"Use everything your father taught you at the Guard Den. Train him well, shape him into a worthy heir, and you will be honored above all in the Alpha Court."

That year, Kael Ironcrest was ten.

He tucked a cricket cage deeper into his sleeve, tilting his head to study me.

His eyes gleamed bright as twin moons.

Something in my heart—so tightly bound by the hatred of my slaughtered den—loosened just a little.

He reached out and took my hand first.

That grip lasted seventeen years.

I had grown used to making excuses for him.

He never spoke of the mating bond because pack duties kept him too busy.

His wandering with others was just immaturity, nothing more.

But day after day, year after year.

From a young wolf to a full-grown Alpha.

I refused to lie to myself any longer.

And I refused to keep swallowing my silence.

I stepped forward and dragged the woman off his body.

Two sharp slaps cracked across her face.

"What do you think you are?"

"You dare bring your scent-stealing into my presence?"

The woman shrieked and scrambled behind Kael.

"Alpha Heir, she struck me..."

I let out a cold laugh. "That was barely a tap."

I drew the leather whip from my belt.

Raised it high.

My gaze caught the character carved into the handle—Kael.

My grip tightened without meaning to.

This whip had been a gift from Kael five years ago, for my name-day.

He had hunted the beast himself, cured the hide, braided the core.

He had even wrapped the handle in soft fur.

So I wouldn't hurt myself when I disciplined him, he said.

The Kael of those days.

Even when my palm struck his face, he never flinched. He would just grin and ask if my hand hurt.

Not like now.

Before the whip could fall, his fingers closed around it.

"Lyra."

A smile still curved his lips, but his eyes had turned to frost.

"She's young. She doesn't know any better. Show her some mercy."

The whip pulled taut between us.

Like all the years we had shared.

Suddenly, I felt nothing but weariness.

I let go.

Kael tossed the whip aside and gathered the woman into his arms, murmuring soft comfort.

"Easy now. Don't be afraid."

"I'm here. No one will dare touch you."

I watched him pull a handkerchief from inside his coat and dab the tears from her cheeks.

Watched him drop it carelessly to the floor.

One corner of the cloth bore a crooked embroidered word—Lyra.

I recognized it. The same cloth he had pressed to his wound seventeen years into his age, after a raid against rogues left him bleeding.

Back then, weak and pale, he had clutched my wrist.

"The blood... it'll stain... your gift... I can't bear to ruin it..."

He had taken that handkerchief so carefully, tucked it beneath his pillow.

Guarded it like something precious.

But now, he had probably forgotten every word he ever spoke.

What he once treasured, he could cast aside without a second thought.

My chest felt hollow, as if wind blew straight through it.

"Kael Ironcrest."

I spoke quietly.

He ignored me.

I continued. "If you truly want her, bring her back to the den."

"I will step aside."

Kael finally lifted his gaze to meet mine.

"Lyra."

His voice dropped low and heavy.

"Stop this madness."

"It isn't madness. I mean every word." My tone stayed level. "Kael Ironcrest, I'm done waiting for a bond you'll never offer."

"I don't want feelings that have gone sour."

"Let's release each other."

His eyes turned cold as a winter hunt.

His voice carried a warning growl. "Lyra Nightveil. Know when to stop."

I held his stare. "From this day forward, I sever all ties with the Ironcrest Alpha Court."

"Without me in your way, you can play however you like. Claim whoever you want."

He stared at me, then suddenly laughed.

"You think this will frighten me?"

"Do you still believe I'm the pup you could bend to your will?"

I lowered my gaze.

Of course he wasn't the same anymore.

The young pup from before.

After making me angry, he would secretly tuck sweet dried meats into my storage chest.

Every year on his birth moon, he would wish aloud to grow strong enough to claim me as his mate.

And at his eighteenth coming-of-age ceremony, before a hall full of pack elders and allied wolves, he had kissed me—clumsy and reverent all at once.

…

I drew in a slow breath, forcing down the tight ache in my chest.

I didn't respond to Kael's words.

Instead, I turned to face Selene.

"Are you content to spend your life as a kept companion?"

"Once he tires of your scent, you'll have no choice but to crawl back to the Moonlit Den as a lounge dancer."

"The old patrons will fawn over fresher faces, and the new ones will sneer that you're past your prime. Do you really think the Den will still have a place for you then?"

Her face went pale.

Her nails dug into Kael's arm.

"Alpha Heir, I want… I want to stand beside you openly."

"Please?"

Her voice dripped soft as honey.

Kael swept her up into his arms.

"Ridiculous," he snapped.

As he strode toward the door, he tossed a glance over his shoulder. "If you want me to coax you, just say so."

"You're skilled enough with blades and silver-shot, but playing petty jealousy games like those omega companions of mine? You're nowhere close."

He still thought I was throwing a tantrum.

That I was competing for his attention like all those pretty omegas circling him.

I didn't know what to say.

I followed them.

All the way back to the Alpha Court.

Kael settled the woman in my chambers.

Her drooping expression lifted at once.

Kael pressed a kiss to the corner of her lips. "Happy now?"

She threw herself into his embrace. "Alpha Heir, you won't let her leave—does that mean she's still in your heart?"

My footsteps halted.

I heard Kael's low laugh. "Lyra has been at my side for seventeen years. Of course she holds a place in my heart."

"But that doesn't conflict with wanting you."

Then came the wet sounds of their mouths meeting.

Selene pushed him away with a breathless pout. "Then why put me in her den? Aren't you afraid your precious one will run off in a rage?"

"Run? Where could she possibly go?"

