- 4 hours ago
Destroy My Silver Wolf Bloodline？I'll Marry a Top Alpha Then EPISODE
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Short filmTranscript
00:00The night before my wedding, my hair was gone.
00:02The silver hair passed down through generations of the Warwick bloodline,
00:05the symbol of our lineage that could summon wolf packs under the full moon
00:08and make even the most feral beasts submit by instinct,
00:10had been shaved off while I passed out.
00:13I lay there with my bare scalp exposed, and I saw Zoe standing beside the bed.
00:16She wore a black tactical vest.
00:18She was fiddling with a bone blade in her hand.
00:20The blade had been coated with wolf bone extract.
00:22She grinned at Liam.
00:23She hasn't even completed her first transformation.
00:26What gives her the right to stand beside an alpha?
00:28Liam's inner circle howled along with her.
00:30Zoe, that's not really fair.
00:31One of them chummed in.
00:32That sleep sashage was a gift from the alpha himself.
00:34Wolf bait mixed with moonflower, enough to knock out a bear.
00:36The marking ceremony's tomorrow.
00:37Zoe waved a hand to disheasily.
00:39Not that it matters anyway.
00:40Once she's in our pack, her status was always up for re-evaluation.
00:42Looking like this, she's perfect for starting from the lowest rung.
00:46Amid the roaring laughter filling the room, Liam glanced at me.
00:48Just one glance, then he looked away.
00:50They're all brothers who fought alongside me in the north.
00:52He said.
00:52Just a joke. Don't take it seriously.
00:53Just wrap a veil around your head tomorrow. No one will notice.
00:55He paused. His tone suddenly softened.
00:57And you're still the woman I'm going to mark.
00:59My Luna.
01:00I shifted my body slightly.
01:02The drug hadn't worn off yet.
01:03My limbs felt like they were filled with lead.
01:05He didn't wait for my response.
01:06He turned around and walked out of the bedroom with his men.
01:08The door closed.
01:09The room was left with just me and that herbal sashage,
01:12still swaying slightly above the headboard.
01:14The way he looked at me was cold.
01:15Cold as if he was staring at a stranger.
01:17He was my chosen mate.
01:18The mate I chose.
01:19Not the one the moon goddess chose for me.
01:21I thought choosing for myself meant I was guaranteed to be right.
01:24I spent six years proving one thing.
01:26I was wrong.
01:29Got it from the Scottish Highlands.
01:31Added some moonflower from the border.
01:33Best thing for sleep.
01:35Rest well.
01:36Be my most beautiful bride tomorrow.
01:40Natalie, don't be mad.
01:43Zoe's always had a big mouth.
01:45We drove all night.
01:46Across three states.
01:48We thought it was a surprise.
01:54I looked at the hair scattered across the carpet.
01:56It was dead.
01:56Living silver hair flowed with moonlight.
01:58When my grandmother died, her hair was silver to the very last strand.
02:01My mother broke a leg and her hair still fell silver to her waist.
02:03That was the power of the Warwick She-Wolves bloodline.
02:05Not decoration, but a vessel of strength.
02:07The root of sensing beasts calling upon moonlight and shielding the pack.
02:10Now it lay like snipped dead electrical wires.
02:12Blanketing the floor in a dark mass.
02:14The moment it left my scalp, the luster died.
02:16I tried to extend my senses, reaching toward the window.
02:18Nothing.
02:18That sensory domain, once as clear as flowing water, felt like it had been filled with cement
02:22overnight.
02:22As if something, at some point, had already died.
02:25And I didn't even know when that moment had started.
02:30I was just curious.
02:31What kind of woman is worthy of Alpha Liam's mark?
02:35Now I see.
02:37Unworthy.
02:40Every wolf in that room understood exactly what she meant.
02:43Chosen mate.
02:44Pledged mate.
02:45I chose him.
02:46He chose me.
02:47I thought that was love.
02:48It wasn't until tonight that I realized.
02:50This so-called choice was nothing but a handout he could snatch back whenever he felt like it.
02:54Natalie.
02:55Zoe meant no harm.
02:59She's been like this since we were kids.
03:01Never thinks before she speaks.
03:03Don't hold it against her.
03:05Whether I think you're worthy or not, Liam's still gonna mark you.
03:09So what are you still upset about?
03:13Just drape a long veil over your head tomorrow?
03:16Who's going notice?
03:17I said nothing.
03:19I didn't cry either.
03:20From the moment I woke up until now, not a single tear had fallen.
03:24Liam sighed and reached for my hand.
03:26I pulled away.
03:28He froze.
03:30He probably never imagined I would pull away.
03:32After they left, I sat there, pressing my palms against my temples.
03:35That pain was back.
03:36Not the stinging from having my hair shaved off, but something deeper.
03:39A burning sensation, like something was struggling desperately to break out from within.
03:43This feeling had actually been following me for six years now.
03:47Zoe is my second-in-command.
03:49She has no filter, but she means well.
03:52Let's leave it at that, okay?
03:53His voice softened.
03:55His calming scent washed over me.
03:57Natalie, I gave you the Sanch.
03:59If I knew Zoe would use it to pull something like this, I-
04:02He didn't finish.
04:04I looked at his face.
04:06A face I had looked at for so many years.
04:09Twelve years old, a bunch of young wolves were bullying me.
04:12Liam shattered one of their jaws.
04:15He got suspended for a month.
04:17He said it was worth it.
04:19Fifteen.
04:20My first awakening.
04:22But it wasn't a full wolf form.
04:24Just the senses.
04:26He showed up at my father's estate gore the very next morning.
04:29He didn't wait a single day.
04:31That very day, something deep within my scalp trembled lightly.
04:35Like the tip of a thread quietly pulling taut in a certain direction.
04:39I paid it no attention.
04:41All I saw was Liam standing in the morning light.
04:44His eyes red-rimmed.
04:45Eighteen.
04:46Before he was deployed to the north, he gripped my hand at the airport.
04:50Eyes reddening.
04:52And said he'd come back.
04:53And hold the marking ceremony with me.
04:55He spent three years out there.
