- 10 hours ago
The Beta Chose Her Son Over Mine Part 1
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:02Serena, is this how you raise our pup?
00:05Top line, in her careful handwriting.
00:08I'm alive! And you let her write like I'm dead!
00:12And threw the bundle of wildflowers onto the stone table.
00:15I didn't teach her that. She wrote it herself.
00:18Lucian clenched his jaw, grabbed the journal like he was going to tear it apart.
00:22He stared at Nora's handwriting for a long moment, then set it back down.
00:25He had no idea. This wasn't even close to the first time Nora had written him dead.
00:30Ever since he took fallen packmates widow Lyra and her son to the honor quarter,
00:34this man had stopped existing in our pup's world.
00:37The honor quarter, the section of our pack, reserved for the families of fallen pack members.
00:41Pack law granted Lucian, as beta, the duty of overseeing her welfare.
00:45But he had gone too far. I didn't say anything. Just watched him. Cold.
00:50Nora heard the noise and came out of her room.
00:52She had on her worn sleeping furs. Stayed behind me. No running up to call him dad.
00:57No crying from his rage. She just looked at Lucian with calm.
01:01Lucian's breath caught. All that rage seemed to lodge in his throat.
01:05Pushed down his temper. And pulled a wrapped bundle from his pack.
01:10Nora, come here.
01:11Dad passed the trader's post today. Got you the shift training kit you've been asking for.
01:17Your first guided shift is next moon cycle, isn't it?
01:21Come on. Try it on.
01:25That training kit Nora had pressed her face against the trader's display case to stare at it for three moons.
01:31Lucian always said next time.
01:33In pack law, a pup's first shift must be guided by her dad.
01:37Without his presence, the shift was not only incomplete, it was dangerous.
01:41Any other day Nora would have howled with joy.
01:43But now, Nora didn't move.
01:52Sighing, Lucian knelt down and held out a hand to her.
01:56His signal stone pulsed. Reflex.
01:59He grabbed the stone and pressed it.
02:02Lyra, what's wrong?
02:04Lucian, I'm so sorry to call again.
02:07But Kai's wolf sickness flared up.
02:10He's howling for you. I can't calm him alone.
02:12I stood listening to that tired, familiar routine.
02:15But Lucian's face changed.
02:17No hesitation.
02:19Serena, watch Nara. Kai's condition is critical. I have to go.
02:22The door closed.
02:23He said it like it was the most reasonable thing in the world.
02:26He didn't even look back at his daughter.
02:28Nora walked over and looked down at the training kit on the rug.
02:30Then she picked it up and dropped it into the fire pit.
02:34Mom, dead dad can't guide a shift, right?
02:38My chest split open.
02:39The pain hit so hard I could barely breathe.
02:42Right.
02:43After Nora fell asleep, I sat alone in the study.
02:46Opened the bottom of my healer's chest.
02:48Inside lay a sealed blood oath scroll.
02:50I am a blood gifted healer.
02:52For Lucian, I had turned down three summons from the Hypax Healing Council.
02:56But I was done drowning in this.
02:58Fifteen days from now, the last day to answer the blood oath.
03:01In fifteen days, Nora and I would leave this pack.
03:05As if he never existed in our lives at all.
03:13Countdown, day ten.
03:14I had just finished a six-hour emergency healing session on a pack warrior.
03:18I dragged myself home.
03:20Our door was open.
03:21I walked in fast.
03:22My blood went cold.
03:24Two wolves were carrying something out of Nora's training room.
03:26Her blood, anchor stone.
03:28I had spent a lot to commission that stone for Nora's fifth naming day.
03:32The pack's stone carver had etched her name into it during a full moon rite.
03:35It was anchored to our territory's sacred ground.
03:38Nora polished it every morning.
03:40She pressed her palm to it before sleep.
03:42Careful.
03:43Don't chip the edges.
03:44That stone holds a blood reed.
03:49Lucian.
03:50What are you doing?
03:52A flicker of guilt crossed his eyes.
03:54Gone fast, replaced with that usual righteousness.
03:57Don't make this harder than it needs to be.
03:59Lyra is moving Kai into new quarters.
04:01The pack healer said having an anchor stone would help stabilize his wolf sickness.
04:05He paused.
04:06Lyra can't commission one her own.
04:08Nora can just lend it to Kai for a while.
04:09I listened to his logic and almost laughed.
04:12Use your own pup's anchor stone to help another woman's son.
04:15I believed he never once thought to ask Nora.
