I brought my five-moon-old pup back to my birth den, but the cub from the neighboring territory seized a moment when my guard was down.
He carried my son away and abandoned him inside the old cold-iron ice locker at my family's border-trade post.
I searched like a wolf gone feral through the entire night, until some dark instinct finally drew my gaze toward that locker.
When I pulled it open, my son's frozen body made me shatter completely.
I ran desperately to the pack healers, but they declared him gone the moment they laid eyes on him.
After I howled for the Wardens, they traced the scent-trails and found the truth through witness-charm records.
The one who threw my pup into that freezing death was the ten-year-old cub from the Ashfang den next door.
But because he hadn't yet presented—still too young under pack law—he bore no blood-debt responsibility.
They offered me a blood-price of a few hundred thousand in tribute shares and thought that would close the matter.
I refused to accept it. I took up a silver blade, determined to claim vengeance for my son with my own claws.
But halfway there, a massive vehicle struck me and ran over my body again and again.
Only after confirming my life had ended did they leave the scene.
When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to that afternoon when I first arrived at my birth den.
1.
The moment I came back, I felt a strange disorientation wash over me.
Instinctively, I looked down at my arms and found my pup wasn't there. I immediately rushed into the sleeping chamber.
When I saw my baby lying in his nest, reaching his tiny hands toward me, my heart finally settled.
I gathered him up at once and hurried to my older sister's den.
I asked Selene to watch over him for a while.
Then I returned, pretending nothing had happened, acting as if everything was normal.
Because I needed to know what that little monster from the neighboring den truly wanted.
I stayed at my sister's den for a long time, talking about nothing important.
On my way back, I spotted the Ashfang cub standing at the entrance, grinning at me.
The same expression as in my previous life—it made my fur want to rise.
He seemed to recognize me, calling out "Aunt Lyra" in that knowing way.
I nodded at him, my expression complicated.
Perhaps my parents mentioned me often during their conversations with the neighbors, I reasoned.
Just as I was about to climb the stairs, I noticed he was following behind me.
In the dark stairwell, I could hear footsteps that didn't match my own.
Every floor I ascended, he followed one floor behind.
Only when I quickened my pace and reached my door did he finally bounce away toward his own den.
My father opened the door with an anxious expression. "Where did you go this afternoon? Did you take the pup somewhere?"
When I had carried little Evan away earlier, I hadn't told my parents.
I was about to nod when a scream suddenly pierced up from below.
It sounded like my mother's voice.
My heart seized. I immediately ran downstairs and burst into the trade post.
"Mother, what happened? What's wrong?"
When Mara pointed toward the ice locker with trembling hands, I walked over.
I opened it, and when I saw the frozen infant inside, shock struck me like lightning.
I was absolutely certain—Evan was safe at my sister's den.
Then whose pup was this in the locker?
Looking at the body, it appeared to have been placed there sometime that afternoon. Now it was completely rigid.
The face had turned purple, and frost clung to the tiny eyelashes.
It was nearly impossible to make out the pup's features clearly.
My mother had never witnessed anything like this.
Her face went white as bone, and she nearly collapsed in the middle of it all.
She kept asking me if what was in that locker was real.
I didn't know how to answer her.
I asked my father, who had followed me down, to stay by her side and comfort her.
Then I pulled out my communication charm and called the Wardens directly.
During that time, neighbors from all the surrounding dens crowded around the entrance.
They had all heard my mother's scream and come to see what the commotion was about.
I lowered my head, trying to piece together whose pup this could be.
Looking at the features alone, there was an unsettling resemblance to Evan.
But I swore I had never seen this infant before.
And I could say with absolute certainty—
This pup had definitely been placed here by the Ashfang cub.
Suddenly I understood why he had smiled at me like that.
It was a smile of triumph.
Thinking back to my previous life, if I hadn't sent my son to my sister's den in time...
