- 8 minutes ago
Broken by My Twin Alphas
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Again.
00:01Damien's voice came from above me.
00:04Low. Horsky.
00:05Burning with the heat of an alpha in rut.
00:08I had lost count by now.
00:10Three times, maybe?
00:12His arms were braced on either side of my head,
00:15veins bulging at his temples,
00:17every thrust hitting me with a force that felt more punishment than pleasure.
00:21I didn't dare make a sound.
00:23The patrol guards outside would hear.
00:26The entire pack would know that the wolfless, worthless Omega
00:29was being used as a painkiller by their alpha.
00:32Nobody knew I was Damien's fated mate.
00:34Or rather, he refused to let anyone know.
00:37A nobody from the slums whose wolf had never awakened.
00:40How could someone that pathetic ever deserve to be the fated mate of the pack's twin alphas?
00:44So for three years, I had been hidden away in the Grey Sector,
00:47a run-down district packed with crippled and discarded wolves.
00:50I was his dirty little secret.
00:52The third time ended and Damien finally got off me.
00:56I laid there gasping, my whole body trembling.
00:59All I wanted was to close my eyes and sleep.
01:02Then a pair of hands grabbed my waist again.
01:06Turn over.
01:06It was Damien's voice.
01:08But the hands were wrong.
01:09The Khalids were in different places.
01:11The ring he always wore on his left hand was missing.
01:13I was too exhausted.
01:14My brain was mush.
01:15I couldn't think straight.
01:16Four, five.
01:17He was rougher than before.
01:19His fingers dug ug into my waist hard.
01:22I thought they would break through the skin.
01:24Which felt better?
01:25He leaned down to my ear.
01:26His voice dropped to a whisper.
01:29There was something cruel and mocking in his tone that I had never heard from Damien.
01:33Hmm?
01:34Answer me.
01:38Six.
01:39Seven.
01:39My mind was coming apart.
01:41Every release ripped away what little strength I had left.
01:44In the haze, I turned my head and reached for his mouth.
01:47I wanted a kiss.
01:49Just one.
01:49My lips found his, but my eyes found him first.
01:52Damien's eyes were gray-blue, cold and still.
01:55The eyes staring down at me were blown wide, bloodshot, with a faint gold sheen of something
01:59savage.
02:00Caspin, Damien's twin brother, the one the whole pack called the rabid dog behind his
02:04back.
02:05My blood went cold.
02:06The scream stuck in my throat because his hand was already on my neck, his thumb resting
02:11right over my windpipe.
02:13Figured it out?
02:14Caspin grinned at me, wearing the same face as Damien.
02:17Too late, little waste.
02:19A small sound came from the far corner of the room.
02:22A wall lamp clicked on.
02:23Damien was sitting in an armchair, fully dressed.
02:26His shirt sleeves rolled up to his forearms, a glass of whiskey in his hand.
02:30He had been here the entire time.
02:31He had watched his brother take his mate, and he looked bored.
02:35Why?
02:35My voice came out wrecked, unrecognizable.
02:38Damien swirled his glass.
02:40Ice clinked against the amber liquid.
02:42You're my fated mate, sure, but so what?
02:45His tone was flat, his expression blank.
02:47You have no wolf, no family.
02:49You can't even shift into a full wolf form.
02:51What makes you think you deserve the Luna title?
02:53The moon goddess played a sick joke on me.
02:55He took a sip.
02:56Tying a waste of space to me as my fated mate.
02:59So I made the best of it.
03:00Your body calms our ferial episodes.
03:03Your blood works as a pain repressor.
03:05Beyond that, you have zero value.
03:08Caspin climbed off me and wiped his hands on the sheet.
03:11Basically, you're a sedative the two of us share.
03:13You think you actually deserve the mate title?
03:17My hands were shaking.
03:19Shaking so badly I couldn't grip the sheets.
03:21Three years.
03:22Three full years.
03:23I had skipped meals to buy herbs for Damien's pain relief tonic.
03:28I had pricked my own fingers with a sewing meal to feed him my blood for the remedy.
03:32I had told myself that if I was good enough, useful enough, he would eventually claim me in front of
03:38the pack.
03:39My mate.
03:40My alpha.
03:41I had believed I was his future Luna.
03:44Turns out, I was never anything more than a tool he was too ashamed to mention.
03:49Next week, Serena will officially become the pack's Luna.
03:52She's from the Blackwell bloodline.
03:54Pure lineage.
03:55Powerful wolf form.
03:56The entire pack already believes she's my mate.
03:59Damien stood and adjusted his cuffs.
04:00He said it the same way he would read a memo.
04:03I won't correct them.
04:04Serena.
04:05A complete stranger was going to wear the Luna crown that should have been mine, and I wouldn't even be
04:11allowed to sit and watch.
04:12Damien walked to the door and glanced back.
04:15You will attend the ceremony.
04:17His eyes swept over my bruised, marked body.
04:20There was no guilt in his gaze.
04:22No disgust.
04:23Nothing at all.
04:25You'll kneel in the last row of the gallery, with the servants.
04:28You'll bow to the new Luna.
04:30And if you make a scene, or if Serena or anyone else finds out you're my mate.