04:17I pulled out my memory mirror and pressed it to the scene.
04:21What are you recording for?
04:25Evidence.
04:27This stone was Nora's.
04:29Transferring it outside our bloodline without consent gives me the right to record this.
04:41Serena, when did you become this cold?
04:44That is Zayn's son.
04:45Zayn died saving my life.
04:47It's just a stone.
04:49You're really gonna be this petty about it?
04:53There.
04:54That covers the commission cost.
04:57Go have the carver make Nora a smaller one.
05:04I stood in Nora's empty training room and felt the air leave my lungs.
05:09Nora came home from her lessons not long after.
05:15The place where the stone had sat for years was empty.
05:18Nora didn't cry.
05:19Even didn't ask where it went.
05:21She walked back to her room.
05:22Picked up her journal and opened it to a new page.
05:25She picked up her quill and wrote carefully.
05:27Title.
05:28My dead dad took my blood anchor stone with him.
05:30I stood in the doorway watching my pup's thin shoulders.
05:33Eyes burning.
05:35A projection from Lyra.
05:37In the image, Kai sat beside the blood anchor stone.
05:40Grinning wide.
05:41Zayn watching over us from above.
05:43Kai finally has a stone to call his own.
05:46Thank you to our dearest Beta Lucian for giving us the strength to keep going.
05:51I stared at that image for a long time and opened my healer's ledger.
05:54Transferred the full bond payment on the new house in the other pack's territory.
06:01Right after the transfer, Lucian sent a message.
06:05Once Kai is stable, I'll take Nora to the mid-season gathering next week to make it up to her.
06:10Stop teaching her to hold grudges.
06:11I looked at the words make it up and felt nothing but content.
06:15No reply.
06:16He didn't know.
06:17There was no next week.
06:24Countdown.
06:25Day 3.
06:25Today was the pack's annual pup gifting ceremony.
06:28Once a year, every pup was brought before the pack elders to have their gifts assessed
06:32and recorded in the pack's bloodline registry.
06:35A pup whose gift was formally recognized gained standing in the pack.
06:38Their names were inscribed beside their abilities for all to see.
06:41For a pup like Nora, who carried a rare double bloodline.
06:45This was everything.
06:46I sat beside her and held her small, sweaty hand.
06:49My chest ached.
06:50I knew he wasn't coming.
06:52A pup's always hope.
06:53Nora whispered.
06:54Mom.
06:55Dad promised he would be here for my gifting.
06:57I said nothing.
06:58Just held her hand tighter.
07:0010 minutes before the ceremony began.
07:02My signal stone pulsed.
07:04Lucian.
07:04The rogue patrol ran long.
07:06I can't get away.
07:07Tell Nora.
07:08I am sorry.
07:08Same excuse.
07:09Same broken promise.
07:10I turned the stone face down on my lap.
07:13Didn't tell Nora.
07:14Probably held up at the rogue pack.
07:16The ceremony moved along.
07:17Now, we record the gift of our most remarkable pup this season.
07:22Nora's hand tightened around my fingers.
07:24The gift to be registered.
07:26It was Nora.
07:27She had bled for months to draw that form out of herself without Lucian.
07:30Every training session.
07:31Every bruise.
07:32Every night she collapsed from exhaustion.
07:34I built toward that one image.
07:36Mom.
07:37That's mine.
07:38I smiled and began to nudge her toward the elder's dais.
07:41Please welcome the gifted pup, Kai Hayes.
07:44Nora's face froze.
07:46Bottom of the projection.
07:47The name read Kai Hayes.
07:48Not Nora Cole.
07:49Her shift form.
07:50Someone else's name.
07:55Nora stood there.
07:57Mouth open.
07:57No sound coming out.
07:59Why is that girl standing?
08:00They called Kai.
08:01Nora heard.
08:02She sat back down.
08:03Head dropped.
08:05I clenched my fist and walked straight to the family seating area.
08:10Lyra was standing, adjusting Kai's collar.
08:12Smiling.
08:13Lyra!
08:14Stop right there!
08:15She looked up, smiled still on.
08:18Oh, Serena.
08:19You're here too.
08:21That shift form is my daughter's!
08:23Why does your son have his name on it?
08:26Serena, don't be upset.
08:28Lucian handled this himself.
08:30I didn't know anything about it.
08:32But honestly, Serena, does it matter whose gift it is?
08:36What matters is who Lucian wants to put on a pedestal.
08:40Your pup can train until she bleeds and it doesn't change the fact that Lucian doesn't
08:44care about you two.