04:57I spent three years waiting for him in my apartment in New York.
05:02Every full moon, that thread buried deep in my soul would burn hot once.
05:07I thought it was longing.
05:09And now, that satchad was still hanging above the headboard, making me sick.
05:14I didn't press him for more answers.
05:16The answers no longer mattered.
05:19Did he know about Zoe's plan?
05:21Did it make a difference?
05:22He indulged her.
05:24Like he always did.
05:26That wasn't the first time he'd indulged her at my expense.
05:30Last year, I practically begged my father for permission to visit him in the Northern Territory.
05:34I stood outside his tactical tent for three hours.
05:37I had someone announced my arrival three times.
05:40Zoe had posted a sign outside the tent.
05:42No entry.
05:43Authorized personnel only, including Natalie.
05:45He walked out and looked at me.
05:47His face was cold.
05:48Blame yourself.
05:50I should have known back then.
05:52That was the first time I truly felt it.
05:54My place in his heart didn't even weigh as much as a prank from his second-in-command.
05:58Natalie, do you have to be this petty?
06:00Liam's voice was trembling.
06:02Zoe is my second-in-command!
06:04Do you know how many times she saved my life up north?
06:06She bled for three years in the Northern Territory.
06:08Gave way more than a sheltered princess like you who hides in your safe apartment.
06:12Moping about how lonely you are, you see every other woman as a rival in your head.
06:16Zoe's vision is far bigger than yours.
06:18What fills her heart is the safety of the entire pack.
06:21And you?
06:23You can't even see beyond the four walls of this apartment.
06:26Zoe tugged at his sleeve.
06:28Liam, that's enough.
06:30She's still the mate you're going to mark.
06:33So what?
06:34Liam shook off her hand.
06:35She's been living in her comfort zone for too long.
06:38Her world is this small.
06:40Zoe just wanted to test your alertness as a werewolf.
06:43It's the most basic prank in any pack.
06:45Why can't you just let it go?
06:46I sat on the bed and listened to every single word he said.
06:50That burning thread pulled tighter than ever before.
06:53Like something in a distant direction was trembling with fury.
06:56Not for Liam, but for me.
06:59I pressed my hand to my chest.
07:01I wanted to tell myself to let go of Liam.
07:03I thought I already had, but there was a dull ache in my chest.
07:07I looked at the hair on the carpet.
07:09My hair.
07:11And then I knew.
07:12I hated him.
07:13Once hatred takes root, there's no going back.
07:15The sky was growing light.
07:17The sound of a delivery truck came from the street below.
07:19Liam's expression shifted.
07:21He immediately took those inner circle members and slipped out through the fire escape.
07:24My mother, Sarah, pushed the door open.
07:25She was holding a cup black coffee.
07:26She glanced at the hair all over the floor.
07:28The cup wobbled in her hand, coffee spilling onto the carpet.
07:31Natalie, who did this?
07:33I heard Zoe's soft laugh from the alley below.
07:36Mom, look at me.
07:37I need you to do something for me.
07:38Right now.
07:39I didn't dig through the ventry drawer.
07:40I didn't take out any ancient tokens.
07:42I closed my eyes and pressed down on my own chest.
07:45There was a thread there.
07:46It had been faintly present since the day I awakened at 15.
07:48Like a strand of silver spider thread buried deep within my wolf nature.
07:51I didn't choose that thread.
07:52It appeared without my permission the year I turned 15.
07:53It was the fated mate bond.
07:55True mate.
07:55Destined by fate itself.
07:56I had deliberately ignored it for six years because I thought the person I chose was the
07:59right one.
07:59Now I understood.
08:00The moon goddess never chooses wrong.
08:02I took a deep breath and gathered all my despair and rage into a silent howl, pushing
08:07it out along that bond.
08:08It wasn't a cry for help.
08:09It was the first time in six years that I actively said,
08:12I'm here.
08:13That force was ancient, more primal than my family.
08:15Blood-o, like a current of silver electricity.
08:17It pierced through the steel and concrete of Manhattan.
08:19Through the morning light shooting towards a specific direction.
08:22Upper East Side.
08:22On the other end of my soul someone was waiting.
08:24That end, almost in the same instant, without a moment's hesitation, responded.
08:28Meanwhile, Upper East Side, New York.
08:30The ancient estate that was never open to outsiders.
08:33Nicholas stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows.
08:35He was holding an old pocket watch in his hand.
08:36It was too old.
08:37The gilded edges worn down to the brass beneath.
08:39A photo was embedded inside the watch cover.
08:41The profile of a 15-year-old girl at her awakening ceremony.
08:43That silver hair cascading over her shoulders like a waterfall.
08:46Six years ago, he first sensed that bond at the awakening ceremony.
08:50That scent belonging to her rushed into his soul, like a flame locked into his very bones.
08:54But she said she had chosen Leon, so he sealed that bond deep within his soul and waited for her.
09:00Waited for six years.
09:01In those six years, that bond was like a piece of shrapnel buried in his marrow.
09:06He felt it every single day, and every single day he had to actively suppress it.
09:10There were a few times he nearly lost control.
09:12His second-in-command found him more than once in the early morning.
09:16Half the walls of his study smashed apart by his bare hands.
09:19He never explained.
09:21He just cleaned it up.
09:23Kept waiting.
09:24His second-in-command appeared at the door and bowed his head.
09:27Alpha, our people in the city detected a mate-bond activation signal.
09:30Source, Miss Natalie Warwick.
09:32Target locked on you.
09:33The second-in-command paused, a cautious surprise in his voice.
09:37We didn't have time to react.
09:38You had already accepted it.
09:39Nicholas snacked the watch cover shut.
09:41In those golden wolf eyes was a killing intent, suppressed for far too long, that had finally found a righteous
09:46outlet.
09:47His fingers squeezed the watch case until the metal let out a faint groan.
09:50Send a reply to Miss Warwick.
09:52The ceremony proceeds as planned.
09:53Leave the rest to me.
09:54The second-in-command was about to withdraw, but was called back.
09:57One more thing.