04:35He didn't finish the sentence.
04:37He didn't need to.
04:39Caspi had cut in.
04:41He bent down and patted my sweat-dripped face.
04:44I'll rip your tongue out myself.
04:47Little waste.
04:48The door closed.
04:50The room went dark.
04:53I curled up on the crumpled sheets.
04:56Every part of me felt crushed.
04:57The tears wouldn't come.
04:59Not because it didn't hurt.
05:00Because it hurt too much.
05:02So much that even crying felt pointless.
05:04I was their fated mate.
05:06I was supposed to be this Pax Luna.
05:08And I couldn't tell a single soul.
05:10I didn't know how long I lay on that bed.
05:13My thighs were still sticky.
05:15The air reeked of two alphas pheromones mixed together.
05:19So thick it made my stomach turn.
05:22My phone buzzing woke me up.
05:25A message from my neighbor in the gray sector.
05:27Five words.
05:29Nana's is not going to make it.
05:31I jumped off the bed barefoot and ran out the door stepping over the mess on the floor.
05:36The shack in the gray sector smelled of blood.
05:39Heavy, rotten blood.
05:40Nana was curled up on her worn out mat.
05:42Dark blood was seeping from the corners of her mouth.
05:45And her nostrils her body was seizing.
05:47Jerking and sharp violent spasms.
05:49Nana!
05:49I dropped to my knees beside her scrambling to wipe the blood away.
05:53But it kept coming.
05:54The pack doctor was already packing up his kit ready to leave.
05:57The wolf spide has reached her bones.
05:59He barely glanced at her.
06:01Unless you can get alpha blood for the antidote, she's done.
06:04Alpha blood.
06:05My mate.
06:07My alpha, at least in name.
06:08His blood could save her life.
06:10But he wouldn't even acknowledge that I existed.
06:12I closed my eyes and reached for the thin thread of the mate bond between me and Damien.
06:16That bond had worn down to almost nothing after three years of one-heighted draining.
06:20But it was still there.
06:22No matter how much he despised me.
06:23A mate bond was the moon goddess Mark.
06:25As long as both of us were alive, it couldn't be broken.
06:28Damien, please.
06:29Just one drop of blood.
06:31Nana is dying.
06:33The link went quiet for two seconds.
06:35Then Serena's sugary voice bled through the mind link.
06:38Damien, look at this one.
06:41Don't you think the least neckline is prettier than the last dress?
06:48And then Damien's voice.
06:51So gentle, I almost didn't recognize it.
06:55They all look beautiful.
06:58You look beautiful in anything, my Luna.
07:00My Luna.
07:01He had never once called me that.
07:03I was his mate.
07:04But that title, those two words, he gave them to a woman who had no fated bond with him at
07:09all.
07:09I screamed through the link.
07:11Damien!
07:13I'm begging you!
07:15Shut up.
07:15That wasn't Darmien.
07:16It was Caspian.
07:17His consciousness slammed into the link with open disgust.
07:21Using the old woman for sympathy again?
07:24Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?
07:26An alpha's mate living in the gray tech tour, crying and begging.
07:31If word gets out, how do you think that makes us look?
07:34It's not an excuse.
07:36She's really bleeding out.
07:37Enough, Ivy.
07:38Damien's voice came back.
07:40Colder than the night wind.
07:42Today is Serena's dress fitting.
07:44As the future Luna, every moment of her day matters more than whatever crisis you've invented.
07:49Stop acting crazy.
07:50The link was severed from his end.
07:53The backlash hit me instantly.
07:55Pain exploded inside my skull.
07:57I grabbed my head and collapsed.
07:59My ears ringing so loud I couldn't hear anything else.
08:02By the time I pulled myself off the floor, Nana had stopped seizing.
08:06Her hand was cold.
08:07She was looking at me.
08:09She reached into her shirt with shaking fingers and pulled out an old whistle carved from bone.
08:14She pressed it into my palm.
08:15Then her lips moved.
08:17No sound came out.
08:18Just a shape.
08:20Run.
08:20Her hand dropped.
08:21I held her body as it went stiff.
08:23I couldn't cry.
08:24Not because I didn't want to.
08:26The moment the link had been cut, it felt as though something inside me had been severed too.
08:31My tears along with it.
08:34Outside, the pack loudbeater was playing Serena's recorded message on a loop.
08:39Everyone is welcome to attend my ceremony with Damien.
08:43Next week, I will officially become the pack's Luna.
08:46Luna.
08:47That seat was supposed to be mine, but I didn't even have the right to fight for it.
08:51Fighting required being acknowledged first, and I was not even allowed to exist.
08:56Some time passed.
08:57The door opened.
08:58Cold air rushed in.
08:59I squinted against it.
09:00A tall figure stood in the doorway, wearing a tattered cloak.
09:04Every nerve in my body went tight.
09:06I shot to my feet and stood in front of Nana's body.
09:09Who are you?
09:10He didn't answer.
09:11He looked at the body on the floor.
09:13Then at me.
09:14Then he walked to the corner, picked up the shovel leaning against the wall.
09:17He lifted Nana's body onto his shoulder and carried her outside.
09:21I think I understood what he was going to do.
