When I discovered once again that the pup growing in my mate's womb belonged to her and her favored lover, I did not lose myself to rage as I had before, demanding she end the pregnancy through deception or force.

Instead, I chose to care for her in silence, ensuring she carried the pup safely to term.

From that moment on, I became the subject of whispers throughout every noble pack territory, feeding the gossip-hungry chroniclers of a thousand dens.

Every unfaithful Alpha-mate dreamed of finding an Omega as tolerant as me to stand beside them.

Bond-breakers across the territories burned offerings to the moon, praying they might seduce someone as docile as my mate.

And the bonded Omegas of powerful packs—they looked upon me as a disgrace to our kind.

Ten moons passed, and she delivered the pup without complication.

When Selene Valeheart emerged from the birthing chamber, she pressed her lips to the back of my hand with the same gentle warmth she had always shown.

"Thanks to your devoted care, the pup Dorian and I created was born healthy and beautiful."

"Don't worry—he only wishes to be called Father. He won't threaten your position as the Valeheart Pack's bonded mate. You are still the one I love most."

Everyone believed I had loved Selene so completely that I could not defeat her lover, so I simply joined them in their arrangement.

But only I knew the truth.

This pup had been forced upon me by Matriarch Aurelia Valeheart, who invoked the ancient Life-Debt Oath from years ago to compel me to see the pregnancy through.

Now that the Valeheart Pack's firstborn heir had arrived, the Bond Severance she had promised me should finally take effect.

1.

The night before Selene gave birth, I had been injected with enough sedatives and bone-weakening draughts to ensure I could not harm her or the pup.

When the drugs wore off and I opened my eyes, she was cradling the newborn with pure joy on her face.

"Mate, the Matriarch has already chosen a name for our pup. Just sign here, and we can register him in the pack records."

She handed me the birth documentation.

The moment I saw the name inscribed there—Noah Frostclaw—my hazy mind snapped into sharp clarity.

Noah.

Remember your first oath.

That had been my hope for my own unborn son, the pup I had dreamed of.

It was the promise we had made to each other about our love.

It was also the name written in the Valeheart lineage scrolls for thirteen generations of firstborn heirs.

Years ago, when I threw myself between Selene and the rogues who had taken her captive, I took a blade meant for her. The wound damaged something deep within me—my ability to sire pups naturally was nearly destroyed.

Our first pup, conceived through the Moon-Blessing Rite, had been seven months along when she helped Dorian Frostclaw through a heat-draught that someone had slipped him. She spent that night tangled in his arms, and the bleeding that followed forced the healers to end the pregnancy early.

That pup had already taken form. A male.

I had planned to raise a rune-stone memorial for him and lay his remains in the ancestral burial grounds.

But the moon-reader said the pup had not reached full term before passing, and the timing was unfavorable. We would need to wait.

That wait stretched beyond a full year.

Throughout her pregnancy, Selene had whispered in my ear countless times, begging to give this illegitimate pup the name Noah Frostclaw.

I had refused every time.

But now, seeing the hopeful light in her eyes, I felt only disgust at the memory of her tears and false remorse.

I knew the Matriarch would never have chosen that name.

This was Dorian Frostclaw's doing—he delighted in taking everything that belonged to me, and he had poured poison into Selene's ear.

The Bond Severance was already certain. Let this pup carry whatever name they wished—I wanted nothing of his faithless mother's bloodline attached to my own.

"Do as you please. Call him whatever you want."

"I have only one condition: do not list me as the pup's sire. My true son's spirit would never accept it."

Selene hesitated, and guilt flickered across her gaze.

"Kael, don't worry. I only used Dorian because he shares half your bloodline. He and I never truly—"

Before she could finish, a crash echoed from beyond the door.

"You worthless cur! Who permitted you to set foot here!"

Dorian Frostclaw had been thrown to the ground, his eyes blazing red with barely contained wolf-light.

"I only wanted to see the pup."

Matriarch Aurelia struck him repeatedly with her walking staff, each blow sharp and unforgiving.

"Get out!"

In that instant, Selene startled like a cornered wolf. Despite her body still weak from the birth, she shoved the pup into my arms without care and rushed toward the door.