09:58Bring out my mother's coronation crown.
10:00Notify Paris to dispatch a team of jewelists overnight.
10:02Adjust the measurements to Miss Warwick's file I wanted in New York before sunrise tomorrow.
10:06Also, pull the application documents from the alliance.
10:08Joint confirmation from the three founding families.
10:10I submitted it three weeks ago.
10:12Understood.
10:13The final arbitration only requires notifying the three alphas to seal it.
10:16Complete it tonight.
10:17The second-in-command left to carry out the orders.
10:19Nicholas placed the pocket watch back into his chest pocket, right against his heart.
10:24Then, to the empty room, he said six words, very softly.
10:28Not waiting anymore.
10:29Not this time.
10:31By evening, the reply arrived.
10:33Just one line.
10:34The ceremony proceeds as planned.
10:36Leave the rest to me.
10:37Along with the letter came a high-end carrying case.
10:39Opened, a homemade lace wig.
10:41So finely crafted that even my wolf eyes couldn't tell it was fake.
10:44A full set of custom diamond crown and jewelry.
10:46I couldn't sleep at all that night.
10:48I sat by the window, fingers tracing the pure white wedding dress.
10:52For the first time in all these years, it wasn't Liam on my mind.
10:55I truly hated him.
10:56In just a few more hours, I would be wearing this wedding dress, standing before another alpha.
11:01Nicholas, whom I had seen a few times at alliance meetings but had barely exchanged words with,
11:06and he sent a wig and a crown.
11:08Like it was nothing.
11:09I held the crown in my hands.
11:11Moonlight struck the diamond facets, scattering fine silver light looking exactly like the
11:16strands of my hair that had dyed on that carpet.
11:18The thread in my chest lay warm and quiet.
11:21Not burning.
11:22Just warmth.
11:23The bedroom door was suddenly shoved open.
11:26Liam.
11:26Behind him.
11:27Zoe.
11:28This time, he didn't bring anyone else.
11:30He saw me sitting there, holding the crown in my hands.
11:33The crest engraved on that crown was the wolf head emblem of the Lycan family.
11:36His face drained of color in an instant.
11:39Now we're even.
11:45I looked at those marks.
11:47A wave of nausea's chrumped into my stomach.
11:50That's Satche.
11:51You inhaled it and fell unconscious.
11:53She shrugged.
11:53The curve of her lips carried no guilt whatsoever.
11:55But for an alpha male to smell it, the reaction is completely different.
11:58Wolf bowed.
11:59Not some sleep, sir.
12:00A full dose knocks the she-wolf out cold, but the same outpushes a male alpha into a rut.
12:04This, I knew from the start.
12:05My hand froze.
12:06You knew.
12:07I looked into her eyes.
12:09You knew from the very beginning.
12:11Zoe met my gaze.
12:12She neither denied nor explained.
12:14In her eyes was only a raw, primal satisfaction of being marked by Liam.
12:17I was prepping your gear.
12:18Probably got some residue on my skin.
12:20Liam caught the scent.
12:21He lost control in front of me and went into a frenzy.
12:23Didn't even give me time to run.
12:25She recited the excuse, word for word, like a script she had memorized.
12:29So there it is.
12:30You lost your hair.
12:30I paid with my body.
12:32We're even.
12:32I understood.
12:33She knew about the dual effect of wolf fails from the start.
12:36That night was her design.
12:37Shave my hair, then use the residual herb to trigger Liam.
12:40Two birds with one stone.
12:41Strip away my bloodline marker, then use the mark to bind Liam to her for good.
12:44It wasn't an accident.
12:48Natalie.
12:49Given what happened, I need to give the pack an explanation.
12:53Tomorrow's marking ceremony.
12:54Let's postpone it for now.
12:56Postpone.
12:57Postpone again.
12:59I was 15 when he proposed.
13:01Now I'm 21.
13:03Six whole years.
13:05I had no more time to give him.
13:09I'm not postponing the ceremony.
13:11Natalie, do you have to be this impossible to reason with?
13:15Whether I'm easy to reason with or not,
13:19I'm putting on this wedding dress tomorrow.
13:21He stared at me for a long time.
13:23His gaze shifted from the wedding dress to the lion crown in my hands,
13:27then to my bare scalp.
13:28Fine.
13:29Since you have no intention of being considerate towards Zoe,
13:32all for a Luna title.
13:33He stopped at the door.
13:34Don't regret this.
13:35The door slammed shut behind me.
13:37I faced the mirror and put that wig on,
13:40securing the crown piece by piece.
13:42The woman in the mirror wore the crown of the lion family
13:45and a pure white wedding grass.
13:49She was nobody's second choice.
13:51Early the next morning,
13:52I stood before the mirror and put on that wig.
13:55I secured the diamond crown piece by piece.
13:58The pure white wedding dress was elegant and magnificent.
14:02It was time.
14:03My mother held my arm as we walked out.
14:05The apartment building's front door swung open,
14:07and I saw Liam.
14:08He was wearing an old leather jacket.
14:10Behind him were two mud-splashed pickup trucks idling by the curb.
14:13No stretch Lincoln, no wedding convoy.
14:15A few of his men slouched in the truck beds, looking hungover.
14:18There wasn't even a single decorative white rose on the vehicles.
14:22Natalie.
14:24My mom said the ceremony was cancelled.
14:26The whole drive here, I kept thinking,
14:28you really weren't going to stay with me anymore.
14:30But now, seeing you dressed like this and coming out,
14:33I knew you changed your mind.
14:34I looked at those two beat-up pickup trucks.
14:37Is this how an Alpha comes to claim his Luna?
14:39You're the one who insisted on holding the ceremony today.
14:41Considering Zoe's situation,
14:42I had to follow the protocol for accepting an unranked stray into the pack to pick you up.
14:47We'll hold a proper formal ceremony later, once things settle down.
14:50Unranked stray.
14:51Handmade lace trail.
14:52The Lycan family crown.
14:54Six generations of Warwick she-wolf bloodline flowing through me.
14:57And he said,
14:58Unranked stray.