09:23He dug a hole in the frozen ground behind the hill, filled it in.
09:27Set up a plank of wood as a marker.
09:29Why are you helping me?
09:31I asked.
09:32Six months ago, in the alley behind the market, you saved my life.
09:36He turned and disappeared into the dark.
09:39I stood in front of the fresh grave, gripping the bone whistle Nana had left me.
09:43The sharp edges of the bone had cut into my palm.
09:45That was when I felt it.
09:47A tiny flutter deep in my belly.
09:49Something stirring in my blood.
09:51Faint and timid.
09:52Nudging against my skin from the inside.
09:54I pressed my dirt covered hand against my stomach.
09:57Two.
09:57Two faint heartbeats.
09:59I was pregnant.
10:00Carrying my Alpha's children.
10:03Funny, wasn't it?
10:04He refused to claim me as his mate.
10:06But he had left his bloodline growing inside me.
10:11In the distance, the main house was blazing with light.
10:15A golden countdown sign for the wedding was glowing on the front porch.
10:20I knew Damiathian Cassibian would never let these children be born.
10:24A secret mate they treated as a tool found to be carrying their pups.
10:27That wasn't just a scandal that would make the entire pack question Serena's Luna status.
10:32They would kill these babies the same way they had killed every last shred of my dignity.
10:37Without blinking, I had already lost Nana.
10:40I would not lose them too.
10:42I looked down at the bloodstained bone whistle.
10:45I thought about the cloaked wolf who had just buried Nana for me.
10:49I raised the whistle to my lips and I blew it with everything I had left.
10:56The whistle's sound didn't carry far.
10:58The winter wind swallowed it whole.
11:01Nobody came.
11:02Not that night, at least.
11:04Three days later, the night before the Luna coronation,
11:08two guards dragged me out of my shack in the Grey Sector
11:15and shoved me into the servants' changing room in the pack's main house.
11:19Put this on.
11:21One of them tossed me a grey linen robe.
11:24Tomorrow you stand in the last row of the gallery, with the servants.
11:27You kneel and bow to our new Luna.
11:29No looking up, no talking, no looking at the Alpha.
11:31I took the rough fabric and said nothing.
11:34What a joke I was this Pax Alpha's fated mate.
11:37The Luna crown should have been on my head.
11:39Instead I would be wearing slave clothes kneeling on the ground
11:41watching a woman with no mate bond sit in my seat.
11:46The door locked behind me I crouched on the floor.
11:49One hand pressed against my belly without thinking three days in those two heartbeats.
11:54Had grown a little stronger, tiny stubborn.
11:57Pushing outward, the door swung open.
12:00Not a guard, Serena.
12:01She wore an ivory velvet robe, her hair loose, her feet in satin slippers.
12:07Two personal attendants trailed behind her.
12:10So you're Ivy.
12:12She tilted her head and looked me over.
12:14The wolf-less waist from the Grey Sector?
12:16She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose.
12:19You smell disgusting.
12:21I have no idea why Damien even knows someone that pathetic.
12:25Her eyes narrowed, studying me.
12:28I kept my head down.
12:29I didn't dare speak.
12:32If she found out I was Damien's real mate,
12:35Casserbyn had promised to rip my tongue out.
12:37Serena didn't push further.
12:39Her gaze dropped to my neck,
12:41where Nana's bone whistle hung on a cord.
12:45That's interesting.
12:47She reached out without warning and ripped the cord off my neck.
12:52Give it back!
12:53I jumped to my feet and grabbed for it.
12:56The slap knocked me back to the ground.
12:58Serena shook out her hand,
13:00then held the whistle up and studied it.
13:02She smiled.
13:03Do you know Dead Man's Valley?
13:05That ravine behind the hill?
13:07The one full of bones?
13:09I'm going there tomorrow morning for a purification ritual
13:13before the coronation.
13:15She spun the whistle between her fingers.
13:21I'll toss this filthy thing down there for you.
13:24Consider it the future Luna cleaning up the trash.
13:28Tonight, you stay on your knees right here.
13:31You don't get up until I say so.
13:33She turned and walked out.
13:35I stayed kneeling on the cold stone floor.
13:38Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.
13:41The next morning, I ran to Dead Man's Valley.
13:43It was a deep ravine cut into the far side of the hill.
13:46The rock walls on both sides were streaked with old dried blood.
13:49I dug through the rubble at the mouth of the valley,
13:51tearing through loose stones and broken bones.
13:53My fingers were sliced open.
13:55Blood dripped onto the rocks.
13:56I knew you'd come.
13:58Caspian's voice came from behind me, amused, entertained.
14:01Before I could turn around, something cold wrapped around my ankle.
14:04A silver-laced chain.
14:05The second the silver touched my skin white, smoke hissed up from the contact point.
14:09The burning pain hit me so hard it felt as though someone had pressed a red,
14:13hot iron against my bones.
14:14I screamed and collapsed.
14:16Caspian gripped the other end of the chain and dragged me across the rough stone.
14:20Ground 10-15 feet, maybe more the skin on my back.
14:24My arms and my shins shredded against the rocks.
14:27K-silver dust ground into the open wounds.
14:29The pain was so intense I couldn't breathe, but I kept both hands over my stomach.