The movement tore open the wounds on her arms—hundreds of needle marks from heat-draught injections and self-inflicted gashes, each one the width of a pup's forearm, splitting open and weeping fresh blood.

Yet she left as though she hadn't seen me at all.

The way she threw herself in front of the Matriarch's walking staff, shielding Dorian Frostclaw behind her without hesitation, made every comforting word she'd spoken to me moments ago seem utterly laughable.

"Grandmother! The plan was my idea—I did it for the Valeheart Pack! Please don't hurt someone who had no part in this!"

Matriarch Aurelia Valeheart froze, her sharp gaze instinctively cutting toward me.

When she saw the white bandages wrapped around my arm already soaking through with fresh blood, her expression twisted with frustration and disappointment.

"You wretched pup! He was stuck with over a hundred acupuncture needles just yesterday—can you not see all the wounds covering his body?"

Panic and regret flickered through Selene Valeheart's eyes. She started to rush toward me.

But behind her, Dorian Frostclaw collapsed straight to the ground.

In her alarm, she ignored her own injuries and moved to support him, clearly intending to leave.

The Matriarch planted herself firmly in Selene's path.

"You will not leave! You've just given birth—are you trying to kill yourself?"

"Your bonded mate is still in that room! Do you even want this family anymore?"

Hesitation filled Selene's eyes.

"I do! But Dorian was hurt by your staff! I can't just abandon him! Kael... you're watching over him, Grandmother. He'll be fine!"

There was a time when she would have thrown herself in front of danger for me without a second thought.

There was a time when I was never the one she chose to abandon.

I looked at her with hollow calm.

"Grandmother, let her go."

She seemed surprised by my composure.

After all, in the past, I had done anything to keep her from leaving. I had begged, thrown myself at her feet, clawed at my own flesh—cast aside every shred of dignity an Omega could possess.

Her expression grew complicated, as though she wanted to say something. In the end, she simply walked away.

The healer's assistant helped me dress my wounds again.

The pup was soothed back to sleep.

My communication crystal suddenly pulsed with her message.

[I'm sorry. I just didn't want to cause a scene at the Healer's Den—it would damage the Valeheart Pack's reputation.]

[Dorian is still unconscious and needs someone by his side, so I won't be coming over. We'll recover together. Don't worry about us.]

I stared at the glowing words for a long time.

Once, when I learned she'd been injured during a territorial mission, I traveled eleven hours across pack borders, stayed by her side through every examination, never leaving her for a moment.

Back then, she had been so moved she wept, swearing she would never betray me in this lifetime.

Seeing me sigh, the Matriarch snatched the crystal from my hand.

She read the cold words displayed there and let out a bitter scoff.

"That wretched girl! Just wait until she returns—I'll make her answer for this. Kael, don't worry, Grandmother will—"

At that, I suddenly laughed, meeting her gaze with quiet eyes.

"You allowed all of this to happen, didn't you?"

"I no longer care what becomes of her. You promised me before—once this pup was safely born, you would help me obtain my Bond Severance. I hope you intend to keep your word."

Her expression stiffened, guilt heavy in her eyes.

"Grandmother has wronged you."

"I've already tricked her into signing the severance documents. Rest and heal your body. Once her recovery period ends, you may leave."

The Matriarch took the pup into her own care, personally arranging for trusted wolves to watch over him.

I quietly returned to the den I'd lived in before the mating bond, avoiding the gossip that would have followed me otherwise.

But that very night, rumors still spread like wildfire through the territory's elite circles: the Valeheart Pack's heir had defied the Matriarch, risking her post-birth body to protect her Beta lover.

The Valeheart Pack's standing in the territory alliance began to slip. Selene Valeheart was buried under the chaos, scrambling to contain the damage.

Dorian Frostclaw's popular scent-journal account was overrun by outraged pack members. The scandal I had once exposed myself—how he had seduced his brother's bonded mate, only for Selene to suppress it—resurfaced with a vengeance.

The territory was filled with condemnation. If Selene hadn't intervened, his account would have been stripped and he'd have faced severe penalty oaths.

I didn't see her again until seven days later.

The moment she laid eyes on me, disappointment clouded her face.

"Kael Frostclaw, does destroying us like this truly make you happy?"