08:46You can be as angry as you want.
08:48Nothing changes.
08:49I looked at her face and slapped her.
08:51You have no shame.
08:53Lyra's head snapped to the side.
08:55She cried out.
08:56I grabbed her arm to drag her to the elders.
08:58Someone shoved me hard from the side.
09:00I stumbled back several steps and hit a stone bench with my lower back.
09:04I looked up.
09:05Lucian.
09:06He had Lyra and Kai behind him.
09:08Lucian, it hurts.
09:09So much.
09:10Don't blame Serena.
09:11It's my fault.
09:12I shouldn't have let Kai accept this registration.
09:17Serena, what is wrong with you?
09:19You look completely unsinged right now.
09:21Lucian, Nora trained for months for that gift.
09:24You registered her shift from under Kai's name.
09:26Nora can rely on me.
09:27Kai grew up without a father.
09:29He needs this recognition to find his place in the pack.
09:32Zane died saving me.
09:33I helped his son.
09:35What's the problem?
09:37You're impossible!
09:38Impossible.
09:39My daughter's gift was stolen.
09:41Her months of blood and exhaustion were handed to another child.
09:45I went to set it right, and her own father shoved me to the ground for another woman.
09:49I closed my mouth.
09:54Kai is here today because of his wonderful godfather, Beta Lucian Cole.
10:00He has been more than family to us.
10:03Mom?
10:04A voice behind me.
10:05I turned.
10:06Nora stood a few feet away.
10:08Nora.
10:09I reached for her.
10:11Nora stepped back.
10:14Mom.
10:15Let's go.
10:16Nora's face was tight.
10:18Holding back tears, she refused to let fall.
10:21No more fighting.
10:23There was no point arguing with a man who had chosen to be blind.
10:26Back home, Nora sat in her room for a long time.
10:30Then she opened her journal and wrote a new entry.
10:33Dad gave away my innate gift to someone else.
10:37I moved our departure two days earlier.
10:40I could not stay in this pack one moment longer than I had to.
10:50The day before we left, I took Nora to the pack market to gather last supplies for the journey.
10:56Nora held my hand.
10:57She stopped outside a food stall.
10:59I followed her gaze through the crowd.
11:01Lucian.
11:02He was carefully cutting a piece of roasted meat, blowing on it to cool it, feeding it to Kai.
11:07Lyra sat beside him, smiling like she had everything.
11:10Run, happy family.
11:11I watched it and almost wanted to laugh.
11:14This was what his emergencies always looked like.
11:16Mom, isn't Dad supposed to be on patrol?
11:18A lie caught in the open.
11:20Ridiculous.
11:21And pathetic.
11:22I let out a cold laugh and turned to leave with Nora.
11:25Then a war horn split the air.
11:27A second later, the market's outer wall exploded inward.
11:30Rogues.
11:31A full raiding path.
11:32Pouring through the breach in the stone.
11:34People screamed and surged toward the inner gates.
11:40Nora!
11:41I shouted.
11:43I grabbed for her hand on instinct.
11:45But the crowd was wild.
11:46No direction.
11:47My hand was empty.
11:49By the time I got back up, smoke from the burning stalls had spread across the market square.
11:54I searched through the crowd.
11:55Through the black smoke, I spotted Nora.
11:57She had fallen behind an overturned cart, blocked by a collapsed market frame.
12:01Then a figure broke through the smoke.
12:04Lucian.
12:04He was moving fast.
12:06Blade drawn.
12:06Cutting a path through the fleeing crowd.
12:09He saw Nora.
12:10He saw his pup trapped behind the cart.
12:12From the other side came Lyra's scream.
12:16Lucian!
12:17Help!
12:17Kai is pinned under a fallen beam!
12:24Lucian went rigid.
12:25He turned back.
12:26Eyes locking on his own pup, just feet away.
12:29Nora, don't move!
12:30Dad is getting Kai out first, then coming back for you!
12:34And I watched him, and run toward another woman and her child.
12:37He pulled Kai free, and pushed Lyra toward the inner gates.
12:41In the worst moment of my life, he left his own pup behind.
12:45I watched, bit through my lip until I tasted blood.
12:48He left her with a promise to come back.
12:50In the rolling smoke, Nora watched the direction Lucian disappeared, her small body completely still.
12:56She stopped crying, stopped calling out.
12:59Slowly, she let the hand covering her nose drop.
13:02Let the smoke fill her lungs.
13:03A tear slid down her cheek.
13:06Mom, Dad went to save someone else.
