filthy rag off.
08:38Let's see whether the once noble princess is still as supple as she used to be.
08:42In terror, I looked towards the high seat.
08:45Kieran's gaze rested on me from afar, cold and unreadable.
08:48He did nothing.
08:50That silence was perlition.
08:52Whatever warmth was left in my heart died then.
08:55I bit my lip head, with shaking hands.
08:57Began to untie my sash.
08:59The hot broth had caused the cloth to stick to my burned flesh.
09:03When I pulled it away, it tore the skin with it, leaving raw patches streaked with blood.
09:07Scarlet spread across the ruined fabric of my dance clothes.
09:11One layer.
09:12Then another.
09:16And in this great hall, once filled with some of the happiest memories of my life,
09:21once the place where my father had held council, I stripped away the last of my dignity.
09:25In the end, I could no longer stop the tears.
09:28Only after the feast had ended and the crowd dispersed was I finally allowed to stop.
09:32I collapsed onto the floor, naked, my body covered in nothing but wounds and blood.
09:37Kieran came towards me, reeking of wine.
09:40He crouched before me and brushed the tears from my face with icy fingertips, wiping away one that had not
09:46yet dried.
09:47The gesture might have looked gentle to anyone watching, but there was no mercy at all in his voice.
09:52Alara, are you trying to win my pity?
09:54Where is your wolf?
09:56Why doesn't it come out and bite me?
09:58It's tired.
09:59But the moment the words left my lips, the old sickness inside me flared up again.
10:03The wolf's pain poison that had lurked for years began its work once more.
10:07A violent cough tore through me.
10:10Then another.
10:11Blood burst from my mouth in a sudden spring, and it felt as though I were coughing up my very
10:15lungs and muscles.
10:17Kieran turned aside at once, as though he had seen something revolting.
10:21The mockery on his face deepened.
10:23I've watched you put on this sickly act for ten years.
10:26Haven't you tired of it yet?
10:28I used to think he simply despised weakness, but he hated women like me.
10:33Frail by nature and always in need of protection.
10:36But over the years I had seen with my own eyes how meticulously he cared for Bella.
10:40If Bella frowned even slightly, the entire team of healers would already be kneeling outside her door, waiting to be
10:47summoned.
10:48The poison gnawed at my insides.
10:50My whole body shook, and cold sweat poured from my brow.
10:53Just before darkness swallowed me, I thought I saw a flash of panic in Kieran's eyes.
10:59He seized me by the hair, forcing my head up, and through clenched teeth he said,
11:03Elera, I will not let you die so easily.
11:06You will live, and pay for your sins.
11:09You will pay for the crimes your father committed.
11:14But Kieran, I cannot atone any longer.
11:17In two more days, once the poison reaches my heart, I will die.
11:21When I woke the following day, I found myself lying in a soft bed.
11:25The burns on my body had already been carefully treated.
11:28Clean white bandages wrapped my wounds, carrying the faint fragrance of herbs.
11:32Through the haze in my mind, I slowly realized that this was not a cold old stone cube.
11:36This was, the Alpha's chamber.
11:39Everything around me was heartbreakingly familiar.
11:42Beyond the great floor to ceiling windows lay the forest I knew so well.
11:45The very place where my father had once taken me hunting.
11:52You're awake.
11:53Kieran approached without expression, seized my chin, and poured a tube of bitter medicine into my mouth.
11:58His grip was hard enough to make my eyes stain with tears when I choked.
12:03Elera, don't look at me like that.
12:05Kieran gave a cold laugh.
12:07Even if your hands are clean, as long as that means blood runs through your veins, you are not innocent.
12:13On the day my pack fell, he gave the order to kill every wolf who carried the blood wound royal
12:17line.
12:18Even the pup growing in my womb, his own flesh and blood, was not spared.
12:22He ordered the healer to force that child for me.
12:25Only I was left alive.
12:27I could never understand it.
12:29Was it love, or hate?
12:33It must have been hate.
12:37That was why, afterwards, he made me soak night after night in baths filled in silver.
12:42He wanted to strip me of any chance of bearing children ever again.
12:46He would not allow me to give him an heir.
12:48He found my bloodline unclean, numbly.
12:51I wiped the medicine from the corner of my mouth.