14:34I didn't let go once Damien was standing nearby.
14:37He was dressed for the coronation black suit white shirt.
14:40Without a single wrinkle his mate was being dragged in front of him torn apart by silver chains.
14:44And his face showed nothing he could have been watching.
14:47A stray mutt on the roadside.
14:49Ivy.
14:50He spoke his tone was flat official.
14:53From this moment, I formally sever the mate bond between us.
14:57You don't deserve to be my mate.
14:59You don't deserve to be this Pax Luna.
15:01You never did.
15:05Every word landed on me with the force of a blade splitting open my chest.
15:09The moment the mate bond snapped something deep inside my soul was ripped away.
15:13The pain was beyond anything I had ever felt worse than the silver burning through my flesh.
15:18A thousand times worse.
15:20The mark the moon goddess had carved into my soul the day I was born.
15:23He crushed it with his own hands.
15:25Throw her down.
15:27Damien turned around and straightened his cuffs.
15:30The ceremony's about to start.
15:32Serena is waiting.
15:33Caspian hauled me by the chain to the edge of the cliff.
15:36Then he kicked me in the back.
15:38I didn't scream on the way down.
15:40I hit the bottom of the valley and felt three ribs snap.
15:44My left shin bent at an angle that shouldn't have been possible.
15:47The silver chain was still wrapped around my ankle.
15:50Still burning.
15:51The stench of rotting bones filled my nose and mouth.
15:54Through my blurring vision, I saw something white.
15:56Nana's bone trussel wedged in a crack between two old bones.
16:00I dragged myself toward it with my one working hand.
16:03Inch by inch.
16:04Until my fingers closed around it.
16:06The moon carvings on the bone whistle began to burn.
16:09Scorching hot.
16:11The heat poured from my palm into my veins.
16:14Flooding through my limbs.
16:15Rushing up my spine.
16:17Slamming into the top of my skull.
16:19Something cracked.
16:20A seal.
16:22My back arched off the ground.
16:24A sound ripped out of my throat.
16:26That did not belong to a human.
16:28The bones scattered across the valley floor blew outward from the force of it.
16:32My eyes turned solid gold.
16:35I got to my feet and started walking toward the pack square.
16:38The coronation was already underway.
16:41Thousands of wolves were gathered around the altar.
16:43Torchlight flickering across their eager, reverent faces.
16:48At the center of the altar, Serena stood draped in a white Luna ceremonial robe.
16:52She was walking slowly toward the Moonstone.
16:54A sacred rock that had stood for a thousand years.
16:56The stone only responded to a true mate.
16:58Only the Alpha's fated mate could make it glow confirming the Luna title.
17:02Everyone was waiting for that moment.
17:04Damien and Caspian stood on either side of the altar.
17:07Black suits.
17:07Gold crests.
17:08Their Alpha Oris pressed down on the crowd.
17:10Their faces were calm.
17:11Everything under control.
17:13When Serena's hand touches the Moonstone, she will officially become this Pax Luna.
17:18The Elder's voice rang across the square.
17:20Serena raised her hand.
17:21Her fingertips were less than an inch from the stone.
17:25The stone exploded.
17:27No warning.
17:28The massive white rock split down the middle with a blood-red crack, then shattered completely.
17:34Ash rained down across the square.
17:37The stone had rejected her, because she was not the mate.
17:41The stone knew.
17:43The Moon Goddess knew.
17:45Screams erupted across the square.
17:47Serena stubbled back two steps, her whole body shaking.
17:51She stared at the ash on her fingers.
17:54What happened?!
17:58Damien shot to his feet.
18:00For the first time in public.
18:02His composure cracked.
18:04Nobody could answer him.
18:05Because the full moon above them changed color.
18:07The white light bled red, inch by inch, until the entire moon hung in the sky the color of fresh
18:13blood.
18:13A blood moon.
18:14The Elder's legs gave out.
18:16He collapsed to the ground.
18:17This is the Moon Goddess's punishment.
18:22She rejected Serena.
18:25Because the Alpha's true mate is not her.
18:30The crowd erupted.
18:32Damien and Caspian both went rigid.
18:34Then the real horror began.
18:36The entire pack's mind link was hijacked, forced open.
18:41Every single wolf in the pack, from the lowest Omega to the highest ranking Alpha, had the same vision explode
18:47inside their heads at the same time.
18:49They saw me, Damien's fated mate, being passed between him and his twin brother.
18:55Used.
18:56Discarded.
18:56They saw me on my knees, begging the Alpha for a single drop of blood to save my dying Nana.
19:01And the answer that came back was,
19:03Today is Serena's day.
19:05They saw me chained at the ankle, with silver-laced links dragged across jagged rock for fifteen feet.
19:12Skin shredded.
19:13Bone exposed.
19:14And they saw Damien standing there in his spotless white shirt, his face completely blank, saying,
19:21Throw her down.
19:22The ceremony's about to start.
19:23Serena is waiting.
19:26Every wolf in that square now understood the truth.
19:29For three years, their Alpha had hidden his fated mate in the Grey Sector.
19:33He had used her as a pain repressor and a tool to relieve his rut.
19:36Then he had handed the Luna Throne to a woman who had no mate bond with him at all.