15:00The last half inch of warmth in my heart went completely cold.
15:03I am Natalie Wark, and I am nobody's backup plan.
15:10Look closely at what I'm wearing.
15:13I'm not going anywhere to be someone's sideshow.
15:17I told you yesterday, I have to give Zoe an explanation.
15:21She holds the real power, you hold the title, it's perfectly reasonable.
15:25You didn't have time to prepare?
15:29I let out a cold laugh.
15:31Liam.
15:33You proposed to me when I was 15.
15:36Six years.
15:38Six whole years.
15:39Who exactly came-
15:40You're still holding on to that?
15:44Can you just try for once to see the bigger picture?
15:46Zoe just came down from the territory.
15:47The situation is complicated.
15:48Come with me today, you'll get everything you're owed.
15:49Do you really have to fight me on saving face right now?
15:51Liam instinctively turned sideways and reached for his gun.
15:53Heavy armored via back had just picked up truck gile and reached the scraping wall.
15:55Tire screamed against the asphalt.
15:57He snapped his head up.
15:58Those car doors slowly opened.
15:59Elite members in full tactical gear, wolf emblems of the lichen pack engraved on their chest plates,
16:04sealed off the entire street.
16:06The luxury car boy trailing behind stretched for several blocks.
16:09Helicopters hovered overhead.
16:11The whole street went quiet.
16:13An alpha scent, carrying the raw edge of cedar and gunpowder,
16:17brutally crushed its way through the entire street.
16:19It wasn't meant to soothe.
16:20It was pure physiological domination.
16:22Liam's wolf let out a whimper deep in his soul.
16:24At the very front of the convoy, the door opened.
16:27Nicholas stepped out of the car.
16:29Tailored pure black suit, golden eyes that held no warmth whatsoever in the morning light.
16:33He looked at Liam, looking down on him.
16:35Only one sentence.
16:36My true mate.
16:38You think someone like you can treat her with such disrespect?
16:41His voice wasn't loud, like a razor blade slicing through the air.
16:44Do you have a death wish, Liam?
16:47Liam's face went utterly white.
16:49One spoke of an engagement.
16:50The other spoke of a faded bond.
16:52Even the words were different.
16:53For the first time in six years, I realized, some things, the moon goddess had chosen for me from the
16:59very beginning.
17:00I had only pretended not to hear.
17:01And now, someone had come to settle the score on my behalf.
17:05Every last debt, collected one by one.
17:08Liam stood there, looking at me, then at Nicholas, who was radiating terrifying pressure.
17:15Natalie, what is going on here?
17:17Why is Nicholas saying you're his true mate?
17:18Because today is my bonding ceremony with him.
17:22I didn't look back.
17:23Liam, stop wasting my time.
17:25Footsteps chased after me from behind.
17:26Liam rushed forward, trying to grab my hand.
17:28An elite member's palm slammed into his chest, shoving him back.
17:31Liam's voice panicked.
17:32Why'd you say you have a mate vow with me first?
17:34The one you bond with can only me!
17:36How could you-
17:36I am Natalie Warwick, and I am nobody's backup plan.
17:40I turned around.
17:41Six years.
17:42Liam, I gave you six years to choose.
17:44Every single time you chose to make me wait.
17:47I'm done.
17:48With that, I turned and sat in the backseat of the Myhach.
17:51The moment the car door closed, I saw Liam still frozen in place.
17:54Frozen.
17:54Lost.
17:55Nicholas stood beside the car, looking down at him.
17:57Liam, I'm genuinely curious.
17:58He pulled out a piece of heavy, textured letter paper.
18:00What made you think the Silver Wolf bloodline of the Warwick family, my liking family's
18:04true mate, would be willing to go to your pack and be an empty trophy?
18:07He unfolded the document.
18:08On the bottom left were pressed three bloodline signatures that could not be forged.
18:11The three founding families holding the highest seats in the North American Werewolf Alliance.
18:15Alliance ruling.
18:15Three weeks ago, I already submitted the application.
18:17This morning, the final arbitration was signed and filed across all of North America.
18:20Before sunset, this would be written into every single pack registry.
18:23In other words, the entire continent's wolf packs now know.
18:26You attempted to go against, on the Alliance.
18:28Resolution of the three founding families.
18:31He withdrew the document.
18:33His eyes so cold, they seemed to want to nail Liam to the floor.
18:36Rather, Liam.
18:37You should be at the Northern Border Defense, guarding your post right now.
18:41What are you doing in Manhattan?
18:46He paused.
18:48No wonder you never received that emergency mate contract termination notice sent to the front lines.
18:56Natalie was planning to tell you in person yesterday that she was dissolving the chosen mate contract.
19:01And you hung a sleeping sashay over her bed and left, without even giving her the chance to open her
19:06mouth.
19:07Abandoning your post without leave.
19:11Sneaking back into the core city.
19:13Right under the Alliance's nose.
19:16Nicholas tilted his head slightly.
19:18What do you think the Joint Alphas would make of this news?
19:22A misunderstanding.
19:23Or an insurrection.
19:27Requiring a purge?
19:29He turned and sat in the car, giving orders into the comms unit.
19:33His voice was cold as ice.
19:35Convoy, move out.
19:36Going home.
19:38By the time the ceremony ended, the sky was already dark.
19:41The private estate was brilliantly lit.
19:44Wolfpack leaders and guests from all sides had gradually disperred.
19:47The master bedroom door was pushed open.
19:52In the mirror, the corner of his mouth curved into an arc, gentler than any expression I had ever seen
19:57on his face.
19:58Liam is outside.
19:59He wants to see you.
20:01I looked at him through the mirror.
20:03I don't want to see him.
20:04Nicholas flashed me a tactical hand signal.
20:06Small, short, sharp.
20:08The curve of his lips didn't fade.
20:10Do you want to see him now?
20:11He asked.
20:13I slowly nodded.
20:14Now I can see him.
20:16The basement.
20:17A reinforced room.
20:18Guards posted outside the door.
20:20When I walked in, there was a group of people standing in the room.
20:22Liam in the center.