12:54I had just opened my lips to beg him to send me back to the old stone key when a
12:58jubilant voice rang from outside.
13:00Alpha!
13:01The Luna is with child!
13:04Kieran froze, then turned sharply, his voice breaking with excitement.
13:09Is it true?
13:10Bella is pregnant?
13:11I stared at him blankly.
13:14For the first time, I saw that kind of wild joy on his face.
13:17The joy of a man about to become a father.
13:19I sat there on the bed, dazed, watching him.
13:23Watching a look I had never once received from him light up his features.
13:27Perhaps the poison had begun to flare again.
13:29Because my hand rose instinctively to my chest.
13:32It hurt.
13:34So much.
13:35I had thought that when the poison finally took me.
13:38It would not matter if I died quietly and alone in the old stone key.
13:45But Kieran would not let me have even that.
13:48He turned back to me.
13:49And at the sight of my pain, something grim and satisfied flickered in his eyes.
13:53Now that you're awake, stop lying there pretending to be dead.
13:57From today onwards, you will attend Bella and care for her during the pregnancy.
14:02You are a slave.
14:04Serving the future alpha heir is an honor you should be grateful for.
14:08He had always known exactly where to strike to hurt me most.
14:12He wanted me to stand there and watch another woman carry his child.
14:16And our own baby, an unborn little wolf, still lay down beneath the character of my marriage.
14:22Nameless and forgotten, Bella smiled at me with practiced gentleness.
14:28You were once the pack princess.
14:30Since Alpha has sent you to attend me, I cannot very well have you scrubbing floors.
14:35You may clear the weeds from the garden instead.
14:38I knelt on the ground and looked at the garden.
14:41I could believe rambles.
14:43The other maids rolled their eyes and hug me.
14:45Their voice is full of contempt.
14:48She ought to be grateful she was allowed to live it all.
14:51Only our lunatic is kind enough to show her mercy.
14:54A princess?
14:55She isn't fit to stand beside even the lowest rogue alpha cast her aside long ago.
15:01The brambles were faintly poisonous.
15:04And as my skin brushed against them, a rash slowly spread over my arms.
15:08I let out a rough breath.
15:10Then all at once I felt something warm trickling from my nose.
15:14A drop of bright blood fell onto the flower petals below.
15:18When I reached up and touched my face, my fingertips came away scarlet.
15:24Blood!
15:27Bella had just stepped out and caught sight of me.
15:29My face smeared in blood like something monstrous.
15:32She shrieked on the spot and staggered backwards as though overcome with fright.
15:37What happened?
15:38Kieran rushed over at once and caught Bella in his arms.
15:41The moment he saw me covered in blood, looking like some vengeful spirit,
15:46he strode over without a word and struck me across the face.
15:49The blow was so hard it sent me sprawling to the ground.
15:53Clutching my chest, I began coughing violently,
15:56each breath bringing up flecks of blood.
15:59Bella cannot bear the smell of blood right now.
16:01Did you do this on purpose to upset her?
16:03His gaze was sharp as ice.
16:06Because your child is dead, is that it?
16:09So now you want revenge on someone else's?
16:11Hey, Lara.
16:12Have you forgotten what happens when you disobey me?
16:15How could I ever forget?
16:17Fighting the itching beneath my skin,
16:19the suffocating pressure in my chest,
16:21and the agony in my lungs that felt like a thousand insects eating me alive.
16:25I forced myself upright and piled forwards before going low in submission.
16:30It was my fault.
16:31It was my fault.
16:33Please, show mercy.
16:35Alpha.
16:36Enduring the pain,
16:38I knelt there and lowered my head,
16:40baring my neck in surrender.
16:42I have nothing left.
16:43Please, do not torment me any further.
16:47Kieran crouched down and tilted up my chin.
16:50A faint smile touched his lips,
16:52cruel and amused.
16:54Who told you that you have nothing left?
16:56Isn't there still one buried beneath the cairn field beyond the ridge?
17:03I clutched desperately at his boobs,
17:06my eyes burning red.
17:07Breathe, Kieran.
17:08I'm begging you.
17:10Don't do this.
17:11You can't.
17:13I could not even remember how long it had been
17:15since I had last called him by name.
17:17Kieran lowered his gaze to me.
17:20Something unreadable shifting in his eyes.
17:23I could not make sense of it.
