"Kael, are you truly going to be this cruel?"

Kael's face twisted with reluctance, but he turned away, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Just hand the token over to Mother first."

I laughed bitterly.

It tasted like ash in my mouth.

What kind of wolf had I chosen to bind myself to?

My hand trembled as I raised it, pointing toward my satchel.

"Behind our bonding portrait..."

Morwenna snatched my satchel with greedy claws. Inside lay the portrait of our small family—me, Kael, and our pup together.

She ripped the image out without hesitation and let it fall to the floor.

Just as I'd hidden it, the Moonblessing token gleamed behind the portrait.

"Finally found it!"

Vesper rushed forward immediately.

"Wait—verify the rune-marks first. Make sure she hasn't tricked us."

They examined it over and over, checking the sacred inscriptions multiple times before breaking into triumphant laughter.

"It's the real one."

I stared at them with hollow eyes.

"Can we take my mother to the healer-den now?"

Kael moved quickly to help my mother stand.

"Come, I'll drive the carriage."

Throughout the journey to the healer-den, Morwenna clutched the Moonblessing token as though it were her very lifeblood.

I held my mother's ice-cold hand, unable to stop the tears streaming down my face.

In the reflection of the carriage mirror, Kael drove with an expressionless face.

Morwenna was already counting heads.

"Twenty wolves in the pack. Five thousand resource shares each..."

Ronan spoke up eagerly.

"Can I get my portion now? I've had my eye on a new communication crystal..."

"What's the rush! We'll claim the full blessing at the Council Hall tomorrow!"

I closed my eyes.

All I could hear was the sound of their scheming.

My mother was rushed into the healing chamber.

My father sat in the corridor, holding Liri close on the stone bench.

The others chattered and laughed among themselves.

Vesper announced loudly.

"I want ceremonial furs—I've been eyeing a set for ages."

Ronan added.

"After the crystal, I can upgrade my hunting gear too."

Morwenna smiled indulgently.

"Fine, all of it is fine!"

At that moment, a healer's assistant approached with parchment.

"Family of Selene Ashvale—we need ten thousand resource shares as a deposit."

I turned to Kael.

"Half of that Moonblessing belongs to me through our mating bond. Transfer ten thousand to me first."

Kael froze.

In Morwenna's calculations, I had never existed at all.

Morwenna overheard and her brow furrowed deeply.

"Your mother's sickness is her own pack's burden. Why should my son pay for it?"

I looked at her coldly.

"So you're denying it now? Earlier you claimed the Moonblessing was shared property of mated pairs! I should receive fifty thousand!"

Morwenna planted her hands on her hips and laughed.

"This was my son's tribute of devotion to me. I've already distributed it."

Of course.

This was exactly the face I'd expected to see.

"Is this what you think too?"

Kael kept his head down, saying nothing.

I fixed my gaze on him.

"Put yourself in my place. If it were your mother lying in that chamber, what would you do?"

He still wouldn't lift his head.

After a long silence, he forced out a single sentence.

"I'm sorry, but I already promised Mother... I can't take it back now."

"Then what about my mother? Just watch her die?"

Kael grimaced.

"Maybe you could ask your birth-pack for help..."

His voice grew smaller and smaller.

"Or use your own savings..."

"What savings do I have?"

I lost control.

"Every moon-cycle, you only cover the den-debt payments, while the carriage loan and daily provisions all come from me! Liri's training fees and lessons—all of it is me. If I had savings, would I care so much about that fifty thousand?"

I stared at him.

"You earn twenty thousand in resource shares each cycle. After the den-debt, you still have twelve thousand left. Where does it go?"

Kael opened his mouth, glanced at Morwenna, and didn't dare speak.

"It comes to me."

Morwenna strode forward, her expression smug with triumph.

"Kael's resource shares are all held in my keeping. Precisely to guard against certain wolves who might covet them."

Certain wolves.

She meant me.

His bonded mate of seven cycles.

My gaze grew ever more hollow with despair.

"So Kael, you've decided our bond means nothing to you, is that it?"

"That's not—"

He reached for me with desperate urgency.

"Mate, I only asked Mother to safeguard my portion for me."

I wrenched my arm free from his grasp.

"Then now that we need those resources to heal my mother, are you willing to release them?"

Kael hesitated, but still gathered enough nerve to try.

"Mother, my share of the pack resources..."

"Why do you cower before her!"

The matriarch cut him off sharply.

"She's already whelped your pup—does she think she can sever the bond now? Would she truly abandon what she has?"

Her expression hardened like stone.

"Your allocations have been locked into the pack's secured holdings. Before the next moon cycle completes, don't even think of touching them!"

Kael lowered his head in helpless resignation.

"Lyra, perhaps you should ask your birth pack for assistance."

His tone carried not a trace of sorrow or concern.

He pulled out a small pouch and transferred a meager sum to me through our pack's oath-ledger.

