Eason, one of Moon ridge’s most celebrated young warriors, sent me the ninety-fifth proof of his betrayal.

A Memory Stone, a moon-etched crystal that records scent, sound, and image.

Inside it, Eason and Nancy his so-called “cousin”were tangled together in a way no blood-kin ever should be.

The first time he betrayed me was at our own bonding feast.

Nancy had just returned from the Southern Wolf Academy. She ran straight into his arms… and kissed him.

The second time on our seventh anniversary.

Eason stepped outside to answer a messenger wolf, and five minutes later, someone slipped me a Memory Stone showing the two of them lying on the same fur bed.

And on and on it went.

This time, the 95th time they betrayed me, was on our very wedding day.

Eason disappeared from the clan’s ceremonial grounds without a word.I stood there in a white gown, looking like a fool, apologizing to the guests for the groom’s sudden “emergency.”

Then my pouch vibrated softly—another Memory Stone.

Moon-fireworks burst across the image.

Nancy leaned against Eason’s bare chest, eyes fixed on the crystal.Like she was daring me to react.

I ripped off my veil and threw it in the trash. Pulled off the ring that never quite fit right. Wiped my tears, smiled through the ache, and told everyone Eason must’ve had a good reason.

Once the crowd had cleared, I cried in my mother’s arms.

Then, for the 95th time, I forgave Eason.

What he didn’t know was… I was counting.

I was waiting for him to betray me until the hundred and first time.

That’s how many times he’s proposed to me over the years.

That’s the day I’ll leave him for good.

But then when I finally accepted an arranged union and became promised to a northern chieftain…

why was Eason suddenly the one on his knees, begging me to stay?

I watched him leave, disappearing between the pines.

When he was gone, I wiped my face and touched the rune-etched summoning feather I hadn’t used in years.

“I changed my mind,” I said quietly. “Is it too late?”

When the answer came—“No”—

I began saying goodbye to Eason in my heart.

‘I don’t want to be the bride in a wedding like this, Eason. And I certainly don’t want a man like you to be my husband!’

……

He returned late that night hours after vanishing on our wedding day.

He tried to make it up to me, pulling me close, kissing me gently… like we were still in love.

And for a moment, I let myself soften.

I sank into his arms until a howl-call rang from the crystal at his belt.

“Eason,” Nancy’s voice sang through the echo rune,

“My ascension celebration is starting! Everyone’s waiting for you!”

Eason gave me a sorry smile as he grabbed his shirt.

“I have to go,” he murmured. “It’s her big night.”

I didn’t answer.

Just watched him leave.

Again.

Three years ago, Nancy had moved to the far western cliffs for training, and since then, my relationship had steadily rotted.

She always called at the worst moments.

Always needed him when it would wound me most.

Eventually, she moved into our den, claiming issues with her pack mates.

And after that, she didn’t even pretend anymore.

She’d stroll into our sleeping chamber without knocking.

More than once, Eason and I scrambled to cover ourselves under her smug stare.

At first, Eason tried to set boundaries.

But somehow… she became part of “us.”

Every ceremony.

Every milestone.

She was always there.

And somewhere along the way, she became more important than I was.

Like today.

One howl from Nancy, and my wedding was abandoned.

Eason left me at the altar because Nancy “needed” him at her celebration.

Spirits help me I was the woman carrying his child.

Seven weeks along.

Not long after he left, an anonymous raven delivered another Memory Stone.

Inside it, I watched my groom and Nancy wrapped around each other under a sky painted with moon-fireworks.

It didn’t take long for the scene to spread among the clans.

Eason was the golden boy of the warrior ranks every move he made was watched.

And this was no exception.

I stared at the stone, smiled bitterly… and felt nothing.

I closed my eyes and counted.

Ninety-six.

I couldn’t remember when the pain stopped when numbness took its place.

But I knew one thing.

At one-hundred-and-one, I will walk away.

He’d proposed to me that many times.

The last one was three months ago right after I learned I was pregnant.

I’ll endure 101 betrayals… because that’s how many it will take to kill what remains of my love for him.

It was nearly dawn when Eason finally returned.

He slid into bed behind me, arms curling around my waist.

His scent reached me.

Vanilla.

Nancy’s perfume oil.

“Babe,” he whispered against my neck,

“I promise… I’ll give you the wedding you deserve. Grand. Perfect.”

His hands drifted down my back, pulling me closer.

Usually, I’d melt.

But tonight, his breath made my stomach twist.

I inhaled slowly, then pulled away.