17:26I only thought he was hesitating.
17:28So I kept knocking my head against the ground and begging.
17:31Again.
17:32And again.
17:33And again.
17:34Until the skin split open and blood stained the earth beneath me.
17:39Blood ran from my nose.
17:41Blood spilled from my mouth when I coughed.
17:43Even my tears had become streaked with her.
17:47Only then did Kieran seem to realize that over the past two days,
17:51I had been bleeding far too much.
17:53Frowning.
17:54He turned to the others and asked.
17:56What heavy work was she doing in the courtyard to end up like this?
18:00One of them immediately answered.
18:03Alpha the Luna showed Miss Alara kindness.
18:05She was only asked to do light work, just clearing weeds.
18:08At once, Kieran let go of me and gave a series of cold laughs.
18:12Alara.
18:14So, this is another performance, is it?
18:16You've had this wretched illness for years.
18:18Since it clearly won't kill you, you may as well endure it.
18:22I watched him step over me and walk back inside without so much as a backward glance.
18:27Very softly, I let out a breath.
18:29Then I curled in on myself and lay motionless until the night air turned cold.
18:34Lamplight glowed from inside the room.
18:37And Bella's sweet voice drifted faintly through the door.
18:40Honey, no.
18:42I'm pregnant.
18:43Oh, stop.
18:44If you want me that badly, you must promise to be gentle.
18:48Their shadows moved within the curtains, and I watched them in silence.
18:52Suddenly, I thought about night and Kieran.
18:55There had been no vows.
18:57No blessings.
18:58Only raw possession.
19:00The wind seemed to pass straight through the hollow space inside my chest.
19:04Dawn was almost here.
19:06This was the final day.
19:08Kieran, I am going to die.
19:10The bloodline you love so much will soon be wiped from this world completely.
19:15Congratulations.
19:19The door was suddenly flung open.
19:22Alpha sent you here to attend Bella?
19:23Bella, and this is how you idle away your time.
19:26Someone had just come with a message.
19:28Kieran was apparently about to inspect the territory.
19:32And I was ordered to get inside at once and wait on the luna.
19:35When I carried the water in, Bella looked radiant.
19:39Her cheeks flushed with health.
19:41The moment we were alone, the look she gave me lost all pretense.
19:44It was naked provocation.
19:46Our eyes met.
19:49Silently, I shaped two words with my lips.
19:52Traitor.
19:53Bella was not offended in the slightest.
19:55She nearly smiled and took in my wretched state from head to toe.
20:00Alara, you're exactly the same as ever.
20:03The moment you touch these poisonous brambles, your skin flares up.
20:07She had once been my closest friend.
20:10Her father had served as my father's bane a second.
20:13And yet when the pack fell, it was their family who opened the gates first.
20:18Bella lifted the wolf bone bracelet again and showed it off before my eyes.
20:22It doesn't feel very pleasant, does it, having poison eat its way into your heart?
20:27You probably still don't know why, ten years ago, after you saved Kieran in the dark forest,
20:33he became so distant when he returned.
20:36Because he thought it was me who saved him.
20:39I told him I had sucked the poison from his wound with my own mouth.
20:43Bella finished speaking and waited, clearly hoping to savor the shock and pain on my face.
20:48But my expression did not change in the slightest.
20:52What stood between Kieran and me was a sea of blood.
20:56What could one act of saving his life possibly outweigh?
20:59A bitter smile touched my lips.
21:01If I'd known, I should have left him to die in the hands of those rogues.
21:06A cold laugh sounded behind me.
21:09I turned instinctively.
21:11Kieran's hand was already around my throat, his gaze glacial.
21:15Alara, do you hate me that much?
21:17Do you think I truly cannot bear to kill you?
21:20That hand, the same hand that had once caressed every inch of my body,
21:24closed hard around my neck.
21:26I could not speak.
21:27I could barely breathe.
21:29But from the dead stillness in my eyes, Kieran understood.
21:33If he had the nerve, then he should go on and strangle me to death.
21:42Kieran's brow tamed, and he flung me aside with brutal force.
21:45Death is too easy for you, Alara.
21:47I want you alive.
21:49I want you to suffer for the rest of your life.
21:52Then he brought me that medicine again.
21:54I took the bowl and, without waiting to be told, drank it down in front of him in a single
21:59swallow.
