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Bound to the Ruthless Alpha - Hot
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00:00Alpha Kale returned from crushing a rogue pack in the Western Territories, bringing another Omega home with him.
00:06The Nightfang estate gates opened.
00:09I knelt at the front as his Luna, my knees pressed against the stone.
00:14You're the Luna, Elena.
00:18I saw the hem of her dress and the silver bell around her ankle.
00:22Kale reached toward me.
00:24I thought he was going to help me up.
00:25He pulled the Moonstone necklace from around my neck and tossed it to her.
00:30That necklace was my mother's heirloom.
00:32Whatever.
00:33His riding crop lifted my chin.
00:35I met his eyes.
00:37He stared at me.
00:38Not crying, not causing a scene.
00:40My father and brother were locked in prison.
00:43Whether they lived or died depended on him.
00:47He patted it, like patting an obedient dog.
00:50Good girl.
00:51This is what K-Night's mate should look like.
00:56I, Kale Nightbig, will make you my mate.
00:59This fang is my claim token.
01:01I wore that fang for four years, against my skin, until I stopped feeling it.
01:07The first night Kale returned to the estate, I was expected to wait for him in his room.
01:12That was the rule.
01:13The moon candles had burned halfway down before he finally came.
01:18That smile looks worse than crying.
01:19He turned and walked to the west wing.
01:22A silver bell rang through the night.
01:24The woman cried hard.
01:26I'd heard she already had someone in her own pack.
01:29Now she'd been given to the Nightfang pack to seal a truce.
01:33Of course she didn't want this.
01:35The next morning, he ordered me to come treat his wounds.
01:38The bed had already been straightened.
01:40A silver bell lay on the pillow.
01:42Wild and untamed.
01:44But there's a certain fun in breaking them in.
01:46I kept my eyes down and applied the salve.
01:49Not like you.
01:50First night you were stiff as a board.
01:52No fun at all.
01:54I didn't say anything.
01:55That night the candles had burned brightly.
01:58While my father and brother were dragged in chains into the prison cells.
02:02What did he expect?
02:03That I'd laugh and play along?
02:05I'm done with the medicine.
02:08Don't play the noble act with me.
02:11When you were on your knees in front of me.
02:14Begging me to take you as my Luna.
02:16You weren't acting so high and mighty then.
02:22Look at that.
02:24Already reacting?
02:25That scar.
02:26He'd left it the year he'd pulled me out of a rogue wolf attack.
02:29Now he used it to taunt me.
02:31Open your eyes.
02:34Humiliating, isn't it?
02:35Does it hurt your pride?
02:37You think you're still the daughter of Beta Daemon?
02:39Think you can still make that face at me?
02:41When your father and brother are being beaten in that prison cell,
02:44do you think they're holding it together as well as you?
02:45I grabbed his belt.
02:47He pulled free and stood.
02:48I can let them live.
02:50But whether they leave that prison cell or not
02:52depends on when the Beta Daemon's daughter learns to satisfy me.
02:56He moved to leave.
03:01Wait!
03:02I lunged and grabbed his sleeve.
03:04I grabbed so hard I lost my balance and rolled off the bed.
03:09I got up and grabbed the hem of his shirt again.
03:12I straightened my back and knelt upright.
03:15I've been out of line.
03:17Please don't be angry, Alpha.
03:20The full moon is close, Kai.
03:22Can you let me bring my father and brother one meal?
03:25Just one bowl?
03:26His chest went still.
03:28Kai.
03:29I hadn't called him that in a long time.
03:32At 16, Kale was the youngest warrior in my father's army.
03:36I used to call him...
03:37Kai!
03:39Kai, take me out to run on the hills.
03:42He used to carry me across the hills in wolf form.
03:45Don't let go.
03:45You'll fall.
03:46No, I won't.
03:47Kai will catch me.
03:50Just once.
03:51Is that okay?
03:52I looked up now and tried to find even a trace of that boy in his eyes.
03:56Fine.
03:56As long as you teach that new girl to be just as well behaved as you.
04:02I pushed open the door to the west wing.
04:05Aayla was curled in the corner of the bed like a trapped animal.
04:08Luna, please.
04:09Let me go.
04:09I was taken by force.
04:11I don't want to fight you for anything.
04:16If you won't free me, then why are you here?
04:18He sent me to talk to you.
04:19Talk to me to convince you to behave.