“No mating tonight, Eason,” I said, voice flat.

“The healer warned it could harm the baby.”

He went still.

In the dark, the silence between us felt colder than winter.

Then he pressed a kiss to my forehead.

“Rest, love.”

The next morning, I woke to a cold, empty space beside me.

Eason was gone.

And a messenger hawk was perched at my window.

It carried images—mist-blurred visions captured by a stone Eason in the bathing springs.

Even with the steam, I recognized the body I once loved.

And the long scar across his sculpted abdomen the one he earned protecting me from a knife years ago.

I wiped a tear from my cheek.

Never let anything hurt me, huh?

Then what is all of this?

Still, like a fool, I sought him out.

Today was my pregnancy check with the tribe’s healer.

The least he could do was show up for his child.

I didn’t expect him to answer but I didn’t expect Nancy to answer the rune-call instead.

“Oh! Hi there, my future sister-in-law,” she chirped.

“Eason’s still asleep. He exhausted himself making my night perfect.”

I hung up without a word, fingers icy.

When I turned back to the healer, the words slipped out of me.

“I don’t want this child anymore.”

And I don’t want Eason either.

I didn’t return to my own den after the healer examined me.

Instead, I took a moon-cart down the ridge path and went straight to my parents’ lodge.

My mother opened the door, took one look at my face, and her expression tightened like a bowstring.

“Where’s Eason? He didn’t go with you to the check-up?”

I shook my head.

“Mother… I don’t want to keep the baby.”

She seized my hand and pulled me to the hearth side bench, already reaching for her summoning crystal.

“Is this because of those clan-marked bark sheets everyone is passing around?”

Two latest tags were carved deep and bold:

[#WolfGodOfTheArena’sChosenMate]

[#LangfordFireworksBondingRomance]

Every surface of the clan message boards was etched with the same images—Eason and Nancy wrapped around each other beneath a sky of star-fire.

He looked like a carved war deity broad shouldered, scarred, intimidating.

And she? Small, delicate, moon-pretty.

Together they looked disgustingly perfect.

I didn’t answer.

I just stared at the stone floor.

Mother scoffed.

“That boy… he’s really something. He hasn’t even publicly claimed you yet and you’re supposed to marry him soon! Spirits above—I’m calling him right now!”

I reached over and caught her wrist before she touched the crystal.

“Mother,” I said, meeting her gaze.

“I’m not marrying Eason.”

She lurched to her feet as if I’d struck her.

“Are you out of your mind? You’re carrying his pup and now you say you won’t wed him? If word spreads, our family will be shamed across every ridge!”

She jabbed a finger toward my stomach.

“And don’t forget—he promised to perform the clan trade rites for us for free. If you end this, who’s paying for a top-rank warrior’s endorsement ritual?”

A bitter laugh scraped my throat.

Her voice… her priorities…

It all exhausted me as much as Eason’s empty vows.

This is my family, I thought.

They only agreed to the engagement after Eason became famous in the arena.

Back when he was a nameless trainee fighting in dust pits, they barely remembered he existed.

I used to think parents were meant to love you.

Protect you.

But to them, I was simply… a bargaining token.

Mother suddenly stepped aside and called him anyway.

“Eason? Hi, sweet boy—yes, Sophia is here. You should come take her home. She’s pregnant, you know how sensitive and moody females get. Just bear with her, alright? I talked some sense into her. She won’t trouble you anymore.”

When she ended the call, she dragged me back to the bench like I was a runaway wolf pup.

“Sit. He’ll be here soon.”

Her hands locked around my arms like shackles.

Fifteen minutes later, Eason arrived with a large bouquet of night-bloom petals.

But they weren’t large enough to hide the faint red scratches on his neck.

“Babe, I’m sorry. I should’ve gone with you to the healer, I know. But the War Chief summoned me—there’s a major trial match coming. I couldn’t skip training. Please don’t be upset. I swear I’ll be there for every check-up from now on.”

He smelled like vanilla.

Nancy’s perfume oil.

There is no ‘from now on,’ Eason, I told myself silently.

“I brought you a new moon-silk pouch,” he added brightly, holding out a pastel-pink satchel woven with delicate runes, as if it would fix everything.

I didn’t reach for it.

I’ve never liked pink.

I wear black. Always.

But Nancy?

Yes. This was exactly her style.

My mother snatched the pouch before I could reject it and practically pushed me into his arms.

“Go with Eason. And don’t forget, dear—your ad ritual is tomorrow!”