21:59Something dark and unreadable passed through Kieran's eyes.
22:03Alara, so long as you remain disobedient, I might consider.
22:07He paused, then turned his head slightly.
22:10I might consider allowing a headstone for that dead pup.
22:12My lashes trembled.
22:14That child had been his as well.
22:16And yet even a headstone was something he would growl only reluctantly.
22:20Today you will kneel in the courtyard and reflect on your conduct.
22:24That is your punishment for frightening Bella.
22:26Around mid-afternoon, a low growl suddenly echoed from outside.
22:30At Bella's birthday feast the day before, someone had given her an untrained black panther as a pet.
22:36Wild beasts loved the smell of blood.
22:38My heart dropped.
22:39I had only just looked up when the slick dark sheep launched straight at me.
22:43By the time Bella came running over in a show of alarm, pretending she meant to stop it,
22:48several chunks of flesh had already been torn from my body.
22:50She called the beast back for my guilty expression.
22:53Kieran only just began teaching me how to tame it.
22:57I'm still not used to the methods yet.
23:00That's why it hurt Alera.
23:02I feel dreadful.
23:04Luna, why should you apologize to a servant?
23:07Someone said it once.
23:08Even if the beast had devoured her home, Alpha would never blame you.
23:12My mind was beginning to blur.
23:13The world before me was washed in blood red.
23:16I could see nothing clearly, hear nothing properly.
23:20And suddenly, I thought of my father.
23:22Of how he had once become a great white wolf to protect his people and thought until his final breath.
23:27Alera?
23:28Ellie?
23:29Ellie?
23:30Someone was calling my childhood name again and again beside my ear, the voice low and strained.
23:35It had been so very long since I had heard that name.
23:38In the blur, I saw a tall figure.
23:42I grabbed his sleeve with a blood-soaked hand and cried.
23:46Through tears, the voice fell silent.
23:49When awareness finally returned, that familiar bitter taste was in my mouth again.
23:53I opened my eyes and found Kieran's face close to mine.
23:56He had been feeding me the medicine himself, mouth to mouth.
24:00The moment I realized it, I turned my face away in revulsion.
24:04Kieran froze.
24:05His fingers tightened round the medicine bowl.
24:08Ailara, since you're awake, drink it yourself.
24:11Bracing myself upright, I did exactly as he said and drained the bowl to the last drop.
24:16In the very next moment, I vomited all back up, along with black blood.
24:21Kieran's expression changed at once.
24:23He stared at me, confusion in his eyes, then panic, and then anger.
24:28Ailara, what new trick is this?
24:30Outside, night had already fallen.
24:32I knew my wolf's soul was about to scatter.
24:35So I said,
24:37Kieran, I'm dying.
24:39I won't allow it.
24:40Kieran looked as though he meant to threaten me again, the bones of my family.
24:44But suddenly, the words would not come.
24:46Because he saw the blood pouring from all seven orifices of my face, staining the entire bed.
24:52He saw, too, the black veins creeping beneath my collar.
24:55The sign that the wolf's spain poison had sunk into the marrow of my bones.
24:59His shaking gaze returned to my face.
25:02And then he realized that my eyes could no longer focus.
25:05My wolf was dead.
25:07In that instant, he felt it.
25:09The thread that had bound our souls together, the mating bonded cell, snapped cleanly in two.
25:17Kieran clutched at his chest and let out a howl like a wounded beast.
25:21The agony of having half his soul torn away made him stagger backwards.
25:24He could barely keep his footing before dropping to one knee.
25:28He could deny it all he liked.
25:30He could bury it beneath hatred for as long as he wished.
25:33But the breaking of the mating bond could not be heavy.
25:36It meant only one thing.
25:38The other half of his soul was dying.
25:40Ilara! Ilara!
25:42Ignoring the pain, he threw himself back to the bedside like a madman and slapped my face over and over.
25:48Wake up! Do you hear me?
25:50You are not allowed to sleep.
25:51Where is your wolf?
25:53Call it out.
25:54Make it heal you.
25:55You're an alpha's daughter.
25:56Where is your healing gift?
25:58He frantically released the full force of his alpha scent, trying to force it into me, trying to wake the
26:03sleeping wolf's soul within my body.