13:09Pack law says a father protects his pup above all others.
13:12But I don't have a father anymore, so the law doesn't count for me.
13:16Those words broke through my last wall.
13:18Nora!
13:22Mom's here!
13:24I grabbed a healer's kit from the rack and started on Nora myself.
13:30After a long while, I finally stepped outside and collapsed onto a bench.
13:35I pressed my hand to my chest.
13:37Found the thread of the mate bond still there.
13:40Faint and fraying, I closed my eyes.
13:42But I severed it.
13:43The pain hit like a blade through the ribs.
13:45But I didn't make a sound.
13:47Lucian, you have lost us for good.
13:54Two hours later, Lucian ran into the healing tent soaked in sweat, face smeared with ash.
14:01Serena!
14:02What happened?
14:03How is Nora?
14:04Lucian!
14:05My head hurts so much!
14:08Kai won't stop crying!
14:10He's asking for you!
14:12Please go check on him first!
14:15Let me go!
14:16My pup is in there!
14:19Every time she cried, Lucian gave in.
14:22But this time...
14:30Nora.
14:32Nora.
14:33Serena.
14:34Due to smoke damage combined with severe shock to the blood bond, her wolf voice is gone.
14:39She cannot produce a howl.
14:40No.
14:41She cannot shift.
14:41No!
14:42No!
14:49Healer.
14:51What did you just say?
14:53My pup never stops howling.
14:55She sings in her sleep.
14:57Why is this happening?
14:58It's all my fault!
15:00Oh no!
15:07The healer didn't answer him, just patted my shoulder.
15:10I walked silently into the inner chamber.
15:13No crying.
15:14No red eyes.
15:16Serena.
15:18Hit me.
15:19Scream at me.
15:20Whatever you need.
15:21I didn't know the rogues would breach so fast.
15:24I thought I had time.
15:25No accusation.
15:26No yelling.
15:29Nothing left to say.
15:31Lucian was shut out.
15:34Lucian pressed his palm flat against the window, mouthing her name over and over.
15:39Nora didn't cry.
15:40She looked at him for two seconds, turned her head.
15:43The blood bond between a pup and her father, severed at last.
15:52Pack duty.
15:54He was needed back immediately to file the rogue breach report.
15:58Lucian had to leave.
15:59Lyra scrambled after him.
16:01The second he was gone, I moved fast.
16:04Cancelled every record tied to this pack.
16:07Midnight.
16:08I carried Nora out through the eastern border gate.
16:10Nora walked beside me once we cleared the tree line, watching the territory lights fade behind us.
16:15The farewell was done.
16:24Dawn.
16:25Lucian had been up all night finishing his report.
16:28He ran back to the healing tent.
16:36No US.
16:37Just a healer collecting used dressings.
16:40Where are they?
16:41Where is my maids and my pup?
16:44Serena took her daughter out at midnight.
16:47You're too late, Lucian.
16:55The mother-daughter's sleeping furs by the hearth were gone.
16:59The matching clay cups on the stone table were gone.
17:03The herbs drying on the window ledge had been cleared away, belonging to me and Nora was gone.
17:08He walked into Nora's room.
17:10Nothing left.
17:11Number one thing.
17:12On the floor where the blood anchor stone used to sit, in the middle of those four worn marks, lay
17:16a small journal.
17:17Nora's journal.
17:24Lucian dropped to his knees and grabbed it.
17:26Six words scratched into the cover.
17:28Father's death log.
17:29Lucian opened to the first page.
17:31Neat.
17:32Careful handwriting.
17:33Day one.
17:34Auntie Lyra called.
17:35Dad left.
17:36No one was there when I tried on my training kit.
17:39Dad was killed in battle.
17:40Lucian's eyes went red.
17:41He remembered screaming at Serena.
17:44Throwing the training kit on the floor.
17:45Slamming the door without once looking back at his daughter.
17:50He turned to the second page.
17:52Day five.
17:53Pack family witness day.
17:55Every other father came.
17:56I waited a long time.
17:58Dad died at the widow's quarter next door.
18:01Third page.
18:03Day 925.
18:05The anchor stone in my room was taken away.
18:07Mom spent a lot to get it for me.
18:09His love went with it.
18:11Lucian's hands cramped.
18:12He turned page after page.
18:14Every page was a debt he owed.
18:16A blade he had put in his own pup's hands.
18:18And used to cut her open.
18:20He reached the last entry.
18:21The ink was blurred.
18:23Clearly hit by something wet.
18:24There was a rogue attack at the market.