Kael's smile deepened.

"Her entire bloodline was slaughtered. She still needs the Alpha Court's resources to track down whoever ordered the purge of her den."

A dull pain spread through my chest.

Even though I had long since stopped expecting anything from Kael.

Those words still cut.

Selene's voice turned coy. "Back when the Alpha Heir announced his courtship claim, it shook every territory. You swore it would be one bond, one life, one mate."

"Turns out you didn't love her that much after all."

She paused, then added:

"But she's still your intended mate in name. Are you really going to let her run around with your sworn rival?"

Kael let out a soft scoff.

"Sworn rival?"

"Fenris Viperbane?"

His tone was dismissive.

"That useless wolf—why should I care about him?"

"He can't perform during rut. Barely counts as a proper Alpha. You could strip the most sought-after omega from the Moonlit Den and throw them naked in his bed, and he still couldn't touch them."

Kael paused, then continued. "Besides, I know my woman."

"Deep down, she's old-fashioned to the bone. She believes in the ancient ways—one mate, one bond, sealed for life. She gave her body to me, and she'd sooner die than let another male claim her."

"Whatever she's doing with Fenris Viperbane, it's just a show to provoke me."

My fingers tightened slowly around the door frame.

So he knew.

He knew how traditional I was at my core.

That's why he dared to trample over me like this.

Because he was certain.

I would never escape his grasp in this lifetime.

Selene pressed further. "But what if she truly falls for him?"

"The Serpent Circle sent word this morning—they've purchased the thousand-acre moonflower fields along the Silver Ridge, and cleared out the finest woven silks from the Crimson Loom. All of it sent to her under Fenris Viperbane's name."

"No she-wolf could resist that, could she?"

"Fall for him?" Kael let out a contemptuous snort. "She's nothing like you. She doesn't care for the pretty things other females covet."

I looked down at my dark leather armor, covered in dust.

I couldn't help but ask myself, did I really not like it?

Did I dislike the moonstone jewelry, the velvet cloak, the magnificent gowns shimmering under the campfire?

I remembered the year Old Chieftain Alaric Ironspine died, all factions eyed the teenage Kyle Ironspine, wanting to seize the wolf pack's territory from him.

During an assassination attempt, I shielded him from a silver blade.

That day, I happened to be wearing a white formal gown.

Blood stained the white dress crimson.

Kyle Ironspine was terrified, suffering from a high fever for several nights, howling in nightmares.

From then on, my wardrobe was filled with dark armor and Executor's leather attire.

It's convenient for combat, and wounds don't show.

Later, the situation in the territory gradually stabilized.

I even considered dressing up.

I lingered in front of the Omega jewelry stalls at the market.

But the thought of the sweat and blood on the training field made me hesitate.

It wasn't that I disliked it.

It was that I couldn't like it.

Kyle Ironspine's voice drifted from inside.

Mixed with the rustling of fabric.

"Omega should act like Omega. Those who always try to be superior, to be a step above Alpha, are the most repulsive." Selena Frost chuckled softly.

At that moment, the three of us were strangely in sync.

No need to mention names.

We all knew that the one he was referring to as repulsive was me.

I took a step back.

A chill ran through me.

He probably forgot that when he had a wolfsbane fever attack in the middle of the night and couldn't find a healer.

It was I who carried him through a torrential downpour across ten miles of forest to seek medical help.

He was in danger in the den of a pack of wolves.

It was I who single-handedly stormed in and dug him out of the pile of corpses.

So many battles for territory, I'd been at the forefront, clearing the way for him.

In the end, all I got in return was a curt "Disgusting."

My hands trembled slightly.

Then I heard Kyle Ironspine say, "The Omega who knows how to attach themselves to Alpha is the smart one."

"She'll understand soon enough," Selena Frost asked him, asking why he was so sure.

Kyle Ironspine lowered his voice, a hint of smugness in his tone.

"There's a secret."

"I'll only tell you."

"Actually, I found the murderer who wiped out the Moonheart Clan five years ago."

"But if I don't tell her, she'll never know."

"She'll have to beg me—" I couldn't hear what he said after that.

My mind went blank, like something exploded.

My whole body trembled uncontrollably; I barely managed to steady myself by grabbing onto a stone pillar in the corridor.

Back then, when the Moonheart Clan was massacred.

If it weren't for Elder Alaric Ironspine saving me, I would have almost perished alongside those murderers.

Later, I arrived at the Ironspine Clan's main hall.

Kyle Ironspine consumed most of my energy, and also eased my pain.

But I never forgot the hatred for the annihilation of my clan.

He knew my inner turmoil.

When I woke from nightmares, he would hold me and comfort me: "Don't be afraid, I'm here."

"Your enemy is my enemy."

"I will find him and avenge you." I still remember it to this day.

His eyes were bloodshot when he said that.

His face was filled with both pity and resentment.

He spared no effort in tracking down the murderers.

Even to exchange for a clue,

he dealt with the Black Market Wolf Pack, the organization he hated most.

But every time he got a clue, it came to nothing.

I thought it was fate playing tricks on me.

But I never imagined that he was manipulating everything behind the scenes.

I staggered out of the main hall.

Only one thought occupied my mind.

I brought that man back myself and made him pay for the Moonheart Clan's life.

Using Phyllis Venomfang's power, I searched the entire territory.

But I never expected that Kyle Ironspine would imprison him in the dungeon of the Ironspine Clan's chieftain.

So close to me.

I rushed towards the dungeon.

A thousand ways of revenge I considered along the way.

But when I arrived...