Chapter 2

The next morning, I had just finished packing the herbal texts in my satchel when Lucas pushed the door open and walked in.

He was carrying a snow-fox fur cloak. Without a word, he draped it over my shoulders and slid his arm around my waist.

"Still angry about last night? Let me take you somewhere to clear your head."

I was about to push him away when Vivian's voice chimed in from outside the door.

"Alpha, can I come with you two to the sacred spring to pray?"

Lucas paused, glanced at me, then nodded gently toward the door.

"Come in. This works out. Eileen can mix you something to soothe your nerves after the scare."

Vivian bounced in happily and shot me a challenging look.

"Eileen, you won't mind me crashing your alone time, right? I kept having nightmares all night. I only feel safe when I'm near the Alpha."

I yanked the cloak off my shoulders and tossed it back onto the bed, my voice cold.

"The sacred spring is the exclusive sanctuary of the pack's Alphas and Lunas, generation after generation. Outsiders aren't allowed in."

But Lucas stepped forward and gripped my shoulders, his tone pleading.

"Eileen, don't be so strict."

"Vivian's brother died taking a fatal blow for me. Without him, I never would've lived to wear the Alpha's crown."

His thumb rubbed absently at my cheek, but his eyes kept drifting back to Vivian behind him.

"She's temporarily acting as my Beta now. She just needs to enter the sacred spring once to purge the lingering poison from her old wounds."

"Just do it for my sake. Open the barrier for her this once, okay?"

For the past six months, every time Vivian wanted to cross a line and take something that was mine, Lucas had dragged out her dead brother to force me to back down.

I'd given up the sunny greenhouse on the right side of the main hall. I'd given up the single calming snow lotus that bloomed only once a year. I'd even given up the night he was supposed to spend with me on my birthday.

And every concession only bought more of their encroaching demands.

Vivian's eyes welled up. She timidly tugged at Lucas's sleeve.

"Alpha, don't make things hard for Eileen. If she doesn't want me there, I won't go into the sacred spring."

"Eileen, I'll go grab the ritual vessels for you."

As she spoke, she turned toward the door, but her hand casually picked up a wolf-fang wood carving.

It was the only thing my grandmother had left me before she died.

My mind went white with static. I lunged and grabbed Vivian's wrist.

"Put it down! Don't you touch my grandmother's things!"

Vivian flinched at my fury and let herself fall to the ground.

The wolf-fang carving flew from her hand, hit the stone floor, and snapped in two.

"Ah!"

Vivian sat on the floor, clutching her wrist and sobbing.

Lucas's face changed instantly. He rushed to help her up.

"Vivian, are you okay? Is it bad?"

Vivian sat there, one hand over her wrist, tears swimming in her eyes, but she bit her lip and put on a brave face.

"Alpha, I'm fine... my hand just hurts a little."

"Eileen definitely didn't mean it. It's all my fault for being clumsy and upsetting her..."

The moment Lucas bent down to check her injury, the toe of her foot, hidden beneath her skirt, gave a silent, vicious kick.

The broken halves of the wolf-fang carving on the floor were sent flying with precise aim straight into the blazing charcoal brazier beside us.

"No!"

My eyes went red. I threw myself at the brazier, grabbing at the glowing coals with my bare hands. Blisters rose on my fingertips instantly.

Hearing the commotion, Lucas turned around.

When he saw me grabbing at the coals with my bare hands, his pupils contracted.

"Eileen! Are you insane?! Let go!"

He moved on instinct to rush over, but right then Vivian slumped to the floor.

"Alpha... I can't breathe. My heart palpitations are acting up again..."

Lucas's steps were yanked to a halt.

He gritted his teeth. In the end, he didn't come over to check my mangled palm.

He just pulled a pouch of gold leaves from his pocket and set it on the stone table nearby.

"Eileen, it's just a piece of wood. Is it worth risking your life grabbing at coals?"

"This gold is enough for you to go to the Southern Reaches and find the finest craftsman, to carve ten identical ones from thousand-year spirit wood!"

He avoided my reddened eyes, didn't dare look at my scorched fingers again, and helped Vivian up, striding quickly toward the door.

"I'm taking Vivian to get her wound dressed first. You go find the healer and get that wrapped right now, you hear me?"

With that harsh, blustering scolding, he fled the room with Vivian.

I clutched the charred, blackened half of the wolf-fang. My palm was a bloody mess, but I felt no pain at all.

For three years, he'd known exactly how much this carving meant to me.

Once, a rogue had stolen it, and he'd chased the wolf alone for three days and nights. He'd come back covered in wounds, having fought to get it back for me, and carefully wiped it clean with his sleeve before handing it to me.

Now he'd let it burn to ash in the coals and called it just a piece of wood.

A sharp, violent ache tore through my chest. The first stage of the mate bond's breaking was complete.

I looked down at the charred ruin in my palm, and the last bit of longing I'd held for Lucas scattered completely.

Two more days, and everything between us would be over.