18:26Dad said wait.
18:27He went to save Pup.
18:28I watched him carry someone else out through the swing.
18:30Toaday.
18:31Dad turned to ash completely.
18:33Ghosts don't come back to save anyone.
18:42He stayed on his knees in the empty room for a long time.
18:47Then he got up and started sending messages to everyone.
18:50My mentor.
18:51My cohort sisters.
18:53Anyone who might know where we went.
18:55First message.
18:56My fellow senior healer.
18:58Please.
18:58Where did Serena go?
19:00Lucian.
19:01Serena accepted a post in another pack.
19:03Where is confidential?
19:05She asked me not to say.
19:06Message ended.
19:08He sent word to her closest friend.
19:10The reply came fast.
19:11Get lost.
19:12A piece of filth.
19:13Nora can't howl now.
19:14Do you understand what that means?
19:16Contact me again.
19:18And I will bring this before the pack.
19:19Elders myself.
19:20Lucian rode to the eastern border gate.
19:23Pulled the night watch records from the crossing log.
19:25On the memory mirrors projection.
19:27Me.
19:27Nora.
19:28On my hip.
19:29One pack on my back.
19:30Passing through the gate at midnight.
19:32Nora had her face pressed into my shoulder from the moment we entered until we disappeared
19:36into the dark.
19:37She never once looked back.
19:38No hesitation.
19:40He understood now.
19:42We were gone for good.
19:43That evening, Lucian came back to the empty house.
19:46He had barely sat down when the entry mark was pressed from outside.
19:54Lucian.
19:55I made your favorite stew.
19:58I'm here to take care of you.
19:59Lucian looked at her face.
20:01He used to see sadness and helplessness written there.
20:04Now his stomach turned.
20:10I made it out.
20:10Lyra saw Lucian was quiet.
20:13Lucian.
20:14Don't be so hard on yourself.
20:16Nora made it out, didn't she?
20:19You saved Kai.
20:23Zane would be grateful.
20:28I thought I was helping.
20:30Was I?
20:31Get away from me!
20:41Lucian, why did you push me?
20:46All he could see was Nora closing her eyes in the smoke.
20:50A few days later, he rode to the honor quarter.
20:53He had been covering Lyra's upkeep for months.
20:56He didn't announce himself.
20:59He knew the entry mark.
21:01Voices inside.
21:02A man's voice, laughing.
21:05Lyra on the bench, with a man he didn't recognize.
21:08On the table between them, stacks of gold coins.
21:20Lucian's quarterly stipend.
21:21The upkeep allowance he had been sending every moon cycle.
21:26When is that idiot Beta finally going to take you as his mate?
21:31The wolf sickness act is getting old.
21:34You have to fake it every single time.
21:36Take me as his mate?
21:38Why bother?
21:38His mate left.
21:39He's drowning in guilt.
21:40If I push for a bond right now, it'll backfire.
21:43As long as A's name holds, I keep the tears ready.
21:46He's my permanent gold source.
21:47You're cold.
21:49The rogue attack was serious, and you still made him save your pup first.
21:53Heard his actual pup lost her voice?
21:55That little brat should have choked in the smoke.
21:57She had it coming.
21:58Her mother always walking around like she's above everyone.
22:01Lucian's a fool.
22:02I said two words about Kai being scared, and he left his own pup behind.
22:05A male like that deserves to lose everything.
22:12Every word shredded what was left of Lucian's dignity.
22:16The wolf sickness was fake.
22:17All the helplessness was a performance.
22:20Everything he had believed was noble, and right had just been a mark getting bled dry.
22:24Lucian stood outside shaking.
22:26He thought about carrying Nora's anchor stone out for these people.
22:29About registering Nora's gift under Kai's name at the gifting ceremony.
22:33About turning his back on his pup in the smoke.
22:35About Nora's dead eyes watching him go.
22:37He could barely stand.
22:38The old hymn would have kicked the door in.
22:40Not this time.
22:41He went completely still.
22:42Stepped back from the door.
22:43Rode straight to the pack law keeper.
22:45I want to file a formal complaint.
22:47Fraud.
22:48Falsified illness records.
22:50Someone has been collecting pack resource under false pretense.
22:53After he left the law keeper, Lucian went back to the pack records chamber.
22:57He opened the ledgers and spent all night pulling together three years of transfers,
23:01messages, and falsified healer reports.
23:03He cut off every escape route Lyra had and destroyed his own standing doing it.
23:08When it was done, Lucian stood alone in the dark chamber.