04:22To accept your place as his seventh mistress.
04:26She stared at me.
04:28You're telling me to submit to him?
04:30That's your alpha.
04:31Yes.
04:32Are you out of your mind?
04:34That's enough.
04:35Have you no shame?
04:37You have none, but I do.
04:39Enough to earn a visit to my father and brother.
04:41She tired herself out and dropped to the floor, face in her hands, crying.
04:47Use this on the bruises.
04:49They'll fade faster.
04:50He likes to see women cry.
04:51But if you cry too hard, he gets bored.
04:54What are you trying to do?
04:56Teach you how to survive.
04:58Is he a good man?
05:00Who?
05:01The one you loved back in your pack.
05:03Of course he is.
05:05Her eyes went soft.
05:06How good?
05:07There's no point telling you.
05:08The contempt in her gaze didn't hide.
05:10You're just a bitter woman locked away in a big house.
05:14What would you know?
05:15Ash and I grew up together.
05:17He'd ride with me chasing sunsets.
05:21We'd lie out and watch the moon and count the stars.
05:23I promise I'll never let you go.
05:27You've never had any of that.
05:29Not in your whole life.
05:30I smiled faintly.
05:32I didn't always live locked away.
05:34Before I was 16, I lived on the northern border.
05:37Snow mountains.
05:38Open plains.
05:39Wind you could run after and never catch.
05:44And kale.
05:45That year I wandered too far during a hunt.
05:47I got lost.
05:49By the time I realized what had happened, I was trapped.
05:52Glowing eyes like circled me in the dark.
05:55A hostile pack closed in from every side.
05:59Ayla leaned forward.
06:00Then what?
06:03Then kale came.
06:05He searched for three days and three nights.
06:08No food.
06:10No sleep.
06:11When he found me, a rogue wolf had me by the back of the neck.
06:15He had only one blade.
06:17He threw himself at them anyway.
06:19He pulled me out of those jaws.
06:21I'd lost too much blood.
06:23I passed out.
06:25He thought I was dead.
06:26He was crying as he carried me back.
06:29When he couldn't carry me anymore, he crawled.
06:32His hands tore open.
06:34His knees wore down to bone.
06:36He called my name the whole time.
06:38Elena?
06:39Elena.
06:40His voice went raw.
06:41He kept calling.
06:42He thought I couldn't hear him.
06:45I heard every word.
06:47Ayla went quiet.
06:48She was shaken.
06:49I was down for three days.
06:51The bite on my neck left a scar.
06:54He was down for eight days.
06:56Dozens of wounds all over his body from where the wolves had torn at him.
07:00He couldn't wake up.
07:02I remember thinking, if he dies, I won't go on either.
07:06What happened after?
07:07I looked at the bruises on my wrist where he'd grabbed me.
07:11After that, I married him and became what you see now.
07:15She didn't move.
07:16I smiled.
07:18See, when a man loves you, he'll give up everything.
07:21His life, even.
07:23But when he stops, he stops.
07:25That's all there is to it.
07:27No.
07:27Her eyes were steady.
07:28My ash would never.
07:30You can only run if you're still alive.
07:33Stay alive first.
07:34Ayla was smart.
07:35She gave in.
07:36That night, the candles in the west wing burned until morning.
07:40I sat by the window and watched the whole time.
07:43When the light came up, I raised my hand to my face.
07:46It was wet.
07:47That was fine.
07:48I was finally going to see my father and my brother.
07:51I changed into a pack servant's clothes, picked up the food tray, and walked into the prison
07:57cells.
07:57A rat shot across my feet.
08:00I jumped back.
08:01My heel came down on a centipede.
08:04The food tray slipped from my hands.
08:06Everything scattered across the floor.
08:09Rich house servants really are soft.
08:11The guard crouched down and started scooping the dirt-covered food back into the tray.
08:16Don't.
08:16It's already ruined.
08:18Ruined?
08:20Miss, in here, people are worth less than dogs.
08:23When they're starving enough, they'll chew dirt and drink filth.
08:26Never mind food that hit the floor.
08:28If I spit him, he'd bow and thank him.
08:30I was shaking.
08:32My father and brother had stood in the brightest halls to receive honors.
08:36They had led pack warriors across the brightest battlefields on the border.
08:41How could they be reduced to this?
08:43I gave the guard ten silver coins and went in alone.
08:47Father.