19:40Thousands of wolves grabbed their heads at the same time.
19:43Some threw up on the spite.
19:45Young pups burst into screaming sobs.
19:48The adults stared at the twin Alphas on the altar.
19:51The awe was gone from their eyes.
19:53All that was left was disgust, fear, and doubt.
19:58Who did this?
20:00Damien roared.
20:01His Alpha aura blasting outward at full force.
20:04Who hijacked the pack link?
20:09His aura of the wall.
20:11An invisible wall that was 10,000 times heavier than anything he could put out.
20:15It was coming from Dead Man's Valley.
20:18Every pair of eyes turned toward the hill.
20:21The ground was shaking.
20:22A low rumble at first.
20:24Then harder.
20:25The stone tiles under their feet cracked apart.
20:28I stepped out of the fog in my wolf form.
20:31Pure white.
20:33It was my first shift.
20:35My body was barely holding together.
20:37But my wolf was two full sizes bigger than any Alphas.
20:41And that was enough to freeze every wolf in the square.
20:44The elder dropped flat on the ground.
20:47His voice broke apart mid-sentence.
20:49Moon.
20:50Moon Goddess's daughter.
20:52White Wolf Bloodline.
20:54She is.
20:55She has always been.
20:58The Alpha's true mate.
21:00The real Luna.
21:02I walked onto the shattered altar and swept my gaze across the thousands of terrified faces below.
21:08Then, I locked eyes with Damien and Caspian.
21:11Both of them dropped to their knees at the same time.
21:14They didn't choose to.
21:15Something buried deep in their blood.
21:17Something that overrouded every Alpha command.
21:20Forced their bodies down against their will.
21:22Their knees slammed into the broken stone.
21:25Caspian fought it.
21:26Veins bulged in his neck.
21:28His teeth ground together so hard I could hear it from where I stood.
21:31He couldn't lift a single finger.
21:33Damien's face had gone white.
21:35Deep inside his soul, the mate bond he had severed with his own hands was tearing back through him.
21:40Every ounce of pain I had felt when he cut me off was hitting him now.
21:44Multiplied.
21:46He raised his head.
21:48His eyes were shot through with red.
21:51Ivy?
21:52He finally recognized me.
21:54I didn't answer him.
21:55I turned and looked at Serena.
21:57She was backing away.
21:59Clutching her hand.
22:01Her face frozen in disbelief.
22:03But I wasn't focused on her face.
22:05My nose had caught something.
22:08A faint scent drifting from her sleeve.
22:10Witching herbs.
22:12Black thornberry extract.
22:14Odorless and tasteless.
22:15Long-term use created a false sense of mate bond dependency in alphas towards a specific person.
22:20I shifted back to human form.
22:23Elder.
22:24Check what your future Luna has been hiding in her sleeve.
22:28My voice was quiet, but every wolf in the square heard it.
22:32The Elder was still on the ground.
22:34But two enforcers had already rushed forward.
22:38Serena screamed and stumbled backward.
22:40Don't touch me!
22:42I'm the Luna!
22:43Damien!
22:44Do something!
22:48Nobody listened.
22:50An enforcer ripped her sleeve open.
22:54A small vial of thick black liquid rolled out and hit the stone tiles.
22:59The cat popped off.
23:02A sharp, sickly sweet smell spread across the square instantly.
23:07The Elder's face went green the second he caught the scent.
23:13Black thornberry.
23:15This is a witching drug!
23:19She has been drugging the Alpha!
23:22That is why he bonded with a woman who has no mate bond with him.
23:26It was never fate.
23:28It was the drug!
23:30Dead silence.
23:31Then the square exploded.
23:41Serena's face went from white to gray.
23:43She turned to Damien.
23:44Her lips trembled.
23:45Damien, you believe me?
23:46I didn't.
23:47I would never...
23:48Damien didn't look at him.
23:49He was on his knees in the rubble, drenched in sweat, his eyes locked on me.
23:52Seize her.
23:53The Elder's voice came from behind.
23:55On the charge of treason, Serena Blackweck is to be detained immediately.
24:01Two enforcers grabbed Serena by the arms and dragged her away.
24:05She thrashed and fought, the screams cutting through the night.
24:08Damien!
24:09You said you loved me!
24:12You said I was your Luna!
24:14Damien didn't move.
24:16I looked down at the two of them, both still on their knees.
24:19Honestly, I could barely stand.
24:21The first shift had drained almost everything I had.
24:24The two heartbeats in my belly were pounding hard,
24:27protesting everything I had just put my body through.
24:29But I held on long enough to look Damien in the eye.
24:33You told me I didn't deserve to be your Luna.
24:35Now you know the truth.
24:37You were too blind to see it.
24:39Someone drugged you, and you couldn't even tell what was real.
24:42But even without the drug, you never once looked at me.
24:45Did you?
24:46Damien's throat moved.
24:47He opened his mouth.
24:49I didn't let him speak.
24:50From today, you and I have nothing to do with each other.
24:53I straighted up and turned around.
24:55On my first step, my legs buckled.
24:58On the second, my vision went black.
25:01On the third, my knees hit the stone.
25:05I didn't hit the ground.