23:11He raised his hand and struck himself ten times.
23:14Hard, his lips split.
23:16His cheeks swelled.
23:17He couldn't feel any of it.
23:22Three days later, the pack held its annual honors assembly.
23:25The great hall was full.
23:26Every elder.
23:27Every ranked member.
23:28Every family with a fallen warrior.
23:30The hall hadn't been this full in years.
23:32Lyra sat in the front row, in the seat reserved for honored widows.
23:35Today she was to speak on behalf of the fallen members' families and receive the pack's annual condolence tribute.
23:41A large sum, set aside from the communal stores.
23:44Her face was arranged into grief.
23:46Her eyes couldn't quite hide what was underneath.
23:48We now call Beta Lucian Cole to present the condolence tribute to Lyra Hayes.
23:54The hall gave a slow, respectful acknowledgement.
23:56Lucian walked to the front step by step.
23:58He did not pick up the tribute pouch.
24:00Lyra stood, composed, and moved toward the dais.
24:03She had her speech ready.
24:05Her tears were ready.
24:06Lucian swept the hall.
24:07I do have something for Lyra Hayes today.
24:10But it is not a gift.
24:11A projection filled the air above the assignment.
24:13Lyra's voice, clear and cold, echoed through the great hall.
24:17Take me as his mate.
24:18Why bother?
24:19A male like that deserves to lose everything.
24:21All the vicious words Lucian heard that day became solid evidence.
24:28The moment the projection sounded, the hall went dead silent.
24:31Then erupted.
24:33Pack members turned on Lyra, where she stood.
24:35The air in the hall changed completely.
24:37No!
24:38That recording is false!
24:40Lucian, listen to me!
24:41I was threatened!
24:43That man forced me to say those things!
24:45The hall doors opened.
24:46Lyra Hayes, you are formally charged with fraud against the pack.
24:49Falsification of illness records.
24:52And deliberate manipulation of a ranked beta to breach his sworn duty to his blood pup.
24:56Iron binding cups locked around her wrists.
24:59Every mask she had worn collapsed at once.
25:02Lucian, don't stand there playing the honorable male now!
25:04Did I force you to leave your pup behind?
25:06You left your own pup in that smoke yourself!
25:09You will never wash that off!
25:14Every word landed exactly where it was meant to.
25:17She was right.
25:17Lyra was just an outsider.
25:19A predator who found a mark.
25:20The one who handed the weapon to her.
25:22The one who used it on his own pup.
25:24That was him.
25:25Lyra was dragged out of the hall.
25:26Her pack standing was stripped on the spot.
25:28Her name removed from the honor quarter records.
25:31Kai, with his mother facing formal charges and his wolf sickness confirmed as never having existed,
25:36was taken into pack ward care.
25:38The assembly ended without ceremony.
25:40Lucian stood alone in the emptying hall.
25:42He slowly removed his beta insignia.
25:44Unpinned it from his chest.
25:45He walked to the senior elder, bowed deep, placed the insignia in her hands.
25:49I don't deserve to hold this rank anymore.
25:51Stripped of every title, every standing, every piece of his identity,
25:56Lucian walked out of the great hall, carrying one thing only.
25:59The need to find us, and face what he had done.
26:05Two years later, a pack territory near the southern coast, inside the largest gathering hall in the region,
26:11I was leading a cross-pack healing council.
26:14Good morning, everyone.
26:15Thank you for being here.
26:17He the willed the Smenstraits.
26:18Senior healers from seven territories filled the hall.
26:21Four Istis was Maury S. von der Gwey.
26:23The council ended to a standing acknowledgement from every healer in the room.
26:26Nobody in that hall knew that two years ago I had walked out of a territory with nothing.
26:31In the very last row, Lucian sat with a beard grown out.
26:34Two years of searching.
26:35He had crossed half the known territories.
26:38Spent everything he had.
26:40Taken labor work and supply runs to keep moving.
26:43He had aged a decade.
26:45He didn't dare approach.
26:48Turned and left before I could see him.
26:50Late afternoon.
26:52Outside, a pup training ground on the edge of the territory.
26:56Lucian's eyes burned.
26:57The shadows that used to live in her face were gone.
27:00He couldn't stop himself.
27:02Nora!
27:03Nora!
27:04Dad's here!
27:09He reached out, wanting to hold the daughter he had missed every single day.
27:14Nora stopped.
27:15Lucian reached for her through the blood bond on instinct.
27:18Nothing.
27:19No frequency.
27:21No pull.