20:22Those few interduccal members were there too.
20:24Zoe was there too.
20:25The moment that group saw me.
20:27The most submissive posture would a werewolf assume to show surrender.
20:31Luna!
20:32Please give Alpha Liam another chance!
20:34Luna, Alpha Liam does care about you.
20:37He talked about you every day in the territory.
20:39Said he'd come back and marry you as soon as the war was over.
20:42Said it for three years!
20:43Luna, you and Alpha Liam grew up together.
20:45All those years of history, you can't just...
20:47They scrambled over each other, listing all the ways Liam had been good to me.
20:51My heart felt nothing at all.
20:54Enough!
20:55Zoe suddenly spoke up.
20:56The only one among them who hasn't lowered her head.
20:59She stood there, chin held high.
21:01What are you begging for?
21:02What's so special about her?
21:04Zoe looked at me.
21:05A smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth.
21:07Natalie, I underestimated you.
21:09Yesterday you were here playing the victim and today you've lashed onto Nicholas.
21:12Playing the victim while grabbing benefits for yourself.
21:14I didn't think a sheltered flower like you would be so calculating.
21:18I said nothing.
21:20Liam spoke up.
21:23That voice was so, so harsh.
21:25I had never heard anything like it from him.
21:27Zoe!
21:28Shut your mouth!
21:30Zoe froze.
21:31She turned her head to look at Liam.
21:33What did you say?
21:34Liam stared her down with deadly intensity.
21:37His golden Alpha eyes were bloodshot.
21:39I said shut your mouth.
21:41Bow your head.
21:42Zoe's face instantly flushed red.
21:44Liam, have you lost your mind?
21:46You're using Alpha command on me?
21:48You're making me bow my head to her?
21:50Liam roared, releasing his dominance.
21:53Bow your head!
21:54Zoe's knees buckled.
21:55Her neck finally dropped.
21:56The expression on her face was anger, and even more so defiance.
22:00Liam, you're yelling at me for her?
22:03Who am I?
22:04I'm your second in command.
22:05She turned around and bonded with Nicholas just like that.
22:07And you're making me bow to her?
22:09Liam ignored her completely.
22:11He turned his head to look at me.
22:12His eyes were red.
22:13His voice was shaking.
22:14Nate, I was wrong.
22:16I didn't respond.
22:17He moved closer, trying to touch me.
22:19I stepped back.
22:19I know I screwed up.
22:20The hair thing, those things I said.
22:22But Nate, Zoe did save my life.
22:25Up north, when I was nearly torn apart by feral wolves,
22:28Zoe dragged me out of the wreckage.
22:30She said she wanted to test your alertness,
22:32and I just, I just didn't stop her.
22:34The inner circle members kept their heads down and chimed in.
22:38Luna, Zoe saved the Alpha.
22:40The Alpha owes her his life.
22:42He couldn't just slap her in the face.
22:43The Alpha has you in his heart.
22:45He just didn't know how to refuse Zoe.
22:46Liam spoke again.
22:47The pleading in his voice was almost overflowing.
22:49Nate, you can hit me, yell at me, anything.
22:53Just don't abandon me.
22:55I'm begging you.
22:57Please, don't leave.
22:58I pulled a small lockbox from my handbag, opened it.
23:01I tossed that herbal-scented zacho at his feet.
23:04Then why did you do this to me?
23:05Liam looked down at the sashes.
23:07He couldn't say another word.
23:11The day before yesterday, you came to my apartment.
23:14I wanted to tell you in person.
23:16I was dissolving our chosen mate contract.
23:19Six years.
23:20I was done waiting.
23:21I paused.
23:22But you didn't let me finish.
23:24You just hung this sanshan over my bed,
23:26said something about it being the best thing for sleep,
23:29told me to rest well.
23:30Then you left.
23:32You didn't even leave me the chance to open my mouth.
23:34Liam's face went pale.
23:35Nate, I really didn't know Zoe would-
23:38Didn't know.
23:38I cut him off.
23:39You knew exactly the kind of person Zoe is.
23:41You knew she was waiting in the hallway.
23:42You knew she turned your indulgence into her hunting ground.
23:44You just never asked.
23:45Because if you asked, you'd have to make a choice.
23:47And you were never willing to choose for me.
23:49I looked down at the satches at my feet.
23:51Liam, my voice was calm,
23:53like I was recounting in an old story from a long time ago.
23:56You told me it was moonflower from the Scottish Highlands inside there.
23:59The best thing for sleep.
24:01I raised my head and looked directly into his eyes.
24:03But it was wolf bone.
24:05You knew that.
24:06You hung it there yourself.
24:09Liam's lips moved.
24:10No sound came out.
24:12You said you didn't know what Zoe was going to do.
24:14But Liam,
24:16what was inside that sanshan you knew perfectly well.
24:18You just chose not to ask what would happen next.
24:22Because if you asked,
24:23you'd have to stop her.
24:25And you never,
24:26ever intended to stop her.
24:27The basement went silent.
24:28Even the sound of breathing seemed to stop.
24:30Liam knelt on the floor.
24:31Sweat slid down the side of his face.
24:33His mouth opened.
24:34Those defensive words rolled around on his teeth.
24:36And in the end,
24:37they crumbled into a puff of air that was nothing at all.
24:39He didn't deny it.
24:40That was the final answer.
24:41Nicholas walked in.
24:43No suit jacket.
24:44The sleeves of his white dress shirt were rolled up to his forearms.
24:47His collar was open two buttons,
24:49revealing the edge of an old scar.
24:51Those golden eyes burned in the basement.
24:53He didn't look at anyone.
24:54He looked at me.
24:56In that single glance was no question.
24:58No hesitation.
24:59Only the silent confirmation that exists between true mates.
25:03Are you okay?
25:04What else do you need me to do?
25:06Then he turned and faced the room full of people.
25:09He didn't say a single word.
25:11He simply released his alpha horror.
25:14That force rolled over every corner of the room like a black tidal wave.
25:18No one could raise their head.
25:20No one could breathe.
25:21The inner circle members lay sprawled on the floor like prey with their throats seized.