08:49His hair had gone completely white.
08:52His clothes were in rags.
08:54Helena.
08:55A light flickered in his eyes for just a moment.
08:58Then he knocked the food tray onto the ground.
09:01Get out.
09:02Father.
09:03He turned away and didn't look at me again.
09:06I knelt for a long time.
09:08I pressed my forehead to the ground.
09:10Then I stood.
09:11I knew he hated me.
09:13Hated me for marrying his enemy.
09:15But I'd had no choice.
09:17At the border battle, my father had ignored my brother's desperate warnings
09:21and ordered a retreat and surrender.
09:24The defensive line collapsed.
09:26Kale took control of the warriors, rallied what was left of the forces,
09:30and turned the battle around.
09:32After that victory, he rose to become the new alpha.
09:36Then he sent my father and brother to prison to calm the pack's fury.
09:40Our family, a bloodline of warriors for a hundred years, fell in a single night.
09:45I found my brother held in a separate cell.
09:48He'd grown so thin I almost didn't recognize him.
09:51But his eyes were still clear.
09:54Little sister.
09:55He smiled at me.
09:57The same smile he'd used to comfort me when we were children.
10:01He reached out and wiped my tears.
10:05Don't cry.
10:07I'm the one who failed you.
10:09I shook my head.
10:11Does Kale treat you well?
10:13Yes.
10:14I watched how he loved you back then.
10:16I saw all of it.
10:18You're with him now.
10:19At least no one will push you around because of us.
10:22I wasn't there to walk you out on your mating ceremony.
10:25Brother.
10:27I'm really fine.
10:29Kale was in another battle.
10:31He'll release you both because of that.
10:33You have to take care of yourself.
10:36Hold on a little longer.
10:39We'll be together again.
10:41He kept smiling even with red eyes.
10:43Okay.
10:44But then he raised his hand.
10:46His fingertip touched the corner of my mouth.
10:49What happened here?
10:50Kale just got back.
10:52He got carried away.
10:54He was quiet for a moment.
10:56Okay.
10:57I practically ran out of that prison cell.
11:02Years ago, Kale had come to our door to ask for me.
11:06What do you have to offer her?
11:09My life.
11:11That's why my brother believed.
11:13He believed Kale would be my protector.
11:15That he'd keep me safe for the rest of my life.
11:17If he ever found out the truth,
11:20I didn't let myself finish the thought.
11:22I put my head down and walked faster.
11:24I barely made it back to the estate.
11:27Lady, Alpha wants you in his room right now.
11:30My chest tightened.
11:32I stepped through the door.
11:33Something cut through the air straight at my face.
11:36The stone inkwell connected hard with the corner of my forehead.
11:41Kneel.
11:42I pressed my hand to my forehead.
11:44Blood still seeped through my fingers.
11:47Ayla had taken her own life.
11:49Just like the six before her.
11:51A few days after arriving, gone.
11:54That mouth of yours.
11:55Very persuasive.
11:57Seven mistresses.
12:00You talked every single one of them into dying.
12:03I didn't.
12:05I truly hadn't.
12:06No matter what I said to them,
12:08they still chose to go.
12:10All I could do was watch them disappear.
12:12One by one.
12:14Each one young.
12:15Each one with everything ahead of her.
12:17The very person who should be responsible was standing right there, demanding answers from me.
12:24Why are you glaring at me?
12:25He leaned down and studied my face.
12:27Are you saying I'm the one who drove them to it?
12:30Wasn't it you?
12:31He brought every one of those women into this house.
12:34Each one different.
12:35Each one beautiful in her own way.
12:37He dropped them into these walls and left them there.
12:41They cried.
12:42They begged.
12:42I tried to talk them through it.
12:44I tried to stop them.
12:46I said everything there was to say.
12:48They died anyway.
12:49I go to all the trouble of bringing home a beautiful woman.
12:53She's fine the whole journey.
12:55Then she walks through my gates and ends up dead.
12:59If you didn't do it, who did?
13:01You cursed woman.
13:03He grabbed my chin and examined my wound.
13:06It has nothing to do with me.
13:08He just wanted a reason to humiliate me.
13:11Go ahead then.
13:12Tell me what you want this time.
13:14I'd survived every degradation already.
13:17There was nothing left to be afraid of.
13:19Something surprised in it and something annoyed.
13:22What I want is to cast you out.
13:26I went still.