I blinked, quickly understanding. She had pinned the blame for the spreading rumors squarely on me.

True enough—after all, I once served as a Pack Chronicle Keeper, and my greatest skill was stirring the winds of rumor until they became storms.

Unfortunately, the first time I lost control and exposed her shameful rut-bond with Dorian Frostclaw, she threatened to have me scent-suppressed and cast out from the profession entirely, claiming I had violated pack privacy laws and damaged her standing. The pack council sided with her.

Now finding anyone willing to help me was nearly impossible.

I cast a sidelong glance at her, long past feeling any wounded pride from being falsely accused.

My hands continued wrapping the anniversary offering for Noah—a small bundle of herbs and moon-blessed tokens for his rune-stone.

"You should know that your disgraceful affairs aren't limited to what's already been revealed. If I wanted to expose more, you'd bleed territory and resources far worse than before."

She stood frozen in the doorway for a long while.

Finally, her voice emerged, almost helpless.

"After this, I'll sever things with him completely. But promise me—we'll live properly from now on, yes? Once the pup comes, we'll be a happy family."

During my pregnancy, she had said such things nearly every day.

Yet it never stopped her from remaining tangled with Dorian Frostclaw.

Sometimes she pitied his status as an unacknowledged offspring. Other times she felt sorry that he had no pack to call his own, no family to lean on.

In short, she had ten thousand reasons why she couldn't help being drawn to him, why she had to help him rise through the ranks.

She remained blocking the doorway as though she wouldn't leave until I answered.

Watching her shadow swallow the morning light, I gave a hollow response just to be rid of her.

It wasn't until the next morning, when an uncensored scent-vision recording of my supposed betrayal spread across every territory network, that I understood what she meant by "after this."

Selene Valeheart had released a public proclamation.

In the recording, she wept before the pack councils, her voice breaking as she declared that her own brother-by-bond had discovered me rutting with another during her pregnancy. She claimed I had struck first with false rumors about her to cover my own guilt.

Dorian Frostclaw appeared beside her, his expression heavy with grief. He said he had only tried to counsel me against hurting Selene's feelings, but I had mistaken his concern for a threat to expose my infidelity—and so I had lashed out in revenge.

Every wolf across the territories howled for Selene to sever our bond immediately, to cast out this low-born climber who had clawed his way into the Valeheart Pack through mating alone.

But she put on a mask of devotion.

"No matter what sins Kael commits in this lifetime, I cannot stop loving him."

Watching her false performance, I couldn't hold back. I retched.

Selene heard from outside the den chamber and rushed in.

"What's wrong?"

I frowned, seeing Dorian trailing behind her like a shadow. I shook off her reaching hand.

"Nothing. Just found you revolting, that's all. To protect your rut-partner's crimes, you'd destroy your own mate's reputation without hesitation. Selene Valeheart, your love is truly magnificent."

Her face went pale as bone. Her mouth opened to explain.

But Dorian suddenly dropped to his knees.

"Forgive me, brother. This is all my fault! Sister-mate only used you as a shield because of me. But she's still recovering from the birth—she was afraid you'd be angry and came to explain despite her weakened state. Please don't blame her."

Selene's eyes filled with tender concern for him. She turned an accusing glare on me.

"I came specifically to tell you about this. Those recordings were scent-glamour forgeries I created. When it comes down to it, he shares your blood—sacrificing yourself to help him is only right. I'm helping him because I'm helping you maintain your bloodline ties. Why must you be so aggressive toward him?"

"Besides, you're a scent-suppressed outcast now. Reputation means nothing to you. What outsiders say won't change my feelings—I know it's fake, and that's enough. But he's different. He has no pack, no family to fall back on. He survives by his standing in the chronicle circles. If his image is destroyed, everything falls apart."

Listening to her grand justifications, I felt nothing but disgust.

A scent-suppressed outcast—and whose doing was that?

Back then, she hadn't just forced the pack council to revoke my position. She had spread word through every chronicle keeper's den across the territories: anyone who employed me would be making an enemy of her.

I was turned away from every interview. When I finally found a small private recording den willing to take me, she filed malicious complaints against them.

In the end, all my chronicle-keeping credentials were stripped away. I became a pariah that every wolf in the profession spat upon.