26:05But that fierce, overbearing power poured into me and vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, receiving not the
26:11slightest response.
26:12My body had become a vessel with a hole torn through it.
26:15No life could remain inside it now.
26:18What lay there was only an empty shell.
26:20Alpha, if this woman is dying, then let her die.
26:22Why? Why make such a spectacle of it?
26:24At the doorway, the housekeeper who served Bella, having hidden in the shadows and watched long enough, could not hold
26:30her tongue any longer.
26:32She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the blood soaking the bed.
26:35You should remember that the luna is with child.
26:37She cannot bear the sight of blood.
26:39If this disturbs the unborn heir...
26:41Shut up!
26:42Kieran spun round, his eyes red as blood itself, the unmistakable sign of a wolf on the brink of frenzy.
26:49Elera was my name.
26:50It meant moonlight.
26:52And yet my whole life had known nothing but darkness.
26:55With a single backhanded strike, Kieran sent a visible wave of force crashing into the housekeeper.
27:00She was a werewolf too, but she was flown away like a rag doll and smashed hard against the wall.
27:05The crack of breaking ribs rang out with dreadful clarity, and she collapsed at once, unconscious.
27:12The attendants outside dropped to their knees in terror, trembling violently.
27:16Bella, who had only just arrived, saw it happen and gave a shrill scream.
27:22One hand clutched her stomach as she crumpled to the floor, but Kieran paid no attention to anyone.
27:28He did not even spare Bella, the woman he had always doted on, a single glance.
27:33He turned back and seized my hand, which was already growing cold, holding it with the helpless desperation of a
27:38lost child.
27:39Elera, if you wake up, I'll grant you anything.
27:44I won't torment you again.
27:46I'll give you your freedom, alright?
27:48I won't kill you.
27:50I won't take revenge anymore.
27:52His voice was thick with tears, his words stumbling over one another in panic.
27:57Didn't you want that wolf fang bracelet?
27:59It was our token.
28:01I'll give it back to you.
28:03I'll give you everything.
28:04In a frenzy, he dragged the bracelet from inside his robes, the one he had taken back from Bella.
28:10His hands shook so badly as he tried to fasten around my neck that he failed again and again to
28:14catch the clasp.
28:15Damn it.
28:16Damn it.
28:18At last, he managed it.
28:19The faint, familiar fragrance drifted to me, the scent he had once sought out specially to ease my pain.
28:25But it was all too late.
28:27Just then, the captain of the guard came in, pale-faced and stiff with fear.
28:31Alpha, there is a rogue seer at the gates asking to see you.
28:35He says he sensed the presence of an ancient blood curse.
28:39He says he knows how she might be saved.
28:41Kieran looked as though he had seized hold of the last thing keeping him from drowning.
28:45He snuck up his bottom word.
28:47Bring him in.
28:48Now, if she dies, every one of you will be buried with her.
29:09So it is exactly as I thought.
29:16By then, Kieran no longer cared who the man was.
29:19He strode forwards, grabbed the seer by the collar, and snarled.
29:23You can save her, can't you?
29:26Then do it.
29:27The seer looked calmly at the frenzied wolf king and spoke in a eager voice.
29:32She's in this state because the poison inside her has turned back upon her.
29:36She saved someone by taking into herself the liquid silver poison that was meant for another.
29:43Kieran's face froze.
29:44His grip loosened.
29:46What do you mean?
29:47The seer pushed his hand away and pointed to the black vein spreading across my chest.
29:52These markings do not appear in a day or two.
29:55Ten years ago, at the edge of the dark forest, was someone struck by the hunter's specially prepared liquid silver
30:04poison?
30:05Kieran's pupils contracted violently.
30:07That memory was the nightmare he had never escaped.
30:11Ten years ago, young and reckless, he had stumbled into a hunter's trap.
30:15Poisoned and close to death.
30:17He had been left with one foot already beyond the threshold.
30:20There is no cure for that poison.
30:22The seer continued.
30:23The only way to survive is to use the flesh and blood of the one dearest to you as the
30:31vessel.
30:31And by means of a forbidden dark right, called a blood oath, transfer the poison into another body.
30:39This girl was struck by that very curse.
30:42All these years, she has been feeding the poison that once lived in your body with her own life force
30:48and her wolf soul.