13:27Cast me out?
13:28Three years.
13:29He'd kept me here to break me down.
13:31That had been his entertainment for three years.
13:34I thought he would kill me eventually.
13:36Or wear me down until I was gone.
13:38Then throw me out like the others into an unmarked grave.
13:41I had never once thought he would simply cast me out.
13:45Joy hit me so fast.
13:47Cast out.
13:47I could leave.
13:48I could go anywhere.
13:50Then I remembered.
13:51My father and brother were still in that prison cell.
13:54Kale let them live because I'm his Luna.
13:56If I wasn't anymore.
13:58He stood there waiting.
14:00Certain of what came next.
14:01Waiting for me to crawl to him the way I had done so many times before.
14:05Grab his legs.
14:07Beg him.
14:08Please Beta.
14:09Show mercy.
14:10That was what he liked best.
14:12Three years.
14:13I had learned to kneel.
14:15To endure.
14:16To bleed without making a sound.
14:18One more time.
14:20The last time.
14:21I crawled to his feet.
14:23Please.
14:24Don't cast me out.
14:26I couldn't see his face.
14:28I only heard him laugh once.
14:30Then go earn forgiveness.
14:33Kneel outside the front gate.
14:35Snow had fallen outside.
14:36I knelt facing the gate.
14:38In the middle of the street where everyone passed.
14:41People stopped and gathered.
14:43Isn't that the Alpha's mate?
14:44That's her.
14:47The new mistress died again.
14:49Seven lives.
14:51This woman is cursed.
14:53A thing like that should be beaten in the street.
14:55I put my head down.
14:57Low enough that no one could see my face.
15:00I lost track of time.
15:01The cold made everything hazy.
15:03But the voices kept drifting past.
15:05Look how pale she is.
15:07Probably faking.
15:09Common as dirt.
15:10Why hasn't the Alpha thrown her out already?
15:13I heard they were actually in love once.
15:16Just bad luck.
15:18Bad luck?
15:19What do you mean?
15:20Tell me.
15:21I heard Alpha's father was killed by Luna's father.
15:25They covered it up and told him he was an orphan.
15:28What did you say?
15:30The man startled and hurried away.
15:32I pushed forward one step.
15:34My feet found nothing.
15:35The sky and ground traded places.
15:38The shapes of all those pointing, watching people blurred into nothing.
15:41The gate guard stumbled into his room.
15:44Alpha, Luna collapsed.
15:46If she collapsed, bring her in.
15:49Stop panicking.
15:51Alpha, it's...
15:53It's not just that.
15:56Speak.
15:57She's...
15:58There's a lot of blood under her.
16:01When I woke up, Kyle was sitting at the edge of the bed.
16:04You're awake.
16:05Good.
16:06I had the pack healer brew this himself.
16:09Drink it while it's hot.
16:10I was still half out of it when I sat up.
16:12Before I could think, he was holding the bowl out to feed me himself.
16:16It was bitter.
16:18I threw it up all over him.
16:20His hand came up.
16:22Every muscle in my body pulled tight.
16:24I shut my eyes and waited.
16:26The slap never came.
16:28I opened my eyes.
16:29He was wiping my mouth with a cloth.
16:32Easy.
16:32Medicine is supposed to be bitter.
16:34Finish the whole bowl.
16:35I didn't understand why he'd suddenly changed.
16:38I just drank it, one small sip at a time.
16:41When the bowl was empty, a dragging ache settled low in my stomach.
16:46What is it?
16:47Still hurting?
16:49His expression shifted completely.
16:51He'd seen blood.
16:52He'd seen death.
16:54He'd had entire armies charging straight at him.
16:57But I had never seen that look on his face before.
17:01My stomach dropped.
17:02No.
17:03I forgot to take the fertility suppressant once.
17:06He looked at my face, at the panic in my eyes.
17:09I didn't know what he was thinking.
17:11After a long moment, he turned his head away.
17:14When he turned back, his face had closed off again into its usual hardness.
17:19When I had you kneel outside yesterday, I didn't know you were carrying my pup.
17:23That was my fault.
17:26Elena, that pup is strong.
17:28You lost that much blood and it still held on.
17:30I pressed my nails into my palm.
17:33How could this be happening?
17:34As long as you carry the pup safely to term, I will release your father and brother.
17:40After that, everything that happened between us, consider it buried.
17:45Everything that happened?
