Selene believed I was simply lashing out—like one of those bonded mates who discovers their partner's scent-treason and crumbles into howls and empty threats, only to be soothed with a moon-silver timepiece and an elaborate moonfeast.

She seemed to have forgotten who I was.

I didn't have a pack dynasty to shelter me the way she did. But I'd forged my own path through blood and cunning. Accepted into an elite training ground across the border at sixteen. Fought my way through the cutthroat territory wars of the eastern packs by twenty-two. Returned to my homeland at twenty-five to challenge her as an equal in the struggle for dominance and resources.

We bonded not because I couldn't survive without her, but because she'd sworn herself to me. One life. One mate. Just the two of us beneath every moon.

The cruelty of it still burned in my chest.

Five years. That's all it took for her to forget every vow.

The next day, I received a pack-link request from Ronan. The message attached read: "Kael, I'd like to explain about your patrol relic's maintenance issue."

Pack duties consumed me that day—councils and territory disputes from dawn until the stars emerged, then a swift run across the border for my uncle Eamon's seventieth lunar-turn celebration. He was my only remaining blood kin.

I didn't accept the request until I reached his den.

Ronan immediately sent a voice-stone message. Something about the den-smith being a temporary hire who'd vanished without a trace. Couldn't be tracked.

I didn't respond. But my claw slipped across the message surface, and I accidentally opened his pack-feed.

The latest posting was from thirty minutes ago.

Selene sat on the carved stone settee in our private den, drinking broth. Behind her hung the ancestral tapestry I'd paid a fortune for at the elder auctions. The hand-woven pelts I'd commissioned from the mountain craftswolves.

And there was Ronan. Wearing my favorite sleeping furs. My den slippers.

Grinning beside her, one arm raised to capture their image in a reflection-stone, the other flashing a gesture of victory.

The caption: "Finally able to care for you while you're healing. I know I've been misunderstood, but the truth speaks for itself. Homemade bone broth—hope your strength returns soon."

I captured the image and sent it through our mate-bond channel to Selene.

"Living in my den. Wearing my furs. Getting cozy with my bonded mate. This is your idea of 'innocent'?!"

Her reply came instantly.

"Kael, Ronan spilled broth on his clothes while preparing it. He's just borrowing yours temporarily. He meant well. Don't let your wolf read too much into it."

I laughed—a cold, sharp sound that echoed off the stone walls.

"Meant well?"

"More like the spilled broth was an excuse and sneaking into my territory was the real goal. Wearing my furs to play at being the alpha of my den? What—does he think if he marks enough of my belongings with his scent, he'll get elevated to bonded mate?"

"Do you have to be so vicious?"

Her tone shifted, growing wounded.

"You're never here. He came to tend to me. Can't you show a little grace?"

"Kael, you weren't like this before. When did you become so domineering? So heartless?"

I stared at the message and laughed in disbelief.

Domineering? Heartless?

When the Ashvale Pack's resource lines collapsed, I was the one who led my wolves through a moon-cycle of sleepless nights to secure the alliance pact that saved her family's standing.

When her father fell ill with the silver-fever, I was the one who abandoned a massive territory expansion to sit vigil at his bedside for two weeks.

She used to say she admired my decisiveness. My killer instinct in pack politics.

Now that she had a sweet, attentive little wolf by her side, suddenly I was domineering and cruel?

My uncle insisted I stay for the full celebration. It wasn't until the third night that I caught the earliest dawn run back to our territory.

The scent-lock on our den hadn't been changed.

But my scent had been stripped from the recognition wards.

I stood at my own threshold and scratched at the entrance marker.

Ronan opened it.

This time, he wasn't wearing a tunic. Just loose training leathers slung low on his hips. His hair was damp, dripping—like he'd just emerged from the bathing pool.

"Kael?" His voice pitched high with false surprise. "What are you doing here? Selene's still resting—"

I cut him off with a low growl that made his wolf flinch.

"Last I checked, I don't need permission to enter my own den."

"Move."

"That's not what I meant—"

Ronan planted himself stubbornly in the doorway of the private den, his scent sharp with false concern.

"But Lady Selene is still resting, and your energy feels... agitated. I was worried you might disturb her recovery..."

I didn't waste breath on him. I shoved him aside with enough force that he stumbled against the wall.

"Get out of my way."

The commotion woke Selene. She emerged from the sleeping chamber on her support braces, her brow furrowed at the tension crackling between us like static before a storm.