25:25Even their groans were crushed in their throats.
25:28Zoe's knees slammed heavily onto the stone floor.
25:31The crisp sound of bone hitting rock.
25:33Liam was still standing.
25:34Every muscle in his body was sphezzling.
25:36Veins bulged on his forehead.
25:38His jaw was clenched so tight.
25:40It creaked.
25:41He was resisting, using that third-rate alpha bloodline of his to resist Nicholas's dominance.
25:47Nicholas looked at him, like looking at a bug still twitching its legs.
25:53Neil.
25:55His voice was calm.
25:56No roar.
25:57No threat.
25:57Just two words.
25:59Alpha command, the most primal, most unbreakable physiological domination of a higher-ranking alpha
26:03over a lower-ranking werewolf.
26:05Liam's knees shattered.
26:06The bones of both legs dislocated under the weight of that command.
26:09A dull, muffled snap.
26:11Liam collapsed to his knees, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
26:14His knees hit the stone.
26:16Blood seeped through his pant legs.
26:17He let out a piercing wolf howl.
26:21It was no longer a human sound.
26:23It was the wimp of a beast being subdued.
26:25The people in the room trembled on the floor in a heap.
26:28Nicholas stood before them.
26:29One hand casually tucked into his pants pocket.
26:32All of you, raise your heads.
26:35The necks of those people were yanked up as if by invisible threads, forced to lift their faces.
26:39Their eyes were filled with pure terror.
26:41Take a good look at your handiwork.
26:43Look clearly at her face.
26:45Remember this face.
26:46Remember this basement.
26:47Remember what you did to a she-wolf.
26:49Because from today on, you won't have the chance to forget.
26:52Zoe knelt on the ground, trembling all over.
26:55Her lips quivered, trying to say something, but no sound came out.
27:00Nicholas's gaze landed on her.
27:02Without a single extra movement, he just precisely crushed his alpha aura down on her,
27:06like a giant palm pressing down on Zoe's spine.
27:09Zoe's entire body was sent flying sideways, smashing heavily against the cold stone wall.
27:18That sound was no longer arrogance, no longer promotion.
27:21It was the expression she had never worn on her lace before.
27:24Absolute fear.
27:27Zoe Miller.
27:28His voice was neither loud nor soft, like he was confirming a name on a file.
27:32Former second-in-command of the Northern 7th defense line, absent without leave.
27:35Deliberate use of wolf's pain.
27:37Pre-methitated assault and destruction of bloodline marker against the lunar of the Lycan family.
27:42I won't kill you.
27:43A pause.
27:43Not because your combat record deserves respect.
27:46It's because dying would be too easy for you.
27:48Zoe's pupils violently contracted.
27:50She opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
27:52No sound came out.
27:53Her lips were trembling.
27:55Not from cold, not from pain, but from the primal terror of an apex predator finally catching up with her
28:00mind.
28:01The terror carved into the bones of every werewolf.
28:03Nicholas didn't look at her again.
28:05He turned to those few inner sunny members still spalled on the ground.
28:08As for the rest of you...
28:09Those people were completely terrified out of their minds.
28:11Alpha Span...
28:12Whales echoed through the basement.
28:14We were just following orders.
28:15We didn't know what Zoe was going to do to the Luna.
28:18We swear we didn't know.
28:21You laughed.
28:22His voice was light as a snowflake landing on a blade's edge.
28:26The night she was stripped of her bloodline marker, in that apartment, after Zoe finished her speech, you laughed.
28:33Every single wolf laughed.
28:35Those people trembled violently.
28:37If someone humiliated your Luna right in front of you, and you laughed, what do you think I should do
28:43with you?
28:44He didn't wait for their answer.
28:46The bonds...
28:47Severed simultaneously.
28:49A chorus of whales erupted in the basement.
28:52Some thrashed desperately.
28:54Some reached out, trying to grab the hem of my dress.
28:57Some slammed their foreheads against the floor until they bled.
29:01It was useless.
29:02The speed of the bond severance was as precise as a surgical procedure.
29:05One by one, they collapsed on the floor.
29:07Selding spawning mammoth.
29:08Golden pupils faded into murky gray.
29:10Elite warriors who had once followed Liam into battle on the northern battlefields now turned into a pack of strays
29:15sprawl on the ground.
29:16They didn't even have the strength to stamp.
29:18The basement fell silent.
29:19Only the ragged breathing of Liam sprawled on the floor.
29:22The faint pulse of Zoe, still unconscious.
29:25But it wasn't over.
29:27Nicholas turned around, and gave a single nod to the enforcers at the door.
29:33The branding iron.
29:35Two armored elites stepped inside.
29:37They were carrying a portable silver furnace.
29:40Inside the furnace burned the shorthand of a silver branding iron.
29:43The iron glowed white-hot in the coals, emitting a blinding silver light in the dim basement.
29:49Silver was lethal to werewolves.
29:51Contact with skin caused burns that could never heal on their own.
29:55The scars would remain on the body forever.
29:58Like a shame that would never fade.
30:01The enforcers moved toward Zoe.
30:03She was already unconscious.
30:05But the moment the searing silver branding iron touched her neck, she still let out a piercing scream.
30:11That sound tore through the basement.
30:13Tore through the estate.
30:14Echoing long into the night.
30:16The iron was lifted.
30:17A palm-sized scar was left on her neck.
30:19A broken wolf head.
30:20The mark of a rogue.
30:22In the world of wolves, this means this person has been expelled from all packs.
30:25Any werewolf who sees her has the right to attack her.
30:28Any werewolf who shelters her shares her crime.
30:30True fear finally appeared in Liam's eyes.
30:33He scrambled backward with his shattered legs.
30:36Broken sounds escaped his mouth.
30:38No, no, not that.
30:40The enforcers didn't look at him.
30:42They simply carried out the order.
30:44A second iron fell.
30:47Liam's howl shattered into sobs in his throat.
30:50Then the inner circle members.
30:52One by one, the iron fell.
30:54The stench of burning flesh permeated the entire basement.
