I was about to speak when I looked up and saw Cassius standing behind Eloise.
Those cold, imperious eyes, unchanged in ten years. Not by a fraction. The scent of black frost and ancient stone rolled ahead of him like a warning, and the air in the chamber thickened with the weight of his presence. Every wolf in the hall had already lowered their gaze. Every wolf except me.
When I didn't respond, Eloise ground her teeth and snapped:
"I knew it! You've been playing hard to get this whole time! You say you don't want anything, you don't compete for anything, but the second I tell you to go to the Hollow Den, you won't do it! Liar!"
"Eloise."
Cassius said her name, just once, and every sharp edge on her smoothed out in an instant. She burrowed into his arms, small and pitiful, her wolf settling into the safety of his aura like a pup curling against its sire.
Even though I had given Cassius a daughter five years ago, Eloise was still the only pup who existed in his eyes.
He'd even sent my baby away the day after I gave birth, afraid that having my own pup would make me less devoted to Eloise. A pup I had nearly died delivering.
The agony of labor was nothing compared to the pain of being separated from my daughter.
But for the honor of my bloodline, for my parents stationed on the distant Unclaimed Territories, I had pulled myself together and gone back to pleasing this father and daughter.
Ten years, though.
I was done.
For the first time, I did not bare my throat or lower my gaze to Cassius. I looked him straight in the eye.
"Your wolf Seraphina Thornfield has offended the late Luna and failed in her care of the Alpha's heir. I request to be sent to the Hollow Den."
Cassius walked toward me, slow and deliberate. Those deep-set eyes betrayed nothing. His Alpha aura pressed against my skin like a hand on my chest, but I held my ground.
"Are you throwing a tantrum?"
"But you did offend the late Luna today."
I knelt and pressed my forehead to the cold stone floor. "The fault is mine. I ask the Alpha to send me to the Hollow Den."
I had called myself "your wolf," not "your bonded." The same term I'd used ten years ago, before any of this began.
Cassius's brow furrowed tight.
"Eloise spoke out of anger. Why must you hold it against her? Besides, she can't do without you."
"Apologize to her nicely, right now, and I'll pretend I never heard any of this."
He assumed I would do what I had always done: lower my head and beg their forgiveness.
I didn't move. Somewhere deep inside me, my wolf lay flat and still, her muzzle between her paws. Not in submission. In refusal.
Eloise, tired of waiting for her apology, balled her fists and charged at me, pounding blow after blow against my body.
"You're the one who wants to take my mother's place! Why won't you apologize to me!"
"You promised you'd never have pups of your own besides me! You lied! You're the one who wronged me!"
Her fists struck the exact spot where I'd been injured half a moon cycle ago, saving her when she fell during a pack run. Pain tore through me so fast my face contorted.
Cassius only looked annoyed. "She's a ten-year-old pup. How hard can she possibly hit?"
Then the blood began seeping through my shoulder, staining the fabric dark.
Only then did his expression shift. He reached out and caught Eloise's arm.
Eloise stared at the spreading red, startled, but she still lifted her chin in defiance.
"You were already hurt. Don't you dare blame me for that!"
I looked at Eloise with a bitter half-smile. "The Alpha's heir is absolutely right."
I had no desire to argue with a pup. All I wanted now was to get away from this father and daughter as fast as I could.
I had promised Cassius I would never bear a pup of my own. Every time I was called to his chambers, I drank the wolfsbane fertility suppressant without fail.
But five years ago, Cassius had accidentally been dosed with a heat-triggering tonic. That night he was relentless, and I couldn't escape him.
I didn't wake until the following evening. I took the suppressant immediately.
Two weeks later, the routine health check from the pack healer still came back carrying.
Cassius said nothing at the time, but his brow stayed knotted, and it didn't ease.
The Unclaimed Territories were in crisis then. Morale among the border wolves had plummeted.
Cassius, still seething, had been withholding supply shipments to the frontier outposts. To rally the wolves, to give my parents and brother fighting on the border something to hold on to, I had no choice.
I let word of the pregnancy spread.
Cassius had no sons. For a pack bloodline, there was no greater vulnerability.
So when news broke that I was carrying a pup, the entire realm believed the Valdoran line finally had an heir.
