When I discovered once again that the pup growing in my mate's womb belonged to her and her favored lover, I did not lose myself to rage as I had before, demanding she end the pregnancy through deception or force.
Instead, I chose to care for her in silence, ensuring she carried the pup safely to term.
From that moment on, I became the subject of whispers throughout every noble pack territory, feeding the gossip-hungry chroniclers of a thousand dens.
Every unfaithful Alpha-mate dreamed of finding an Omega as tolerant as me to stand beside them.
Bond-breakers across the territories burned offerings to the moon, praying they might seduce someone as docile as my mate.
And the bonded Omegas of powerful packs—they looked upon me as a disgrace to our kind.
Ten moons passed, and she delivered the pup without complication.
When Selene Valeheart emerged from the birthing chamber, she pressed her lips to the back of my hand with the same gentle warmth she had always shown.
"Thanks to your devoted care, the pup Dorian and I created was born healthy and beautiful."
"Don't worry—he only wishes to be called Father. He won't threaten your position as the Valeheart Pack's bonded mate. You are still the one I love most."
Everyone believed I had loved Selene so completely that I could not defeat her lover, so I simply joined them in their arrangement.
But only I knew the truth.
This pup had been forced upon me by Matriarch Aurelia Valeheart, who invoked the ancient Life-Debt Oath from years ago to compel me to see the pregnancy through.
Now that the Valeheart Pack's firstborn heir had arrived, the Bond Severance she had promised me should finally take effect.
1.
The night before Selene gave birth, I had been injected with enough sedatives and bone-weakening draughts to ensure I could not harm her or the pup.
When the drugs wore off and I opened my eyes, she was cradling the newborn with pure joy on her face.
"Mate, the Matriarch has already chosen a name for our pup. Just sign here, and we can register him in the pack records."
She handed me the birth documentation.
The moment I saw the name inscribed there—Noah Frostclaw—my hazy mind snapped into sharp clarity.
Noah.
Remember your first oath.
That had been my hope for my own unborn son, the pup I had dreamed of.
It was the promise we had made to each other about our love.
It was also the name written in the Valeheart lineage scrolls for thirteen generations of firstborn heirs.
Years ago, when I threw myself between Selene and the rogues who had taken her captive, I took a blade meant for her. The wound damaged something deep within me—my ability to sire pups naturally was nearly destroyed.
Our first pup, conceived through the Moon-Blessing Rite, had been seven months along when she helped Dorian Frostclaw through a heat-draught that someone had slipped him. She spent that night tangled in his arms, and the bleeding that followed forced the healers to end the pregnancy early.
That pup had already taken form. A male.
I had planned to raise a rune-stone memorial for him and lay his remains in the ancestral burial grounds.
But the moon-reader said the pup had not reached full term before passing, and the timing was unfavorable. We would need to wait.
That wait stretched beyond a full year.
Throughout her pregnancy, Selene had whispered in my ear countless times, begging to give this illegitimate pup the name Noah Frostclaw.
I had refused every time.
But now, seeing the hopeful light in her eyes, I felt only disgust at the memory of her tears and false remorse.
I knew the Matriarch would never have chosen that name.
This was Dorian Frostclaw's doing—he delighted in taking everything that belonged to me, and he had poured poison into Selene's ear.
The Bond Severance was already certain. Let this pup carry whatever name they wished—I wanted nothing of his faithless mother's bloodline attached to my own.
"Do as you please. Call him whatever you want."
"I have only one condition: do not list me as the pup's sire. My true son's spirit would never accept it."
Selene hesitated, and guilt flickered across her gaze.
"Kael, don't worry. I only used Dorian because he shares half your bloodline. He and I never truly—"
Before she could finish, a crash echoed from beyond the door.
"You worthless cur! Who permitted you to set foot here!"
Dorian Frostclaw had been thrown to the ground, his eyes blazing red with barely contained wolf-light.
"I only wanted to see the pup."
Matriarch Aurelia struck him repeatedly with her walking staff, each blow sharp and unforgiving.
"Get out!"
In that instant, Selene startled like a cornered wolf. Despite her body still weak from the birth, she shoved the pup into my arms without care and rushed toward the door.
The movement tore open the wounds on her arms—hundreds of needle marks from heat-draught injections and self-inflicted gashes, each one the width of a pup's forearm, splitting open and weeping fresh blood.