17:46Do you mean what you did to me?
17:49Or your revenge to my father?
17:51I don't know what you're talking about.
17:55No wonder.
17:56No wonder I could never make sense of it.
17:59Kale, how you could change completely overnight.
18:03Starting from one specific day.
18:06You stopped looking at me.
18:11Back then, I was still the daughter of Beta Daemon.
18:16I couldn't stand it.
18:18I came after you.
18:19I hit you.
18:20Several times.
18:21I had you given ten lashes on top of it.
18:29But no matter how many times I asked, you only ever gave me one answer.
18:33I don't love you anymore.
18:37I felt like the whole world had ended.
18:41Elena.
18:45I cried every day.
18:47Every night.
18:48I hadn't even finished crying when you filed charges against my father.
18:53The men of my family were thrown into prison cells.
18:57The women were exiled.
18:59That was when I finally understood what it really meant for the world to end.
19:05I had no choice back then.
19:09The soldiers came to strip the estate.
19:12My mother couldn't bear the shame.
19:14She took her own life.
19:15I crawled out through a gap in the wall and ran to your grand estate.
19:18I knelt in front of you.
19:20I took off my own clothes.
19:21I climbed into your bed.
19:22Begged you to honor the promise you made.
19:25To claim me as your Luna.
19:27All of it is just to keep my father and brother alive.
19:30Three years.
19:30I swallowed every piece of my pride.
19:33When you told me to kneel, I neat.
19:35When you told me to smile, I smiled.
19:37I kept telling myself,
19:39once my father and brother are free,
19:41it doesn't matter what I had to endure.
19:43Now I finally understand.
19:46These three years.
19:48Everything I endured was for nothing.
19:51You never had any intention of freeing them.
19:55Did you?
19:57Give me a pup.
19:59I'll get your brother out.
20:01He said nothing about my father.
20:03From that day on,
20:05he never stepped inside my room again.
20:08Five months have passed.
20:11Luna, from behind, you can't tell it all.
20:14It has to be a boy pup.
20:16A figure stopped outside the corridor.
20:21Luna.
20:22Alpha sent this.
20:24Back in the Northern Territory,
20:26he'd run down several streets to find one of these.
20:30He'd carried it back like it was something precious
20:32and held it out to me.
20:34The glaze had half melted by then.
20:38You think a daughter of Invader Lord wants something like that?
20:42Throw it away.
20:44I slept lightly at night.
20:46I knew he came in every evening.
20:49Light steps from the door to the bedside.
20:51Seven steps.
20:52Then he'd stand there.
20:54I kept my eyes shut.
20:56When he'd stood long enough,
20:57the footsteps came again.
21:00But sleep brought no peace.
21:02I kept dreaming of the women.
21:05Luna.
21:06I did what you told me.
21:09Why did I still have to die?
21:13I don't know.
21:14I don't know.
21:14Elena, give me back my life.
21:17No.
21:17Go find Kale.
21:19He's the one who hurts you.
21:20Him.
21:21You did this.
21:22You turned a good man into something driven by revenge.
21:25You destroyed us.
21:25You and your father and your brother.
21:27You all deserve to die.
21:28And your child too.
21:29No!
21:29Don't touch him!
21:30That's not true!
21:32I woke up gasping,
21:34soaked through,
21:35heart slamming up into my throat.
21:37But this time Kale was sitting at the bedside.
21:40I didn't know how long he'd been there.
21:42Do you have nightmares every night?
21:45Yes.
21:47What do you dream about?
21:48The women you destroyed.
21:51I'll sleep here tonight.
21:52Let them come find me instead.
21:54I'll fit.
21:56He said it with a slight smile.
21:58An actual demon.
22:01I couldn't argue him out of it.
22:04Then one day, a box arrived.
22:06I opened it.
22:07Inside were trinkets, gemstones, silver bells of every kind.
22:12They're living well.
22:13Different names, different places.
22:16The deaths had all been lies.
22:19Every single one.
22:22He'd brought those women into the estate,
22:24one after another, just to torment me.
22:27Once he was done tormenting me,
22:30he'd quietly sent them away.
22:32I reached in and picked up one of the silver bells.
22:35You went to all that trouble just to make me miserable?
22:40Yes.
22:41It worked well.
22:42He had turned back into the kale I used to know, meeting my eyes with a smile,
22:47but I couldn't find it in me to respond to any of it.