30:50In truth, she need not have suffered quite so much.
30:53She might even have lived a few years longer.
30:57But...
30:58The seer let his gaze drift round the room.
31:00Looking at the rich tonics that had not yet been cleared away, he gave a mirthless laugh.
31:07Have you often been making her take powerful, strengthening tonics?
31:11And for punishment, have you even made her soak in silver baths?
31:15The color drained from Ciaran's face in an instant.
31:18He staggered backwards as though struck by lightning, colliding with the cabinet behind him.
31:23The seer gave a weary sigh.
31:25Those rich medicines are the finest catalyst the poison could ask for.
31:30And the silver baths only hastened the collapse of her wolf soul.
31:34You could say that with your own hands, little by little, you pushed her towards death.
31:40Every bowl of medicine you forced down her throat was another step towards killing her.
31:46Ciaran stood there listening, his head bowed, his whole body shaking.
31:50No wonder.
31:51No wonder she had so often gone pale over the years, clutching at her chest and whispering that it hurt.
31:56And more than once, he had called her weak.
31:59More than once, he had sneered that she was putting on an act.
32:03He had forced bowl after bowl of those self-important tonics down her throat,
32:07and made her soak in silver baths as punishment.
32:09All the while, she had been enduring agony as though 10,000 insects were chewing through her heart.
32:15All the while, she had been trading her life for his.
32:18By the time he came back to himself, his nails had already cut deep into his palms, blood running freely.
32:25With his head still lowered, Ciaran spoke in a voice so hoarse it scarcely said the human,
32:29as though each word had been dragged from the bottom of his throat.
32:32Are you saying, that the person who saved me in the dark forest, was her?
32:37Of course.
32:38The seer gave a contemptuous laugh, and turned a scornful glance towards Bella,
32:42who was trembling in the doorway.
32:44That woman called Bella was hiding up a tree, frightened enough to pet herself.
32:48By the time this girl carried you out of the poisoned mist,
32:52you must have been forced to climb down and steal the credit.
32:56Ciaran spun round at once.
32:57His gaze slashed across the room like that of a maddened beast and landed on Bella.
33:02Bella had gone completely white.
33:04She shook his head and said,
33:06No.
33:08No, that's not true.
33:11Honey.
33:12Please, let me explain.
33:15A boy shook her head and saw him move.
33:19In the next instant, Ciaran's hand was locked round Bella's throat,
33:22lifting her clear off the ground.
33:24Her legs kicked wildly in the air.
33:26Ciaran's hand was locked in the iron grip, but it was useless.
33:31You lied to me for ten years.
33:32His voice was terrifyingly calm, and for that reason all the more dreadful.
33:37Ciaran's hand was locked in the air.
33:39The credit was hers.
33:41The token was hers.
33:42The honor was hers.
33:43And she...
33:45His voice shook.
33:46She suffered in the slave pens in my place.
33:49Ciaran's hand was living more worse than death.
33:51Bella struggled frantically, her face swelling dark with lack of air.
33:55With immense difficulty, she forced out a few broken ones.
34:00I'm pregnant.
34:01You're a child.
34:02You're an alpha.
34:02You can't kill a pup.
34:04She tried to use the child in her belly as her final shield.
34:07But Ciaran's fingers did not...
34:11They tightened further.
34:13There was nothing in his eyes now but pure destruction.
34:16My child?
34:16A shattered laugh escaped him, and tears slid down his face.
34:21Ciaran's hand was truly mine.
34:24The child I should have had with my fated mate is already dead.
34:28I killed it with my own hands.
34:30It lies buried beneath the cairn field, beyond the ridge.
34:33This thing in her belly dares to call itself my child.
34:36His gaze flickered to the woman lying on the bed, bloodied and lifeless.
34:39And the pain in his chest became so sharp he could scarcely breathe.
34:43If Alara cannot breathe...
34:46There came a sharp crack.
34:48Bella's neck snapped.
34:49Her head lolled at a grotesque angle.
34:52Ciaran flung her aside with one careless movement.
34:55As though he were throwing her at the edge.
34:57Some people who was cherished like a treasure hit the floor like a broken doll.
35:01The hall fell into a deathly silence.
35:04Every attendant and guard had dropped to their knees.
35:06Not one of them dared to breathe.
35:09Even glance at Bella's corpse.
