Chapter 3

My words landed on Kael's retreating back. His steps did falter, just for a moment.

He half-turned, his lips moving as if to speak.

But Nora was choking on her sobs, clawing at his arm and dragging him toward the Elder Hall, her voice so shrill it echoed down the entire corridor: "Kael, Lily's seizing in there — you're the only one who can stabilize her!"

Kael took a deep breath and turned to me: "Lily's life is hanging by a thread right now. I have to go. Just wait for me a little longer."

Then he followed Nora and was gone.

I watched his back disappear and said quietly: "There's nothing left to wait for."

I sat outside the memorial hall the entire afternoon.

At dusk, I overheard two herbalists coming out of the Elder Hall: "The Alpha's already signed off. Lily's ritual is set for five days from now — he'll be in seclusion to build his reserves until then."

The entire process was identical to the plan the Elder had drawn up for Ash.

The only difference: Ash's plan sat untouched for an entire moon cycle until he died. Lily's was signed the same day.

Turns out you never need to say the words. How much someone cares is obvious from what they do.

After dark, I found a secluded spot in the hills behind the territory and laid Ash down among the old tree roots. I wanted to keep watch over him one last night.

I'd barely closed my eyes against the trunk when something jolted me awake.

An emotion that wasn't mine flooded through the mate bond — warm, intimate, laced with contentment.

My eyes snapped open.

Kael had taken the Muting Herb to block his outgoing signals, but he'd forgotten to close the receiving end. His emotional surge was too intense — it spilled back through to my side of the bond.

I followed the pull through the trees and found them in the deep woods.

Both were in half-shifted form — wolf ears, tails, and claws exposed. Nora's face was buried in the crook of Kael's neck, her tongue tracing the place where his mark was.

That kind of intimacy exists only between mates. It runs deeper than any kiss.

Kael sensed my presence and shoved Nora away, his breathing still ragged.

Nora didn't panic. She straightened slowly, wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, and let her gaze sweep over me with a faint, knowing smile.

Kael stammered: "Selene, it's not what you think. Nora had a breakdown today. I was just comforting her."

I stared at the reddened mark on his neck: "Comforting? By letting her lick your mark?"

Kael tried to explain, but Nora whimpered behind him: "Kael, the Elder said if your condition isn't stable tonight, the ritual in five days could fail... Lily could die..."

Kael glanced back at Nora, then turned to me, forcing the words out: "I need to go prepare for Lily's ritual."

He left without looking back.

The irony was suffocating.

When his own son needed an Alpha infusion, Kael stalled for an entire moon cycle — stalled until Ash was dead. When another woman's daughter needed the same thing, he signed the order the same day and started building reserves that very night.

Love and indifference were never hard to tell apart.

If I'd seen it sooner — if I hadn't pinned all my hope on Kael, if I'd taken Ash back to Moon Shadow Pack and found another way — maybe Ash would still be alive.

In that moment, my heart died completely.

I went back to the Alpha's manor to pack. I took down every belonging that was mine and Ash's, one by one — the baby tooth Ash had hung on his bedpost, the little blanket I'd knitted for him, the two-colored stone we'd picked up together by Spirit Lake.

Everything went into an old leather satchel.

Last, I opened the hidden compartment in the bedroom and took out a coil of Silver Thorns — Moon Shadow Pack's method for severing a mark bond unilaterally.

I didn't use it yet. I just placed it on top of everything else in the satchel.

By the time I finished packing, the first light of dawn was slipping through the window.

The moon had set.

I shouldered the satchel, took one last look at the place I'd lived for five years, and walked out the door.

At the territory border, I finally opened the messages I'd been ignoring.

Kael had sent a string of them:

"Lily's ritual is in five days. I'll be in seclusion building reserves — help me prepare the silver-core flowers and purified water for the ceremony."

"Lily will be fragile after the procedure and can't be near iron. Replace all the iron implements in the Elder Hall with bone ones."

"Don't worry. Once Lily's taken care of, I'll do Ash's right away. The Elder says there's still a way."

"After Ash is better, I'll take you both to the Moon Ridge Mountains to see the aurora. You've always wanted to go, right? The three of us, together."

I stared at the last message.

"The three of us, together."

In those messages, he was arranging Lily's post-procedure care and Ash's treatment side by side, as if the future still stretched long ahead of them.

But Ash was already dead. And while Kael was writing these, he was in seclusion, building reserves for another woman's child.

I closed the messages.

Kael, there is no future for us.

After dawn, I returned to the hills to carry Ash's remains to Moon Shadow Pack for burial. I didn't want him left in Silver Fang territory.

I had just bent down to lift Ash's silk-wrapped body when Kael appeared on the forest path, Nora half a step behind him.

Kael saw the bundle in my arms and his face darkened.

I said calmly: "Ash is gone. I'm taking him back to Moon Shadow."

Kael stumbled back a step, shaking his head: "That's impossible. He was fine when I left."

Nora slipped in quietly: "Kael, do you think maybe she let things get worse because she didn't take proper care of him? The Elder said her power should have been enough to sustain him for at least two full moons."

Kael's brow furrowed.

I didn't acknowledge Nora. I just looked at Kael.

Nora pressed on: "Don't let her fool you. Ash's condition didn't develop overnight — there's no way it went this fast. She just wants you to give up on Lily's treatment."

Kael's expression shifted from doubt to something cold.

He stepped in front of me, his voice low: "Selene, I was only a few days late. Do you really need to use Ash to pressure me?"

He reached for me, trying to pull me back.

I tried to dodge, but his Alpha strength was too much.

Ash's body slipped from my arms. His small frame hit the tree roots.

The silk unraveled, exposing Ash's pale face — and the ash-black scorch mark on his chest where his wolf had completely disintegrated.