25:07Someone caught me.
25:08One arm wrapped around my waist from behind.
25:10The other hand cradled the back of my head.
25:12Steady.
25:12Precise.
25:13As if he had calculated exactly when my third step would give out.
25:16I caught a faint scent.
25:17Pine and frozen earth.
25:19Familiar.
25:19The cloaked wolf.
25:21Caspian finally broke free of the suppression and surged to his feet.
25:24Let her go!
25:25She's ours!
25:26Yours?
25:26The cloaked wolf's voice was calm, almost polite.
25:29But the moment he spoke, the temperature across the entire square dropped.
25:33An alpha aura far more terrifying than Damien's rolled outward.
25:37Every wolf in the square, including the twins, buckled.
25:40Not to their knees.
25:41Their legs just went soft.
25:42Pure instinct.
25:44Screaming at them to submit.
25:45The wind caught the edge of his cloak and pulled it open.
25:49Underneath was not rags.
25:50It was a black jacket.
25:52A silver wolf head crest was pinned at the collar.
25:55The elder's face changed instantly.
25:58That crest.
26:00That's the rogue king's crest.
26:03A wave of gasps swept through the square.
26:06The rogue king, leader of the largest exile alliance in the Northern Territories.
26:10He belonged to no pack.
26:11He answered to no elder council.
26:13His followers were the most savage cast-out alphas from every corner of the continent.
26:16Rumor said he had wiped out two mid-sized packs on his own.
26:19Rumor said his wolf form was pure black.
26:21As large as the ancient wolves.
26:23And this man was standing in the middle of their square.
26:26One arm around my waist.
26:28His other hand brushing the blood-mad hair from my face.
26:31Stay awake.
26:32You can't sleep yet.
26:33He looked down at me.
26:34His voice was low.
26:36My mind was barely hanging on.
26:39Are you here to repay a debt?
26:43My lips moved, but my voice was almost gone.
26:46Dally six months ago.
26:49All I did was pull you out.
26:51You don't have to.
26:53This isn't about a debt.
26:54He pulled me closer.
26:56I'm here to take you home.
26:58Damien got to his feet.
26:59The calm was gone from his face.
27:02What replaced it was something I had never seen on him before.
27:06Panic.
27:07His voice was raw.
27:09She's my mate.
27:10She belongs to this pack.
27:12You have no right-
27:13Excuse me?
27:14The rogue king lifted his gaze.
27:16His eyes were pure black.
27:17No light in them at all.
27:19You severed the mate bond yourself.
27:21You threw her into Dead Man's Valley.
27:23She's free now.
27:25On what grounds do you claim she's yours?
27:27Damien had nothing to say.
27:29Caspian charged forward.
27:31Don't you dare play games with me!
27:33The rogue king didn't even glance at him.
27:35He tilted his head half an inch.
27:37A black wolf shadow shot out from behind him.
27:39So fast, the human eye could barely track it.
27:42Caspian's body flew twenty feet through the air and slammed into the wreckage of the altar.
27:46Blood sprayed from his mouth on impact.
27:49Nobody in the square moved.
27:50The rogue king looked down at me.
27:52He pulled off his black cloak with one hand and wrapped it around my body.
27:56The cloak was huge.
27:58It covered me almost entirely.
28:00It smelled of pine and frozen earth.
28:02It was warm.
28:03Let's go.
28:04He said.
28:05I had no strength left to answer.
28:07But my fingers found the edge of his cloak and held on.
28:10I didn't let go.
28:12He carried me and turned towards the hills.
28:14Thousands of wolves parted to make a path.
28:17Not one of them dared to step in his way.
28:19Damien stood where he was.
28:20He watched another alpha carry me away.
28:23His hands were clenched into fists.
28:25His nails had broken the skin of his palms.
28:30Blood dripped between his fingers.
28:33But he couldn't take a single step.
28:35His wolf was howling inside him, slamming against his consciousness.
28:39The remnants of the mate bond were burning through his soul.
28:42He had severed it himself.
28:44Now the backlash had come.
28:46The crackling of a fire woke me up.
28:48I opened my eyes.
28:50Rough wooden beams crossed the ceiling above me.
28:53The air smelled of burning pine resin and faint herbal medicine.
28:57I was lying on a bed covered in thick animal pleps.
29:00My wounds had been treated.
29:02The silver burns were covered in dark green salve.
29:05My broken ribs were wrapped and stabilized.
29:08My left shin was splinted tight between two wooden blades.
29:12I moved my fingers.
29:14Two faint fluttered came from my belly.
29:17Still there.
29:18They were still there.
29:19The tears hit me all at once.
29:21I had held it together in Dead Man's Valley.
29:23I had held it together on the altar.
29:26But now, finally, I broke.
29:31You're up?
29:32The door opened.
29:33The rogue king walked in carrying a bowl of hot soup.
29:36He had changed into clean clothes.
29:38No military jacket.
29:40Just a plain black long-sleeved shirt and worn jeans.
29:43His hair was tied back loosely.
29:45He didn't look anything close to the terrifying rogue king.
29:48He could have passed for a regular alpha who had just walked out of the kitchen.
29:52Where am I?
29:52The Northern Territories.