We had barely stepped inside our shared lodge when his crystal rang.

Nancy, of course.

“Eason! See? I told you she wasn’t mad anymore! Didn’t I tell you the satchel would work? You owe me—it was my pick! I have great taste. That’s why she forgave you!”

When he hung up, my own message crystal pulsed.

I lifted it.

The same satchel.

Same color, same runes.

Then another image two hands intertwined.

Hers wearing a diamond so large it caught even the moonlight.

My eyes drifted down to my own bare ring finger.

I inhaled slowly.

Just one last time, I promised myself.

The moon-cart slowed to a halt before our den, yet Eason made no move to step out.

I frowned at him. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking strangely hesitant.

After a moment, he cleared his throat. “There’s this… thing. Nancy’s spirit-dance circle needs a ceremonial battle-sphere for their graduation performance. I thought maybe she could borrow the one we have.”

The battle-sphere.

The one I gave him when the war council nearly expelled him from training.

The one he carried into the final trials that carved his name into clan history.

The one he clutched afterward, promising he’d keep it forever—because it came from me.

Now he wanted to hand it over as a prop for Nancy’s celebration.

He waited for my reaction.

I nodded. “No problem.”

Relief washed over him instantly. He pulled me into a hug—until I turned my face away before he could kiss me.

His smile flickered. Only for a heartbeat. Then he straightened.

“If it’s urgent, why don’t you bring it to her now?”

The light returned to his face like someone had reignited a torch. He grabbed the sphere and practically bounded toward the exit.

“Once Nancy’s graduation is over,” he called back brightly,

“we’ll finally have our mating ceremony. I swear no more delays this time!”

I smiled and said nothing.

Because I knew our wedding would never happen.

As his cart rolled away down the ridge path, I pressed a hand to my belly.

“Little one… forgive me,” I whispered.

“I once vowed to give you a happy life. But it seems I’m going to break that promise. Please don’t hate your mother.”

On the way to the healer’s hall, the moon-cart slowed near the entrance—and that’s when I saw her.

Nancy. Standing outside the maternity wing, arms folded, lips curled.

My breath stilled. My hand flew protectively to my belly.

Then, through the open hallway, I caught a glimpse of him.

Eason.

His stride. His shoulders. I knew them as well as my own heartbeat.

Before I could react, my message crystal pulsed. I opened it—and my world dropped away.

Dozens of rune-recordings.

Dim lighting. Bare skin. His body. Her sounds.

Their faces were out of frame, but it didn’t matter.

I knew the shape of his back, the flex of his muscles, the rhythm of his breathing.

Her whisper of his name between gasps felt like a blade.

It was the kind of intimate recording meant to shame or inflame.

I didn’t blink.

Even though I had long known there was no blood relation between Eason and Nancy—that everything forbidden had already happened—I still felt my heart crack, raw and tender, when it was thrown so nakedly before me.

I wiped my tears quickly.

When I looked up, she was staring directly at me.

Her gaze was sharp, triumphant.

That’s when I knew.

She sent them.

Every recording. Every image.

She wants to replace me as Eason’s mate. Fine. She can have him.

I completed my check-up, walked outside, and descended the steps…

A cart came barreling toward me.

I instinctively stepped back, but before I could move farther, a hard shove sent me forward—straight into the path of the rushing beast.

I slammed onto the cart’s hood before collapsing on the stone pavement.

Pain erupted through my leg like lightning. My body curled protectively around my belly.

But my right leg twisted grotesquely beneath me.

The agony pulsed with every breath—sharp, electric, unbearable.

Then her voice cut through the ringing in my ears.

“Ouch! Ouch! My ankle! Eason, help me!”

I twisted my head.

Nancy stood there like a victor basking in her triumph, pretending to clutch her perfectly fine ankle.

Now I was certain.

She was the one who pushed me.

Moments later, Eason arrived, his eyes darting between us—confused, hesitant.

Nancy burst into tears like a helpless child.

“Eason, that cart almost hit me! I tried to pull Sophia back, but she shoved me toward it! Look—my ankle!”

Eason’s brows knitted as he looked at me.

My shattered leg was hidden beneath my long skirt; he likely didn’t understand why I was on the ground at all.

He merely sighed.

Then he turned—to pick Nancy up in his arms.

As she rose, her foot swung out and struck my shin—directly where the bone had broken.

White-hot pain exploded up my body.

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood and swallowed every scream.

Inside my mind, I only counted.

One hundred.

Eason… this is it. Let’s never see each other again.