27:22No trace of his own blood in her at all.
27:25Only pure unfamiliarity.
27:27Like looking at someone she had never seen before.
27:31There is a stranger approaching me.
27:38The tutor stepped forward immediately, placing herself between Nora and Lucian.
27:43What do you want?
27:45Our pup says she doesn't know you.
27:47Step back now or I call the law keepers.
27:57Lucian froze.
28:00He watched his daughter's hands as she signed.
28:05The hands that used to press against the anchor stone every morning.
28:08Those hands now only spoke in silence.
28:11And what they said was,
28:13I don't know him.
28:14The cruelest punishment wasn't hatred.
28:17It was being erased completely.
28:19But Lucian understood now what the healer had not been able to explain two years ago.
28:23Nora wasn't silent because she couldn't howl.
28:27She had found the bond thread herself.
28:29The one connecting her blood to his.
28:31And she had cut it.
28:33A pup who severs her own blood bond to her father.
28:36The healers said it was impossible.
28:38No pup had the will for it.
28:41Nora had.
28:48Can you put some distance between this male and my daughter?
28:51He's frightened her.
28:53Serena.
28:55Lyra.
28:57Lyra is gone!
28:59I know what I did.
29:01I know all of it.
29:02Let me make it right, please.
29:05Even if you just let me watch from a distance.
29:17Sometimes a missed chance meant a farewell forever.
29:25Lucian returned to the house after sundown.
29:28Inside, the hearth was cold.
29:29He forced a bitter smile.
29:31Nothing was left.
29:32Only the marks remained.
29:33Lucian stopped in the doorway,
29:35staring at the four worn marks
29:37where Nora's anchor stone used to sit.
29:39For one breath, the room was not empty.
29:42Nora was five again,
29:44kneeling beside the stone,
29:45rubbing it with both hands.
29:47Dad, look! It knows me!
29:49Serena leaned against the doorframe, smiling.
29:52Don't distract her.
29:53She'll polish a hole through it.
29:55Nora looked back at him, proud and bright.
29:58Then you buy me a bigger one.
30:01Lucian reached out.
30:02His fingers closed on him.
30:05The memory vanished.
30:06The room was empty again.
30:08He turned too fast and struck the doorframe with his shoulder.
30:12No one came running.
30:12No small feet.
30:14No soft voice from the study.
30:16No Serena saying,
30:18Lucian, you're bleeding on my floor again.
30:20He walked into the main room.
30:22The stone table was bare.
30:24Once, Nora had spilled berry syrup across it
30:27and drawn wolf paws in the mess.
30:30Serena had scolded her for half a minute,
30:32then laughed when Nora stamped a sticky handprint onto Lucian's cheek.
30:36He touched the table.
30:38Cold stone.
30:39His hand shook.
30:45Serena.
30:46He said.
30:46The house swallowed her name.
30:48He looked toward the hearth.
30:49For a second,
30:50he saw Serena kneeling there,
30:52warming soup after patrol.
30:54Nora sat beside her,
30:55fighting sleep,
30:56refusing to go to bed until Dad came home.
31:00Dad's coming.
31:02Nora had mumbled.
31:03Serena had brushed hair from her face.
31:05He'd better.
31:06Lucian closed his eyes.
31:08When he opened them,
31:09there was only ash.
31:11He staggered back.
31:12As if the room had struck him,
31:14he had not lost a house.
31:15He had lost every night someone had waited inside it.
31:19A loose floorboard creaked under his boot.
31:21He looked down.
31:23Beside the hearth,
31:24half buried in gray ash,
31:26something blackened caught the firelight.
31:28Lucian bent slowly.
31:29A small metal buckle burned at the edges.
31:32The training kit.
31:33The words were still carved into it.
31:35For the first shift with Father,
31:37Lucian's knees hit the floor.
31:39This time,
31:40no one was there to hear the sound.
31:47Lucian packed before dawn.
31:48Or tried to.
31:50He opened the storage chest first.
31:52Empty.
31:53Serena's healer pouch was gone.
31:55Her bone needles were gone.
31:57The rolls of clean linen were gone.
32:00She had not fled in panic.
32:02She had chosen what mattered.
32:03He opened Nora's shelf next.
32:06Lucian stood there with both hands inside the empty shelf.
32:08What did you expect?
32:10He whispered.
32:12No answer.
32:13He moved to the hearth
32:15and picked through the ash.
32:16The burned training buckle went into his pouch.
32:19After that,
32:20the house gave him nothing.
