로그인SeraHis eyes immediately dropped from my face. He looked at the deep plunge of the dress, his gaze tracing the exposed swell of my breasts. He looked at the three thin silver chains holding the sides of the fabric together, exposing my bare ribs and hips. His eyes dragged down to the massive slits in the skirt, staring openly at my bare thighs.The muscle in his jaw ticked violently. The raw, unfiltered hunger in his stare made my stomach clench. A sudden, heavy rush of heat pooled directly between my legs, entirely defying the freezing northern air biting at my skin. Before he could reach for me, the oldest elder in the circle stood up from his heavy wooden chair. He held a long, curved iron blade in his right hand. The metal was dark, pitted with age and stained from generations of use.He stepped up to the massive black stone altar directly beside us and raised his arms."Three hundred years ago, the Ironmaw pack faced the Winter of the Black Frost!" the elder shouted. His voice
SeraI looked at the old woman. I hadn't even married the Alpha yet, and I had already killed for him. I had stood in a freezing, damp cellar, my hands covered in an elder's blood, covering up a murder to protect Fenris's political standing.Was this old woman aware of that? Was she aware of the fact that if it came down to it, I was fully willing to pile up more bodies to make sure this man stayed alive and on his throne?I let out a short, sharp scoff. I shook my head.The woman looked at me, her eyes narrowing as she tried to read my face. Then, she looked over at Mina, who was still complaining about the cargo wagon."She's right," I said to Mina.Mina started to argue again, her face flushing red. "Don’t listen to—""But she's right, Mina," I interrupted. My voice was completely steady. The nausea was entirely gone.I reached down, grabbed the heavy, midnight fabric of my skirt, and pulled it aside, completely exposing my bare thighs. I walked over to a small wooden stool near th
Sera"Are you going to be sick, child?"I kept my eyes locked on the stone wall directly in front of me. "I am perfectly fine."The old woman let out a dry, rattling hum that vibrated in her chest. She stood behind me, her rough, calloused hands smoothing the dark fabric down my waist. "You don’t have to lie child."I didn't answer her. I couldn't. If I opened my mouth again, the weird, heavy welling in the bottom of my stomach might actually crawl up my throat.This was the same woman who had presented the black dress for the cermony. She was here now in my room to get me ready. But I wasn’t feeling ready.Mina stood off to the side, holding a wooden box of silver pins. She looked at me, her brow furrowing slightly, and then quickly looked away, digging her fingers into the box. Mina wasn't scared about how the event would go. To her, this was a straightforward fact: I was getting married to the Alpha.But my head was spinning.Three years ago, it had been my absolute mission to make
SeraThat wasn't true, I thought immediately. I remembered the brutal training sessions in the dirt. I remembered Yvara breaking my nose and telling me to force the blood to clot. You just have to force it. It hurts, but you have the power. "Fenris got the healer to set my arm," Mina continued. "And right after that, he carried me to my room. I fought him the entire way. I hit him again and again, even with the bad arm. But the one thing Fenris didn't do was let me go. He held me tight against his chest until we got to my bed."She looked down at her hands. "In my entire life, I never would have thought Fenris would be the one doing that. Dimitri was the social one. It could have been him. But it was the Butcher. The one who looked exactly like the Luna.""He was barely ever around," she explained softly. "He was always away on border raids. So I barely knew him. I only feared him. But that day, he seemed entirely different.""He bathed me that night," Mina said, her voice trembling.
SeraShe went completely still. Staring blankly at the wall, it looked exactly like Mina had just traveled back in time.I didn't move. I didn't reach out to touch her. I just sat there and stared, not knowing exactly how to react to the sudden, heavy shift in the room. Slow, silent tears started to well in Mina's eyes, catching the morning light. My heart physically ached watching her. My breathing quickened."Mina," I called softly, shifting closer to her on the mattress.Mina exhaled a shaky breath and shook her head, snapping out of the trance."I was six years old when she died," Mina said. Her shoulders began to shake visibly. "Growing up, my mother had absolutely hated how the Northerners sounded. She hated their barbaric ways. She hated their harsh, guttural accents. So she did everything in her power to preserve mine. She taught me every single day. She only spoke to me in the Southern tongue."I nodded slowly. That was why. When I had first arrived in the North, I immediatel
SeraI let out a long, shaky exhale. The relief was a physical weight dropping off my chest.Mina stared at me, a slight, lingering giggle still hiding in her voice. "Did you suddenly hate me just then? Just because of the tiny possibility that I could be fucking your mate?"I looked at her. Was that what that feeling was? Hate?The immediate thought of Kane rushed into my mind. I remembered how he had proudly paraded Elara around the Blackwater pack house, fully knowing he was mated to me. He didn't think it was a big deal to bring another woman into our space. He didn't care for a single second about how I felt watching him touch her.For one terrifying minute, when Mina casually mentioned fucking Fenris, I didn't even see her as his sister anymore. It just felt like another woman threatening to take my mate away. Just like Elara did.Elara had threatened my place. She had taken my man. She locked it all down by getting pregnant with his heir, and that was the end of it. I remembere
SeraTaya’s smile sharpened. "What exactly is 'this'?""The hot water will help your legs," Fenris cut in before she could escalate. "You could barely stand when we arrived. The minerals will help the joints heal properly."I stared at him, trying to find the lie. If you want to fuck me, just say it
SeraI spent the first hour after kicking Mina out pacing the length of my room. The stone floor was cold, but I didn’t bother looking for shoes. My mind was a mess of sharp edges and half-finished thoughts. I kept coming back to the way Fenris had looked on his knees. He was a man built like a sieg
SeraI woke up when a shaft of grey light hit my face. The fire had burned down to glowing chunks of orange, but the room was still warm enough that I didn't want to move. I lay there for a second, my mind immediately replaying Fenris on his knees, his massive hand wrapped around my foot. The memor
SeraA murmur went around the table. Some of the chiefs looked uncomfortable, but others were nodding. Fenris’s expression didn't change. "You are suggesting I flog my own mate?"."The law doesn't make exceptions for mates," Kael said. "If anything, the Alpha’s mate should be held to a higher stand