30:57Wailing, pleading.
30:58The sizzle of silver searing skin all blended into one.
31:01It was over.
31:01I stood in the corner of the room and watched it all in silence.
31:04I didn't open my mouth to plead for anyone.
31:06They didn't deserve execution.
31:07That would be too easy.
31:09They should live.
31:10Live as the lowest form of existence.
31:12Waking up every morning and remembering, in that silver scar that would never heal, exactly who they were.
31:17A discarded wolf.
31:19The fringes of any pack would be their fate.
31:22Expulsion by any werewolf would be their daily life.
31:25Death was release.
31:27I didn't intend to give them release.
31:29Nicholas turned around and looked at me.
31:31In those golden pupils, that overwhelming killing inverse was slowly receding, replaced by a quiet inquiry meant only for a
31:38mate.
31:38He mouthed two words to me without making a sound, but I read them clearly.
31:42Enough?
31:43I nodded.
31:44He reached out, gently picked up the wig I had taken off and left lying on the table, and placed
31:47it back into my hands.
31:49His fingertips didn't touch my scalp.
31:50Let's go.
31:51Leave this to the enforcers to clean up.
31:53I didn't look back.
31:54Every step walking out of that basement with the stone steps beneath my feet ground the past six years into
31:58de-powder.
31:59Left behind.
32:00No longer belonged to me.
32:02By the time we returned to the main hall, Alexander's figure had already disappeared down the estate corridor.
32:09He really was here tonight.
32:11Nicholas had told me using tactical hand symbols in the car, he came as a witness, to bear witness to
32:16a high-ranking bonding registered with the Alliance.
32:18One of the three founding family heads of the North American Alliance, Alexander Koval.
32:23But in the end, Nicholas didn't let him enter that basement.
32:30This is my personal matter.
32:32I don't need anyone else to adjudicate for me.
32:35I looked at him.
32:37You could have let Alexander handle it for you.
32:40That would have been too clean.
32:42He pulled his cuffs down, covering that old scar.
32:45His tone was casual.
32:47Some debts, you need to settle with your own hands.
32:52He turned and walked into the night.
32:55I watched his back.
32:56For a long, long time.
32:59Over the next few days, the estate gates remained tightly shut.
33:03Liam's family sent people to plead with me several times.
33:05I didn't see any of them.
33:06This day, I was on the terrace basking in the sun.
33:09The maid came to report that Liam's mother was waiting outside the estate's warrant iron gate and refused to leave.
33:13I got up and went to the gate.
33:15Liam's mother stood on the stone steps.
33:17Her hair was disheveled.
33:18Her eyes were red and swollen.
33:20Seeing me come out, she crawled forward on her hands and knees and prostrated herself at my feet.
33:24Luna, please.
33:25You grew up with him.
33:26You know his true nature.
33:28When you were kids, he always saved the best prey for you.
33:30That was real.
33:31You can't say none of that counted.
33:33I looked down at her.
33:34I haven't forgotten.
33:36But I also haven't forgotten.
33:38He knew full well Zoe was waiting in the hallway and he still hung that sashy over my bed, closed
33:43the door, and left.
33:44Without leaving me a single word's worth of time.
33:47Liam's mother froze.
33:48I also haven't forgotten what he said.
33:51When he told me I'd enter his family as an unranked stray.
33:54Her face turned ashen.
33:56Madam, we're done here.
33:59Tears poured from Liam's mother's eyes again.
34:01But Natalie, he does care about you.
34:03He was just blinded by Zoe.
34:05It was a judgment personally handed down by Nicholas.
34:07No one can change it.
34:08I took a step back, pulling the hem of my dress out of her grasp.
34:11Don't let the gate hit you on the way out.
34:13I turned and walked back into the estate.
34:16Liam's mother's cries came from behind me.
34:18I didn't care anymore.
34:20The estate's wart iron gate slowly closed behind me.
34:23Those cries would never reach inside again.
34:25That night, Nicholas came to my bedroom.
34:28He sat across from me, watching me remove the lace wig, revealing my scalp, now covered with a layer of
34:35short, dark stubble.
34:37You're quite unfazed.
34:38I touched my scalp, smiled a little.
34:42It'll grow back eventually.
34:44I've always been curious.
34:45Nicholas' tone carried a casual probing.
34:47How did you become completely dead set against Liam overnight?
34:50My hand paused.
34:52I thought I'd have to wait for you a lot longer.
34:55He continued.
34:56I turned around to look at him.
34:58Wait, what do you mean, longer?
35:00There was no trace of a joke in his golden eyes.
35:03It means...
35:04My wolf claimed you.
35:07A long time ago.
35:08I couldn't speak.
35:10Do you remember your awakening ceremony when you were fifteen?
35:13I blinked.
35:14That day, your scent rushed into my senses.
35:17My wolf roared the same word over and over in my mind.
35:20Mate.
35:20I knew.
35:22That was the soul bond the moon goddess personally tied for us.
35:26A self-dificated curve tugged at the corner of his mouth, but his golden pupils were startlingly dark.
35:33But the very next day, Liam proposed a chosen mate contract to you.
35:36And you said yes.
35:38True mate.
35:39Not chosen.
35:40Not pledged.
35:41Not a choice that could be taken back.
35:44A knot the moon goddess tied between his soul and mine with a thread I couldn't see.
35:48Tied tight since I was fifteen years old.
35:51He knew.
35:53He had always known.
35:54And he waited six years.
35:57Not because he didn't want me.
36:00Because he respected my right to choose the wrong person for myself.
36:05You have no idea how much strength it took me to force down the wolf inside me.
36:09That wanted to tear his throat out.
36:12You waited for him in New York for three years and then three more.
36:15As the alpha of the Lycan family, I could have leveled the Northern Territory and take you by force.
36:20But the one thing I could never trample on was the free will the moon goddess granted you.
36:25I thought you loved him.
36:26Until a few days ago, when Alexander relayed to me that you intended to dissolve the contract.
36:31Nicholas smiled, with a fervent that had been suppressed for six years, finally tearing through the disguise.
