Her health had always been fragile, and I refused to let anything disturb her peace.
"Everything is fine. Let us watch the Moonrise Celebration together."
As the hour approached midnight, a commotion erupted beyond our threshold.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Someone was pounding against the ward-sealed door with violent force.
I peered through the window toward the courtyard below. Kael Stormhart's traveling carriage sat at the entrance to our den.
Dread coiled in my stomach. I immediately activated the ward-stone's vision recording.
The moment my father unlatched the door, Kael burst through. Behind him came his mother, his brother, and the rest of their pack.
"The Moonblessing token! Hand it over!"
Morwenna Duskthorn demanded before anyone could draw breath.
I met her gaze without flinching.
"My Moonblessing. Why should I surrender it to any of you?"
"That blessing belongs to the mated pair!"
Morwenna's voice rang with false authority.
"Kael is entitled to half!"
I lowered myself into a chair with deliberate calm.
"Then we shall discuss division when the bond rejection is finalized. Until then, I ask that you leave. This is my birth pack's den."
Morwenna shoved her son forward.
"Speak up! Say something to your mate!"
Kael studied me, his expression caught between conflict and something harder to name.
"Lyra, just bring out the token. We can talk this through properly."
"You call what happened at the feast a proper discussion?"
I held his stare without wavering.
"Rigging the Moonbite omen so I would be the one to find the marked portion? Announcing in front of everyone how my blessing would be divided? Sending your pack to tear through my belongings? That is what you consider talking things through?"
"If you keep defying the matriarch, you will only suffer for it!"
Kael's brow furrowed with frustration.
"You have never been careful with resources. Whatever you keep will vanish soon enough. Better to let Mother manage it."
A cold laugh escaped my throat.
Now I understood completely.
In his heart, there existed only the Stormhart pack. Our small family meant nothing.
I looked directly at Kael and spoke each word with care.
"What if I simply refuse to hand it over? What will you do then? Strike me? Or reject the bond?"
Kael went still.
He had never considered being forced to choose.
But Morwenna leaped up in fury.
"She must have hidden the token with her birth pack! Search everything!"
Seven or eight wolves immediately began tearing through the den, overturning storage chests and ripping open cupboards. The noise woke Liri, who had been sleeping peacefully in her nest of blankets.
My pup's wail split the air.
"Mama, I am scared!"
My mother rushed toward her, arms outstretched to gather the frightened child.
Without warning, Morwenna's hand shot out and shoved my mother with brutal force.
"The token might be hidden on her! Search her too!"
My mother stumbled, her footing lost. She crashed to the floor.
Crack.
The sound was sickening. My mother lay crumpled on the stone, blood pooling from a wound on her head.
"Mother!"
I kicked hard at Kael's grip on my arm and broke free, rushing to gather her limp form.
But my poor mother had already lost consciousness. No words would come from her lips.
"You! All of you are murderers!"
Rage turned my vision red. My entire body shook with it.
Everyone froze.
None of them had expected this outcome.
Kael moved as if to approach, but Morwenna seized his arm and held him back.
My father had gone pale with shock, his voice barely a whisper.
"We must... we must get her to the healer-den..."
I fumbled desperately for my communication crystal, ready to summon the healers.
But Morwenna snatched it from my grasp.
"No summoning! First, hand over the Moonblessing token!"
I screamed at her through my tears.
"My mother is dying, and you still think only of the blessing!"
Kael's face twisted with something that might have been reluctance. He opened his mouth to speak, but one look from his mother silenced him.
Morwenna planted her hands on her hips, unmoved.
"If you care so much about your mother, then give us the token! If she dies because of the delay, that blood is on your hands!"
Desperation broke me. Tears streamed down my face.
"Kael, I am begging you. Please, let me take my mother to the healers first. The Moonblessing... I will agree to split it with you."
I had to keep some portion. Without it, I would have no means to pay for my mother's healing.
Morwenna still refused to yield.
"Words mean nothing. Bring out the token first!"
My heart turned to ice within my chest.
I looked at Kael with the last shreds of hope draining away.
