Caspian froze for a moment. "What, you're going to claim you have some connection to the Alpha Heir? The one who barely shows his face at pack gatherings?"
I let out a bitter laugh. "I've heard he's fond of the Bloodhowl frequency. If we could earn even a smile from him, get him to attend your mating ceremony, wouldn't that be a feather in your cap?"
He looked half-convinced at best. "A wolfless wretch like you would know the Alpha Heir's preferences?"
"Believe it or don't. If it turns out to be false, it costs you nothing."
After Caspian left, I curled into the corner of the bed. My body burned with fever, and a vicious pain twisted through my lower abdomen, but no one came.
Looking back now, meeting Seraphina Blackthorn was the single greatest regret of my life.
Somewhere in the haze of unconsciousness, I caught the distant sound of a Bloodhowl threading through the night air outside the window. The frequency that only Ashvale blood could produce, and only Ashvale-sworn sentinels could answer.
Only then did I let myself breathe, and smile.
Long ago, my father and I had made a pact: no matter when or where, if a Bloodhowl carried on the wind, it meant I was in danger. Someone would come to take me away.
At some point, Seraphina arrived. She sat at the edge of my bed for a long while.
When she saw me open my eyes, she touched my forehead. "The fever's broken. Come on, sit up and have some broth."
I dragged myself upright, every joint screaming. My inner wolf, which had been a constant low hum at the back of my mind for as long as I could remember, was silent now. Not sleeping. Gone quiet in a way that felt like a room after someone has died in it. "Caspian was here. He forced an entire dose of Severance Root down my throat. Did you know that?"
Seraphina's expression stiffened. She lowered her gaze. "I knew."
"You knew?"
I fought with everything I had to keep the tears from falling. Inside the hollow space where my wolf should have been, there was nothing. No growl of rage, no surge of betrayal. Just silence, vast and terrible, like pressing your ear to a chest and hearing no heartbeat.
She reached for my hand. I pulled away.
"Fenris, he was only protecting himself. If you and I were to have pups someday, where would that leave him and his bloodline? Where would that leave the pups? It's only natural."
I laughed, hollow and sharp. Natural. What a convenient excuse.
Seraphina set down the bowl and spoke again. "Caspian's been doubled over with stomach pains ever since he got back to his den. It's possible some dark energy from you affected him..."
She trailed off, watching me, choosing her next words carefully.
"There's a venerable elder at Moonspire Shrine. I need you to go to him, have him perform a cleansing rite for you, and then climb every one of the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine steps in wolf form to obtain a Moon Goddess blessing charm for Caspian. Do that, and we can put this whole matter behind us. All right?"
I stared at her, my eyes burning red.
"Seraphina Blackthorn, you and I are finished. If you want a blessing charm, go get it yourself."
I forced my battered body off the bed, trying to leave this wretched place.
But Seraphina blocked my path.
She ordered her servants to drag me away. They ignored my struggling, threw me onto a horse, and rode hard to the foot of Moonspire Shrine.
"Take him up the mountain."
Two guards seized me, one on each side. The steps were inlaid with silver dust, and even through my boots I could feel the burn. I hauled my broken body forward, one step, one bow, one step, one bow. Except I couldn't shift. The Severance Root had stolen that from me. So I climbed as a man on hands and knees over silver-laced stone, and the burning was just burning, with no wolf to share the pain.
Two days without food or water, freshly poisoned and wounded. I passed out and came to and passed out again along the way.
I have no memory of how I obtained the blessing charm. All I know is that the moment I saw Seraphina waiting at the bottom, my legs gave out and I collapsed.
She caught me and gathered me into her arms. Her scent hit me then, night-blooming jasmine over cold steel, and for the first time it made me sick.
"Fenris, you've suffered so much. I promise, even after I mate with Caspian, you'll be the only one in my heart."
I closed my eyes slowly. Three days ago, I might have believed those words. Now they made my stomach turn.
"You have your blessing charm. Let me go."
But she ignored my plea and had me carried back to the den.
"Fenris, don't be stubborn. Tomorrow is my mating ceremony. Caspian has agreed to let you keep living in the den afterward. You'll stay out of each other's way. All right?"
Before she left, she added one last instruction: "The Alpha Heir may attend the ceremony tomorrow. Stay in the den and don't cause trouble."
Shortly after she was gone, my father's shadow sentinels found me.
I looked in the direction she had disappeared, then at this countryside den that had never truly been mine, and a quiet smile crossed my lips.
Tomorrow, I hope you have no regrets.
On the morning of the mating ceremony, the Stormfang estate was draped in moonsilk banners, every corner bursting with celebration. Seraphina stood shoulder to shoulder with Caspian in her ceremonial gown, radiant in white and silver.
The ceremony was about to begin when a voice rang out from beyond the gates: "The Alpha Heir of the Ashvale Bloodline has arrived!"