"What's going on?"

Ronan's tears came before his words, his omega pheromones flooding the space with wounded distress.

"Lady Selene, I'm so sorry—you were exhausted last night, and I just wanted to let you sleep longer. I didn't mean to offend Alpha Kael..."

He wiped at his eyes, turning his face away with wounded dignity. A helpless creature, bullied within an inch of his life by a cruel Alpha.

But his ears burned crimson, and beneath the performance, I caught the acrid undertone of guilt in his scent.

Selene coughed twice before speaking, her voice rough.

"Kael, you've really misunderstood him. Apologize."

I ignored her and dropped onto the carved stone seating.

My gaze lifted to the display alcove. The framed portrait of Selene and me from our mating ceremony—gone.

In its place sat that hand-carved moonstone protection charm Ronan had crafted and polished with his own hands, mounted on a darkwood display stand.

On the low table lay a sleep tunic that wasn't mine.

"No wonder he wouldn't let me through the door." I let out a cold laugh. "Selene, you two have been having quite the time in my absence."

Ronan scrambled to grab the tunic, tears streaming down his face.

"This is mine—I washed it, I was just drying it here by the hearth—"

"Drying it in the main chamber?"

I scoffed.

"With Selene's broken leg, I'm curious—who was taking care of whom? Was it even comfortable? Did you have to be careful of her injuries while you—"

Ronan's face went scarlet. He stammered, "Alpha Kael, you—you really have the wrong idea. Lady Selene and I, we didn't do anything—"

"Enough!"

Selene glared at me, her patience snapping like a dry branch.

"Do you have to say such vulgar things just to humiliate him?"

"He's just an innocent young wolf—not like you, with your head full of schemes!"

I met her eyes, holding her gaze without flinching.

"What exactly am I scheming?"

"You're scheming how to embarrass him, how to destroy his scent-standing, how to make me obey your every command—revolving around you and only you forever!"

Her voice rose with each accusation, her own scent spiking with defensive anger.

"Yes, I let him stay in our den! But nothing happened between us! He took care of me while you were attending your uncle's celebration, and I'm grateful—it's that simple! Why do you have to assume the worst about everyone?"

"Whether wolves' hearts are dirty doesn't interest me."

I pulled out a bound document, the official seal of the Ashvale Pack stamped across its cover.

"But what does interest me is this: six months ago, you used Ashvale Pack resources and territory rights to establish a trade outpost for him. Twenty million in pack wealth. Filed under 'charitable alliance investment.'"

I let that sink in, watching the color drain from her face.

"Selene—did the Pack Elders approve this? Embezzling pack resources to support your secret lover. How does that charge sound before a Council Reckoning?"

Her face went ashen, her scent souring with fear.

"You investigated me? He's not my—"

"Then what is he?"

I rose and walked toward Ronan, my Alpha presence pressing down on him until his knees nearly buckled.

"Ronan Duskvein. Why don't you tell me—what exactly are you to my bonded mate?"

Ronan bit his lip hard enough to draw blood.

"I just... I admire Lady Selene. I'm grateful for everything she's done for me. That's why I came to help for a couple of days while you were away..."

"Admire her enough to wear my sleeping robes? Rest in my bed?"

I gestured toward the master sleeping chamber, its door still ajar, the scent of both of them lingering in the air like an accusation.

"Selene, I watched you both walk out of that room with my own eyes. Your scents mingled on the furs. Explain that."

Her jaw tightened, defiance warring with guilt in her expression.

"Believe what you want. Ronan slept on the floor beside my bed to help me if I needed anything in the night. We didn't do anything."

"I don't actually care whether you mated with him."

I tucked the financial document away and placed a formal Bond Rejection agreement on the low table. My tone left no room for negotiation.

"Selene. Transfer full ownership of that trade outpost back to the Ashvale treasury. Sign this Bond Rejection agreement without making this uglier than it needs to be. Assets split according to our original mating contract terms. We end this with our dignity intact."

I paused, letting my words settle like stones in still water.

"Otherwise, I'll bring charges of resource embezzlement and scent-treason before the Pack Council. I'll present everything to the Elders at the next gathering." A thin smile crossed my face. "How do you think those old wolves will react? Think they'll pass up the chance to strip you of your rank and cast you out? Your father may be Elder-Alpha, but even he can't shield you from this kind of disgrace."