"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."