I hid my identity and lived as an ordinary mate with Seraphina Blackthorn.
The day I learned she was carrying pups, she said it without warning: "I'm bonding with the Alpha heir of the Stormfang Pack in three days."
"I'm actually the trueborn daughter of the Elder Councilor's bloodline. He and I are a proper match. The bonding gifts have already been delivered to my family's estate, and... he and I have already consummated our bond."
When she saw me frozen in place, she added, "I'll set you up with a den. You'll never want for anything."
I stared at her in disbelief. "So I'm to be a kept wolf, hidden away for the rest of my life. Is that it?"
Seraphina turned her face away. "He's a kind and respectable mate. As long as you don't cause a scene in front of him, I can give you everything except the title."
A sharp sting hit the bridge of my nose. I never imagined I meant so little to her.
"What if I told you... that I could match your status?"
——
Seraphina froze for a moment. A long silence passed before she spoke.
"Fenris Ashvale, I know it was wrong of me to hide my identity and bond with someone else. But the world doesn't run on 'what ifs.' In all of the Crescent Dominion, the only wolf who matches my standing is the Alpha heir of the Stormfang Pack."
"We've been mates at the foot of this mountain for three years. I know exactly who you are."
But she had hidden her bloodline. How could she be so sure I hadn't done the same?
I looked around. The den we had built with our own hands. The territory we had cleared together. I refused to believe any of this was real.
"Seraphina, you're carrying my pups. Can't we just go back to the way things were? Please don't bond with him."
My gaze locked onto the woman in front of me. If she would just say yes, I was willing to forgive everything.
But all she did was press her lips together and say, quietly, "He and I have already been intimate. I have to take responsibility for that."
My eyes burned red. My body wouldn't stop shaking. "And what about me? Don't you owe me that same responsibility? What about our pups?"
Seraphina reached out and wiped the tears from my cheek. Her eyes were full of ache.
"Fenris, I'm only taking a mate. I'm not abandoning you."
"There's a three-courtyard den on the outskirts of the territory. I've already purchased it. If you like the country life, I'll have someone plant herbs and moonberry bushes in the yard for you. Whatever you want, I'll make it happen. Trust me."
I stepped back, shaking my head over and over.
"I won't be locked away as your dirty secret. I won't let myself and our pups live in the shadows for the rest of our lives."
But Seraphina simply walked up to me, her expression unchanged, her voice calm.
"I've never thought of you as a kept wolf. As long as you don't make trouble in front of my mate, you'll still be mine. Isn't that enough?"
I kept shaking my head. "No. It's not. I'm not leaving this place."
This was where Seraphina and I had spent three years of love. I wanted to be here when our pups were born.
"Fenris, you know my mating ceremony cannot have a single flaw. I have to erase every trace of our past. It's the only way to keep you safe."
Before the shock had even settled, she raised her hand. The guards behind her stepped forward with torches and set the entire den ablaze.
In an instant the fire roared to life, swallowing the timber cabin, the fence, the courtyard whole. Something deep in my chest lurched — my wolf, silent for so long beneath the herbs I used to suppress my scent, throwing itself against the walls of my ribs in a soundless howl.
I gripped the fence and screamed. "No! Stop! Stop it!"
Seraphina pulled me away and pressed my thrashing body against her chest.
She held me there while I struggled and howled. Her scent washed over me — night-blooming jasmine over cold steel — and underneath it, something acrid that I had never let myself name until now.
"Fenris, when the time is right, I'll make you my secondary mate. Our pups can carry the title of a legitimate heir. We can be just like before."
But Seraphina, I am the Alpha Heir. How could I ever be your secondary mate?
The den was gone. There was no going back.