35:12He turned, then all at once his knees gave way beneath him.
35:14And he fell before the seer, the wolf king, who had once seemed above all others.
35:21Save her.
35:22He begged.
35:23Please, save her.
35:27The seer shook his head, pity in his eyes.
35:31It is too late.
35:33The wolf is already broken.
35:35Her wolf's soul has scattered.
35:37Her body is ruined.
35:39Ciaran seemed to lose his mind.
35:41With a savage movement, he drove his own clothes to the seer.
35:47Without even flinching, he dug out blood from over his own heart.
35:51Golden alpha blood dripped onto the stone floor.
35:54Take my life instead.
35:57He stared at the seer.
35:58The seer's blood oath can be reversed, can't it?
36:02If poison could be transferred before, then life force can be transferred now.
36:07The seer looked at the mad wolf king.
36:09Looked at the terrible wound yawning in his chest.
36:16It can be attempted, but this is forbidden.
36:19Even among the forbidden ones, you must understand the price.
36:25You will lose on the...
36:41The seer drew an intricate blood circle in the center of the alpha's chamber.
36:46Ciaran gathered me into his arms and sat at the heart of it.
36:49As the chant began, a red light flooded the room.
36:53Ciaran thwarted all that he was into me.
36:55His life force.
36:56The very source of his alpha power.
36:58All of it passed.
37:01The color drained visibly from his face.
37:04His black hair turned white strand by strand.
37:07At my ear he whispered, his voice growing weaker and weaker, yet softer than it had ever been.
37:12Ellie, I'm sorry.
37:16I would know you at once in the dark forest.
37:19I would never lead an army to destroy your pack.
37:22I would come with gifts and ask for your hand properly.
37:26I would never let you suffer at all.
37:28I would place the finest things in the dark forest.
37:33Live on.
37:34Live for our child too.
37:37Live well.
37:38I did not know how much time had passed.
37:41But at some point I felt warmth, deep and powerful, entering my body, mending my room.
37:48It was the life force I had lost so long ago.
37:53And at the same time, I could feel another soul fading fast.
37:58That warmth was him, burning himself away.
38:03I tried desperately to open my eyes.
38:06I tried to reach for him.
38:08I wanted to tell him to stop.
38:13By the time I finally forced my eyes open, the light had already faded.
38:18And all I saw was Kieran collapsed beside the bed.
38:22His hair was completely dry.
38:25He lost all luster and was lined with age.
38:29The man who had once stood tall and untouchable.
38:32The wolf king before whom all others bowed, now lay there like an old man at the end of his
38:36days.
38:38Utterly still, he was dead.
38:40He had traded his life for mine.
38:43And the broken, mating-
38:45The wolf king, the wolf king, the wolf king, by the forbidden rite, had rejoined only to lead into emptiness.
38:51I gathered his cold body into my arms.
38:54And in that fast hollow hall, I let out a long, desolate howl.
39:06It was the most hopeless sound in the world.
39:13Afterwards, I did not take command of the pack.
39:16When Kieran died, the Black River path descended into chaos, but I did not care.
39:22I dismissed every servant.
39:28Then I burned that splendid, filthy palace to the ground, taking Kieran's remains with me.
39:38I buried him beside our unborn child, Mead the Great Oak, where we had first met ten years before.
39:44Once, it had been the happiest place we knew.
39:48On the gravestone I wrote none of his titles.
39:51Not Wolf King, not Conqueror.
39:55Only a single line.
39:57Here lies Kieran, my mate, my love, my regret.
40:02Alone, with the recovered wolf fun bracelet at my throat, I turn my steps towards the vast snows of the
40:09north.
40:11They say there is an ancient legend in the far north.
40:15That if one can find the moon goddess's lost tear, one may open the gate of time and turn the
40:20years backwards.
40:21I do not know whether it is true.
40:25Perhaps it is nothing more than an empty hope offered to those left behind.
40:29But I have a long life ahead of me in which to search, so long as I do not die.
40:35This long atonement, and this long search, will never end.
40:41Through the wind and snow, a solitary silver wolf walked on, step by step, into the heart of the storm.
40:49And, come to my knees, see the mud.
40:51Yes, it is.
40:51I do not see the moon.
40:52I do not see the moon, too, but may
Comments