22:51The closer I got to my duty, the worse the sickness became.
22:55I felt like I was bringing up everything inside me.
22:58I lay in bed, barely alive.
23:01He grabbed the pack healer by the collar.
23:03Useless!
23:04All you have to do is treat her nausea!
23:06You can't even manage that!
23:08I...
23:09Alpha, I am the head healer!
23:11You cannot treat me this way!
23:12Get out!
23:13You're worthless!
23:15Put out a call for healers from outside the pack!
23:18Now!
23:19Yes, Alpha!
23:20But rumors had spread everywhere.
23:23They say Alpha Kale has shed too much blood on the border.
23:26Now the curse has turned on him.
23:28He can't even protect his own mate and pup.
23:30I was sick again.
23:31When I pulled the cloth away from my mouth this time,
23:34there were streaks of blood in it.
23:37Why?
23:38Why is there blood?
23:42Kale!
23:43You've done so much evil.
23:45Is it the spirits of my family coming to take me instead?
23:51Don't count on it!
23:52If they're taking anyone, it's me!
23:55Within three days, he had found every healer and apothecary in the entire region.
24:00He sent his scouts running south, west, and into the outer territories.
24:05Alpha, there's one herb that might help.
24:08But it only grows on the cliff faces of the northern mountains.
24:12This time of year, it's impossible to harvest.
24:14Then put out a reward.
24:15Ten thousand.
24:16A hundred thousand.
24:18I'll spend everything I have.
24:19I don't care.
24:19Late one night, I drifted half awake and saw him crouched in the corridor,
24:24tending a small clay pot over a fire.
24:26The great alpha, crouched over a little clay stove, working a fan to keep the flame going.
24:32The smoke made his eyes red.
24:34He rubbed them with the back of his hand and kept fanning.
24:37When I drank the medicine, the sickness finally stopped.
24:41He still wouldn't sleep.
24:42He lowered the bed curtain and sat through the night with wide eyes,
24:47fanning me and catching the mosquitoes that got through.
24:50He had grown thin.
24:51His inner shirt hung loose around him.
24:54I laid a silk cloth across my face to hide the tears.
24:58If none of it had ever happened, my Kale would have loved me like this forever.
25:03But I was never a lucky woman.
25:05The labor went wrong.
25:07Basin after basin of blood carried out.
25:10Alpha Kale forcing his way in.
25:12The pack healer knelt at his feet, soaked in sweat.
25:16Alpha, do we save the pup or save the Luna?
25:20Kale stood there and didn't move.
25:22Alpha!
25:23The healer asked him again.
25:25Kale dropped to his knees.
25:27Save her.
25:29Save her.
25:30All of you!
25:31The alpha who had called them useless and worthless.
25:34Now he's kneeling at their feet.
25:37I'm begging you.
25:39He pressed his forehead to the ground.
25:42Save my Elena.
25:44Save her.
25:45The sound of his forehead hitting the floor once again, mixed in with my cries growing weaker.
25:52The pain was too much.
25:54I thought I was dying.
25:56I called his name.
25:57He lunged to the bedside and knelt there, hands moving frantically to wipe the sweat from my face.
26:03I don't know what happened between your father and mine, but please, just let my brother go.
26:09He's a good warrior.
26:12Elena, don't close your eyes.
26:14Stay awake.
26:15I'm going right now.
26:16I'll bring your brother here.
26:17He ran out of the door.
26:19No armor, no escort, just him.
26:21Running full speed toward the prison cells in wolf form.
26:24Alpha, that's the direction of the prison cells.
26:27Where is Rowan?
26:28Block three, lower level.
26:30One blade strike broke the chain.
26:32Two more cut the shackles off Rowan's ankles.
26:35By the time they ran back, my screams were tearing through the walls of the room.
26:39Rowan almost fell.
26:45My brother ran in and dropped to his knees at the bed.
26:49Little sister, you're safe now.
26:52I'm here.
26:54Brother.
26:55Right here.
26:56Right here.
26:58Brother, I miss mother.
27:01I want her to sing to me.
27:02I know how.
27:03I'll sing it.
27:04Moon shining bright, wind lying still.
27:07The song our mother used to hum when she rocked me to sleep as a child.
27:10I was born small and weak.
27:13I cried through every night.
27:14She would hold me and sing it over and over.
27:17When she got too busy, Rowan was the one who sang.