29:54My territory.
29:55He set the bowl on the wooden stool beside the bed.
29:58You're safe.
29:59I stared at the soup.
30:01Why should I trust you?
30:02You don't have to.
30:03He leaned against the doorframe.
30:05Arms crossed.
30:06But right now you've got three broken ribs, a fractured left leg, silver burns all over
30:11your body, and two pups in your belly.
30:14Where exactly do you think you'd go?
30:15I opened my mouth.
30:17Everything he said was true.
30:21Drink the soup, he said.
30:23It's not as good once it gets cold.
30:25I hesitated.
30:26Then I picked up the bowl.
30:27Bone broth.
30:28Thick and rich, with chopped herbs mixed in.
30:31Slightly bitter.
30:32But the warmth hit my stomach and my whole body loosened up.
30:35What's your name?
30:36I asked.
30:36Ronan.
30:37That's it?
30:38No last name?
30:39No pack?
30:40Rogues don't have packs.
30:42His voice was even.
30:43I was exiled from my original one.
30:45Why?
30:46Killed someone I shouldn't have.
30:47He didn't explain further.
30:49I didn't push.
30:51We sat in silence for a moment.
30:53You know I'm pregnant?
30:55I looked at him.
30:56I can smell it.
30:58Two of them.
30:59And you're not worried about the trouble?
31:00Taking in another Alpha's mate?
31:02Pregnant with his pups?
31:04Damien won't let this go.
31:05Ronan glanced at me.
31:07His black eyes held no complicated emotions.
31:10Just calm.
31:11When you saved me in that alley six months ago, did you know I was the Rogue King?
31:16No.
31:16Then why did you do it?
31:18You were dying.
31:20Exactly.
31:21He nudged the soup bowl toward me, telling me to keep drinking.
31:25Same reason.
31:27I lowered my head and buried my face in the steam rising from the bowl.
31:31The tears mixed with the hot broth and I swallowed them both down.
31:36Two months later, I gave birth to two pups in Ronan's cabin in the Northern Territories.
31:41The delivery nearly killed me.
31:43My body was already weak.
31:45The silver poisoning made it worse halfway through.
31:48I passed out completely.
31:50One of Ronan's healers delivered them.
31:52When I woke up, two tiny bodies were curled against my chest.
31:55A boy and a girl.
31:57The boy had gray-blue eyes.
31:59Damien's eyes.
32:00The girl had a faint ring of gold around the edge of her pupils.
32:03The same gold my eyes had turned when I shifted.
32:06They were so small.
32:08So small that I was afraid a single turn in my sleep would crush them.
32:13Ronan was standing in the doorway.
32:15Arms crossed as usual.
32:16Got names picked out?
32:17The boy is Asher.
32:19The girl is Selene.
32:21Selene?
32:22He raised an eyebrow.
32:24I knew what he was thinking.
32:25Luna.
32:26The title that had been taken from me.
32:28That's not why.
32:29I pressed a kiss to my daughter's forehead.
32:31It means moonlight.
32:33The moon was shining through the window when she was born.
32:36Ronan didn't say anything.
32:38He walked over and looked down at the two pups.
32:40Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out two small braided cords.
32:44He tied one around each of their ankles.
32:47Northern Territories tradition.
32:49He said.
32:49Any pup born on my land is under my protection.
32:53Nobody takes them.
32:55Not for any reason.
32:57I looked up at him.
32:58You know Damien will come for them eventually.
33:01I know.
33:02He's not just any alpha.
33:03He has an entire PAX army behind him.
33:06I know.
33:07And that doesn't scare you?
33:09Ronan tilted his head down.
33:11The firelight reflected in his black eyes.
33:13Twelve PAX have put a bounty on my head at the same time.
33:16His voice was casual, as if he were talking about the weather.
33:20One more won't make a difference.
33:22Damien found us on the day the pups turned one month old.
33:25He had actually located the Northern Territories a month earlier.
33:28But Ronan's wolves had driven every one of his scouts back.
33:31This time he came himself.
33:33No army.
33:34Just him and Caspian.
33:35They were standing in the snow outside the cabin.
33:38Both of them looked terrible.
33:40Damien had lost at least 20 pounds.
33:42His cheeks were hollow.
33:44His skin was gray.
33:45And his lips were cracked.
33:47The mate bond backlash had been tearing him apart for months.
33:50Caspian wasn't much better.
33:52His left arm was strapped to his chest.
33:55Word was that Ronan's wolf had broken it at the altar.
33:57And it still hadn't healed.
33:58I stood behind the window, holding Selina in my arms.
34:02Asher was asleep on the bed.
34:04Ronan had his back to me, sharpening a hunting knife.
34:07He didn't look up.
34:08Want to see them?
34:09No.
34:12Then I'll go run them off.
34:14Wait.
34:15I hesitated for one second.
34:18Then I put Selina down, pulled on a jacket, and opened the door.
34:22Damien saw me and froze.
34:24His eyes went to my face first.
34:25Then they swept down over my body.
34:27I wasn't the starving skeleton from the gray sector anymore.
34:31The food in the Northern Territories was good.
34:33Ronan's herbal remedies had done their job.
34:36My skin had color again.
34:38My body had filled out.