"This is all the personal reserve I have left—two thousand tokens. I'm giving you everything."

I laughed bitterly, though moisture gathered at the edges of my eyes.

"Kael, we've been bonded for seven cycles, yet you hid this from me—surrendering your earnings to your mother. That counts as concealing mated assets. Under Pack Law, that's a violation. Did you know that?"

Kael's jaw dropped open in shock.

"How could that possibly be considered—"

"A son honoring his pack elders is sacred duty!"

Morwenna snarled with fury.

"Violation this, Pack Law that—if you're so certain, then bring your accusations before the Council!"

My gaze turned to ice as I met her stare directly.

"You've spoken true. I will bring this before the Council."

"You forced entry into my birth pack's den—that's a ward breach, a violation of territorial sanctity!"

"You threatened and coerced me to surrender my Moonblessing token—that constitutes forcible resource seizure!"

I pointed at the matriarch, my voice unyielding as forged steel.

"You struck my mother and left her lying unconscious—you've committed assault against a pack elder!"

The healer-den corridor fell utterly silent.

No one had expected me to bare my fangs so fiercely.

Morwenna stamped her foot in rage.

"Insolence! A mated Omega daring to bring charges against her bond-mother!"

She shoved Kael forward.

"Discipline her properly! Show her what pack hierarchy means!"

Kael remained motionless, only watching me with uncertain eyes.

I raised my speaking-stone, still capturing every moment.

"Lay a claw on me, and I summon the Territory Wardens!"

Morwenna's face twisted into something monstrous.

"I've seen sixty winters and more—let the Wardens come! I don't fear them!"

She lunged toward me, claws extending.

The healer attendants sensed the danger and rushed out immediately.

"Silence! Or we'll call the den guards!"

"If you're not immediate blood-kin, leave this place at once!"

Morwenna halted her advance, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"We never should have set paw in this healer-den. What foul fortune!"

She turned and gestured to the others.

"We're leaving, all of us..."

Kael released a heavy sigh, disappointment plain in his amber eyes.

"Lyra, we're supposed to be pack. How can you be so cold-hearted?"

Cold-hearted?

They had certainly taught me a lesson today.

What true cold-heartedness looked like.

After the Stormhart wolves departed, I ended the recording on my speaking-stone.

My father's face was drawn with worry.

"Daughter, what are we going to do? Your mother and I have some tokens saved—enough for perhaps ten thousand to cover the initial healer's bond, but the ongoing treatments... that's another matter entirely."

I placed my hand on my father's shoulder.

"Father, leave this to me. I've already found a way."

Garrick looked at me with questioning eyes but asked nothing more.

I went first to pay the healer's deposit.

Three hours later, the glow-stones outside the treatment chamber finally dimmed.

The healer emerged from the treatment chamber.

"She has passed through the critical phase, but the growth within her skull remains. I recommend we perform the extraction ritual now while she recovers. The healing procedures and ongoing tonic regimens will require approximately thirty thousand in resource stipends. Prepare yourselves."

I dipped my chin in acknowledgment.

"I will provide it."

By the following day, my oath-ledger allocation had been credited with fifty thousand.

I transferred every last coin to the healer-den's accounts without hesitation.

Fortune had not abandoned my mother. The moon still watched over her.

After three days of hovering between the veil and the living world, Selene Ashvale's condition finally stabilized.

Throughout those three days, not a single member of the Stormhart pack came. No messenger, no inquiry, not even a whisper of concern.

But the pack's shared message-boards buzzed with celebration.

"Moonblessing payout of one hundred thousand! This lunar cycle has been glorious!"

"Gratitude to our matriarch for her generous distribution! Long live the pack mother!"

"Thank you, grandmother. You are the finest of all."

"Our den-mother is the greatest in all territories!"

Beneath each announcement, relatives and pack-kin left their marks of approval and congratulation.

I scrolled through every post. Kael Stormhart had written nothing.

But in the images shared by his hunting companions, I found what I needed.

He had purchased new tracking gear and ventured to the coastal hunting grounds with his friends.

I let out a cold breath, capturing every image as evidence.

Half a moon-cycle later, my mother was cleared to leave the healer-den.

I did not bring my parents back to our old dwelling. Instead, I escorted them to a recovery sanctuary in neutral territory.

A difficult battle still lay ahead of me.

When the full moon turned, the deadline arrived.

As expected, Kael's summons came through.

I did not answer.

His voice-message arrived moments later, sharp with barely contained fury.

"Lyra, what have you done? You took out a debt-oath from the shadow lenders—fifty thousand worth?"

"Collection enforcers are howling at my door! Return to the den immediately and explain yourself!"

I offered no reply.

After a pause, his voice returned, higher now with disbelief.

"Why is there a Council summons? You actually brought charges against our entire pack? Have you lost your mind?"

My response came measured and cold.

"I have not lost anything."

"The true madness is yet to come."