36:37In that moment I knew.
36:39No need to wait any longer.
36:41The moon goddess returned my luna to me.
36:44The night I got the news, I shifted into wolf form in the forest ord and ran for an entire
36:49night.
36:49I opened my mouth.
36:50So if I had never seen clearly, if I had insisted on binding myself to Liam, wouldn't you have just
36:58waited for nothing?
37:00Then I would have just leveled his territory and taken you anyway.
37:02I choked on his words.
37:03You're impossible.
37:04He laughed.
37:05His eyes crinkled with a wild grin.
37:07My pack's strength is God knows how many times greater than his pathetic little territory.
37:10Stealing a mate?
37:11Was Alexander gonna blow my head off with a silver bullet?
37:13I shot him a helpless look.
37:15Nicholas put away his smile.
37:16Looked at me.
37:16His gaze was steady.
37:18Natalie, no one will ever make you wait again.
37:20He reached out and touched my short, bristly hair with extreme gentleness.
37:23His fingertips carried the scorching heat unique to the lichen bloodline, but the pressure on my scalp felt like touching
37:28a berry freshly picked from a branch, still wrapped in morning dew.
37:31This is more proof of your strength than any silver hair could ever be.
37:35He pulled a blood-stained wolf fang from his pocket and gently placed it in my palm.
37:38The enamel of the fang was cold.
37:40The dried blood was a dark, rusty color.
37:41This is the fang of the enemy leader who killed my uncle.
37:44I kept it to remind myself what hatred and strength are.
37:47His fingers lifted the back of my hand, folding my curled nipples together, wrapping the wolf hail inside my palm.
37:51Now I'm giving it to you.
37:53His golden pupils contracted slightly under the lamplight, reflecting my bald head.
37:56Because you taught me what is more powerful than hatred.
37:59Outside the window, the roses his mother had planted with her own hands swayed gently in the night breeze.
38:04I looked down at the wolf fang in my palm.
38:07The bloodstains touched my fingerprints.
38:09Those dried traces of blood had once been one person's hatred.
38:14And now, they had become another person's promise.
38:19I raised my head and looked at him.
38:21Nicholas stood before me, his golden pupils reflecting the image of my bald head.
38:25The smile still languished at the corner of his mouth, but the depths of his eyes were serious.
38:29He had long since grown into a forest within my heart, one that could never be shaken again.
38:35From that night on, every lamp in the estate was lit for me.
38:39A photo of me appeared on his study desk, not the silver-haired girl from the awakening ceremony.
38:44It was a bold woman with calm eyes.
38:47He said that one was better.
38:50I asked him why.
38:52Because this one, you chose for yourself.
38:56Some strength doesn't need long hair.
38:58To prove it.
39:01I strung the wolf fang onto a chain, and wore it close to my chest.
39:06Not as a warning.
39:08As a token.
39:09The silver hair grew back slowly over the following months.
39:12Still a moonlit silver.
39:15Still flowing with the power of the Warwick bloodline.
39:17But this time, when I extended my senses and reached out the window,
39:20that sensory domain, once sealed solid with cement, was flowing again.
39:24Clearer than before.
39:25Reaching further.
39:26I could even sense the lost heartbeat of a stray pup crossing Central Park two blocks away.
39:30I was a little stunned.
39:31Nicholas walked into the study and saw me spacing out.
39:34What's wrong?
39:35He asked.
39:36I thought after it was shaved off, even if it grew back, the senses wouldn't return.
39:42He sat down beside me.
39:43The silver hair is a vessel.
39:45But what fills that vessel is your own.
39:48Zoe shaved off your vessel.
39:50But no one can shave away your power.
39:53It was always there.
39:54It just temporarily couldn't find an outlet.
39:58I looked at him.
40:00You knew all along it would grow back.
40:02I've always known.
40:03He shrugged dismissively.
40:05That look on his face made me want to laugh.
40:07The Alliance sent several inquiries about the follow-up to the exile of Liam and his former subordinates.
40:13Nicholas replied with only one line.
40:14Handled per the code.
40:16He didn't say another word about it.
40:18Zoe was reportedly sighted by someone on the western border.
40:20The silver scar on her neck made it impossible for her to stay in any pack for more than three
40:25days.
40:26She never came looking for me.
40:28Probably knew it was useless.
40:30Liam's mother still occasionally had letters delivered.
40:33Each letter was shorter than the last.
40:35The final one had only one line.
40:37On the old northern battlefield, he wowed it all night long alone.
40:41I folded the letter and placed it in the deepest part of a drawer.
40:46No reply.
40:48Some wounds no apology can heal.
40:51When winter came, all the roses on the back hill of the estate bloomed.
40:54Nicholas said his mother planted them when she was alive.
40:57They hadn't bloomed in decades.
40:59This year, for some unknown reason, they all bloomed overnight.
41:03I stood among the flowers.
41:05My newly grown silver hair had it already reaches the waist.
41:08Moonlight spilled over it, flowing with living silver.
41:12Nicholas walked up from behind and draped a wool shog over my shoulders.
41:16Cold?
41:16I shook my head.
41:17He rested his chin on the top of my head and stood there quietly for a long time.
41:22There's one thing I've never asked you.
41:24He suddenly spoke.
41:27What?
41:28That morning.
41:29The moment you sent that signal along the true mate bond.
41:33Were you afraid?
41:34I thought about it.
41:37I was.
41:39Afraid you wouldn't respond.
41:41He turned me around and looked at me.
41:43His golden pupils were so gentle under the moonlight that they didn't belong to an alpha.
41:47I would never not respond.
41:49He said.
41:50I waited six years.
41:52Wait another six.
41:53Wait another sixty.
41:54As long as you call, I will always answer.
41:56I looked at him and smiled.
41:58The wind blew in from the back hill.
42:00The roses all across the garden swayed gently under the moonlight.
42:04Those flowers were white as snow.
42:06White as my silver hair.
42:07White as everything that starts over from the beginning.
42:10I placed my hand in his palm.
42:12Let's go home.
42:15He squeezed my hand tightly.
42:17Okay.
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