34:40My eyes were bright.
34:42Then his gaze locked onto a spot near my chest.
34:45I hadn't brought the pups outside with me.
34:48But he could smell them.
34:50Milk.
34:51And underneath it, a bloodline scent identical to his own.
34:55Ivy.
34:56His voice cracked.
34:57You were pregnant?
34:58No.
34:59You had them.
34:59You had our pups.
35:01I didn't answer his question.
35:03What do you want?
35:04To bring you home.
35:05Home?
35:06Back to being your drug?
35:08Your sedative?
35:09Back to kneeling in the gray sector where nobody can see me?
35:12No.
35:13Damien stepped forward.
35:15I found out the truth.
35:17Serena had been dosing me and Cassian with Black Thornberry for three straight years.
35:20The things I said to you.
35:22The things I did.
35:24Half of that was the drug controlling me.
35:26Half?
35:27I smiled.
35:28What about the other half?
35:29Damien's lips moved without sound for a moment.
35:32The other half was my own prejudice.
35:34And my own cowardice.
35:35His voice dropped so low I almost couldn't hear it.
35:38I know an apology means nothing.
35:39I don't deserve your forgiveness.
35:41But those pups, they carry my blood.
35:44Let me be clear.
35:44My voice went cold.
35:46They are my children.
35:48Not yours.
35:50You wanted them dead before they were even born.
35:52Have you forgotten?
35:56At the edge of Dead Man's Valley, you told Caspian to throw me down.
36:00You said the ceremony was about to start.
36:03You said Serena was waiting.
36:06That wasn't me.
36:07That was the drug.
36:09You just told me the drug was only half.
36:11Damien looked gutted.
36:12Every bit of air seemed to leave his body.
36:14Caspian stepped forward.
36:16We can make it up to you.
36:17Make it up to me?
36:18I turned to him.
36:19You told me you'd rip my tongue out.
36:21You dragged me across rocks for 15 feet with a silver chain and now you want to make it up
36:24to me?
36:25Caspian opened his mouth.
36:26Closed it.
36:27He had nothing.
36:28Go home.
36:29I step back and grip the door handle.
36:31The bond between us is gone.
36:33I have no pack.
36:34I have no alpha.
36:36And I don't need one.
36:37My children are protected.
36:39You don't need to worry about them.
36:41I shut the door.
36:43Outside, the snow kept falling.
36:45They didn't leave right away.
36:47They stood in the snow outside the cabin for the entire night.
36:50The next morning, Ronan opened the door and looked at them.
36:54You leaving or not?
36:55Damien lifted his head.
36:56Frost clung to his eyelashes.
36:58His lips had turned purple from the cold.
37:00Let me see the pups.
37:03Just once.
37:04Ronan turned and looked at me.
37:05I was holding both pups.
37:07I looked down at Asher, S. Gray, blue eyes.
37:10Those eyes were identical to Damien.
37:12S. I was quiet for a long time.
37:14One minute.
37:15Damien S. steps were careful when he walked in.
37:18He was trying not to wake anyone.
37:19He saw Asher and Selene.
37:22Two tiny pups, nestled together in a fur blanket.
37:25Sleeping soundly.
37:27Damien raised his hand.
37:28He reached toward Asher's face.
37:31His hand stopped in midair.
37:33His fingers were trembling.
37:34He didn't T-touch him.
37:36He pulled his hand back and took a step away.
37:42His voice was barely there.
37:44Fragile in a way I had never heard from him before.
37:46Then he turned and walked out of the cabin.
37:49At the doorway, Caspian had seen them too.
37:51The man the entire pack called the Rabid Dog was standing in the snow, staring at the two
37:57small babies inside.
37:58His eyes were red, but he said nothing.
38:01They left.
38:02They disappeared into the Northern Territory's blizzard.
38:05Ronan shut the door and tossed two logs into the fire.
38:08They'll be back.
38:09He said.
38:10I know.
38:11What are you going to do?
38:12I looked down at the two pups in my arms.
38:15Selene yawned in her sleep.
38:16A tiny, perfect yawn.
38:19Asher's small hand was wrapped around my finger, gripping tight.
38:23I don't know, I said honestly.
38:25But I'm never going back.
38:27I looked up at Ronan.
38:28Firelight played across the side of his face.
38:31He didn't offer any comforting words.
38:33He just nodded.
38:34Then he pulled a small blanket from the cabinet and laid it over Selene.
38:38Winter's are rough up here.
38:39He said.
38:40Can't let the pups get cold.
38:41Outside, the blizzard had stopped.
38:44Moonlight broke through the clouds and spread across the snow.
38:47I pulled both children a little closer.
38:49For some reason, I thought of Nana.
38:52The shape her lips had made right before she died.
38:55Run.
38:56Nana.
38:57I made it out.
38:58I didn't know what would come next.
39:01Damien wouldn't give up.
39:02Neither would Caspian.
39:04Their blood was in my arms.
39:06Their obsession was carved into their bones.
39:08But I wasn't the same waste from the gray sector anymore.
39:12I had my wolf.
39:13I had my children.
39:14From today on, I was just Ivy.
39:16The white wolf.
39:17And I had my own life to protect.
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