27:20The pain, still the pain.
27:22But my brother was here.
27:24I held his hand and pushed with everything I had left.
27:27A cry.
27:29She's here.
27:31A girl pup.
27:32I turned my head.
27:33Alpha Kale was standing in the doorway.
27:36The wound on his forehead.
27:37He got it when he knocked against the floor.
27:39Had dried into a smear of dark red.
27:43He was crying and laughing at the same time.
27:45Like someone who had lost his mind.
27:48I looked back at my brother.
27:51Did you hear that?
27:52A girl.
27:56Brother.
27:58Yes.
28:00We're finally all together.
28:02I put my hand over his and closed my eyes.
28:06Elena.
28:07Elena.
28:10You are not allowed to sleep.
28:12If you dare close your eyes, I will tear your father apart.
28:15I will make him suffer.
28:16And your brother.
28:18If you sleep, I will send him straight back.
28:20Into the deepest cell.
28:22Open your eyes.
28:23Look at me.
28:25Elena.
28:27Please.
28:28I'm begging you.
28:30I slowly lifted my other hand and let it rest against the back of his head.
28:34He went still.
28:35He looked up.
28:36Kale.
28:37In the next life, let's not find each other again.
28:43Ten years later, Lyra hid in her uncle's arms.
28:47She stared at the stranger with wide, cautious eyes.
28:51The man stumbled and nearly hit the ground.
28:53Still in his armor, dusty and worn down.
28:56Like he had ridden from somewhere very far away.
28:59Lyra.
29:00He called her name once.
29:02Lyra pressed further into her uncle's chest.
29:05She gripped Rowan's shirt with both fists.
29:08Uncle.
29:09I'm scared.
29:11Don't be scared.
29:13This is your father.
29:16My father?
29:17Lyra blinked and looked at the man kneeling in the dirt.
29:20Ten years.
29:21Ten years since he'd last seen her.
29:24She had grown.
29:25Grown tall.
29:26She looked exactly like Elena had when she was small.
29:29Alpha Kale reached out to touch her face.
29:32His hands stayed in the air for a moment.
29:35She looks just like her.
29:36Rowan looked down at Lyra in his arms, then at the man kneeling on the ground.
29:41Ten years on the border.
29:43The wind and dust had aged him.
29:45Gray at both temples now.
29:47Nothing left of the Alpha Lord he used to be.
29:50Get up.
29:51Alpha Kale didn't move.
29:52He kept kneeling.
29:54Kept looking at Lyra.
29:55Lyra.
29:56He tried to steady his voice.
29:57Your father.
29:59Your father is back.
30:01Lyra tilted her head and studied him.
30:03Then she pulled free from her uncle's arms, walked toward him one step at a time.
30:08Alpha Kale knelt there and didn't dare breathe too loudly.
30:12Lyra reached out and touched the scar on his face.
30:15How did you get this?
30:17From battle.
30:18Did it hurt?
30:19No.
30:20It didn't hurt.
30:22Lyra looked at him a moment longer.
30:24She opened her arms and wrapped them around his neck.
30:27Daddy.
30:29She said it quietly into his ear.
30:32He didn't respond.
30:33He didn't dare.
30:35If he did, tears would fall.
30:38Daddy.
30:39She said it again, louder this time.
30:42Only then did he raise his arms.
30:44You've seen her.
30:45Go back now, Alpha.
30:47He didn't look up.
30:48He kept holding Lyra.
30:49Just a little longer.
30:51Let me hold her a little longer.
30:52Rowan lifted Lyra out of his arms.
30:56Kale, you have enough.
30:59He did.
30:59He had enough.
31:01He had cost Elena her life.
31:03He had defied the laws of the pack by venturing into the royal prison.
31:08To uphold order, he stationed himself on the borderlands for ten years.
31:12And he was still allowed to see his daughter once.
31:16To hear her call him father, that was enough.
31:19Your father, is he well?
31:21Well, the first year after he got out, he went to sit by Elena's grave every day.
31:26Never said anything.
31:27Just sat.
31:28Few days later, he followed her.
31:31Rowan carried Lyra through the door.
31:33She looked back over his shoulder at Kale, grinning.
31:37The gate closed.
31:38The gate closed.
31:39The gate closed.
31:39The gate closed.
31:40The gate closed.
31:40The gate closed.
31:40The gate closed.
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