32:21At last,
32:22he walked into Nora's room.
32:24The journal lay on the desk now.
32:26He had moved it there after reading it the first time.
32:28He had not dared put it away.
32:31Father's death log.
32:35Six words.
32:36A child's sentence.
32:38A father's grave marker.
32:39Lucian reached for it.
32:40His fingers stopped above the cover.
32:42He remembered Nora at three,
32:44sitting on his lap with a blank book.
32:47Write wolf.
32:48She demanded.
32:49He had guided her hand.
32:51W-O-L-F.
32:53She had shouted after every letter as if she had won a battle.
32:57Serena had stood behind them, laughing into her palm.
33:00She gets that stubbornness from you.
33:04No.
33:05Lucian had said it.
33:05From her mother.
33:06Nora had looked up.
33:07I get wolf from dad.
33:10He touched the journal now.
33:11The cover was rough under his thumb.
33:13Not anymore, he said.
33:14His voice broke on the last word.
33:16He wrapped the journal in cloth and placed it inside his pack.
33:19Then he added the burned buckle.
33:21That was all.
33:22A death log.
33:23A scrap of a gift she had burned.
33:25Nothing else belonged to him.
33:26Outside, the first light touched the empty yard.
33:29Behind him, the house waited.
33:31For no one.
33:31He stepped out and did not look back until the door shut.
33:34Then he saw the old beta cloak hanging beside the threshold.
33:37The insignia had been removed.
33:40Four tiny holes remained in the leather.
33:42He left it there.
33:43By sunrise, Lucian was walking toward the Oath Hall.
33:49Lucian had stood here a hundred times as beta.
33:52Doors opened.
33:53Ledgers turned.
33:54A Runekeeper appeared.
33:55You have no rank here, Lucian Cole.
33:59I need Serena's healer transfer route.
34:02The Runekeeper looked at him for a long moment.
34:06No.
34:08She left this pack with my pup.
34:10Serena left under a sealed blood oath summon.
34:13Then unseal it.
34:14A few wolves nearby turned.
34:16The Runekeeper's face did not change.
34:18Only her receiving pack, the High Healing Council, or Serena herself may break that seal.
34:23I was her mate.
34:25Was.
34:27Nora is my blood.
34:29The Runekeeper placed a pawn on the witness stone beside the ledger.
34:32Then call the thread.
34:35Call it.
34:37Lucian closed his eyes.
34:38He reached for the bond.
34:40For the small, silver pulse that had once tugged at him when Nora laughed too hard, cried too long, or
34:45woke from nightmares.
34:47Nothing answered.
34:48Nothing.
34:48The witness stone stayed dark.
34:55The stone hears no pup calling you father.
35:01She is hurt.
35:03That's why.
35:05Perhaps, but pain does not grant you right.
35:09Lucian's fist struck a fist.
35:10Fist struck a fist.
35:12Fist struck a fist.
35:28Serena's name was somewhere behind them.
35:30Nora's path was somewhere in those rooms.
35:33All of it was beyond his reach.
35:35He stepped back.
35:37Just a wave.
35:38At the threshold, the Runekeeper spoke again.
35:41Lucian.
35:43If Serena hid her trail from your pack, ask yourself why before you follow it.
35:49Lucian walked out into the morning.
35:51For the first time in his life, no door opened for him.
36:00Three weeks after I carried Nora across the eastern border, we reached Southreach Park.
36:05The sea wind cut through my cloak.
36:07Nora's hand was cold inside mine.
36:10Name?
36:11Serena Vale.
36:14And the pup?
36:15My daughter.
36:16Nora pressed closer to my side.
36:18Smoke damage.
36:19I pulled Nora behind me.
36:21Open the gate.
36:23Your pack called for me.
36:25You are the blood-gifted healer.
36:27I am.
36:28He did not look convinced.
36:32Neither did the Elder waiting inside.
36:35She was tall, silver-haired, and sharp-eyed.
36:39Southreach does not take in trouble from inland packs.
36:43Then send me away after I fail.
36:45Before she could answer, a horn split the door.
36:47A warrior was dragged through the inner gate.
36:49Black veins crawled up his neck.
36:51A rogue poison blade.
36:53Call Master Bellen!
36:54He's at the lower cliffs.
36:56The warrior convulsed.
36:57I dropped my pack.
36:58Move!
36:59No one moved.
37:00If he dies while you decide whether to trust me,
37:02that blood is yours.
37:03That was good.
37:03Have a good Allez!
37:04Have a good night.
37:08Go!
Comments
1