Before I had pleaded with Kael to undergo the bloodline rite alongside me, it never crossed my mind that something could go wrong within the healer-den.
But the moment I caught sight of that she-wolf in the shadowed corridor, her lips grazing against his ear, her body pressed close enough to mingle their scents—
My trust shattered like ice beneath a heavy paw.
"Try to keep your heart steady. Let us wait for the bloodline results before making any decisions, yes?"
Once I had gathered myself, Healer Elena worked to calm my racing pulse. She began compiling a record of every wolf who could have accessed the specimens—from the initial harvest during my heat cycle to the sacred conception rite itself.
"Selene, I give you my word—if this breach occurred within our healer-den, we will treat it with the utmost gravity."
"I have already pushed for the bloodline results. Rushed under moon-seal authority. You will have them by nightfall at the latest. I will send word the moment they arrive."
Kael, meanwhile, kept playing the role of devoted mate.
The pack escort he had arranged for me was already waiting outside the healer-den gates.
"Selene, I will be working through the night at the central den. I arranged for fresh-caught game to be delivered—make certain you eat."
He rushed through the words, eager to sever our mind-link.
"Kael, I truly feel unwell. Can you return to our den and stay with me? Forget the territory negotiations. I just want you here."
His voice turned sharp with impatience. "Selene, do not be difficult. Those negotiations mean better resources for our pup."
When I sensed no softening through our weakened bond, I cleared my throat. "Kael, let me ask you something. Did you ever undergo the phantom-labor trial—with someone else?"
A beat of silence stretched between us like a hunter's snare.
"Selene, I know I should have gone with you. But honestly, I would rather spend that time securing our territory's future than waste it on something without practical purpose."
A female voice carried through in the background, urging him to hurry with a familiar ease that made my fur want to rise.
Kael's words came faster. "Selene, my pack liaison is calling. I must go."
I set the communication crystal face-down on the fur-draped couch and wiped the tears from my cheeks.
A message arrived through the pack-net from Dorian Stormhart.
He had found her.
Her name was Raven Duskthorn. Kael's first love.
Her broken bloodline and rogue-touched family had never met the Ironclaw Pack's standards for a Beta's mate. The season they came of age, under pressure from the pack elders, Kael had been forced to sever their bond-courtship.
But after he mated with me, they had never truly let go.
Raven loved documenting her life. She was a moderately popular howl-caller on the pack-net.
On her mark-thread, I discovered a different Kael.
He smiled. He posed for memory-captures. He prepared meals with his own hands.
Nothing like the Kael I knew—the one who did nothing but work himself to exhaustion for pack standing.
It turned out that during our bonding journey, they had already reconnected.
For all ten nights of our mating celebration travels, she had stayed in the den chamber next to ours.
That was her very first pack-net mark.
In the captured image, Kael wore the bonding band I had selected for him myself—silver etched with our intertwined house symbols.
He was holding Raven on the moonlit shore, kissing her.
And in that moment, it finally made sense.
The scarred marking on his left ring finger—the one he had been so desperate to burn away with silver salve.
It was the initial runes of her name.
Like a wolf drawn to her own wounds, I scrolled through all 349 of her posts.
Then I opened her latest update.
A modest waystation den near the healer-territory.
Kael's rumpled clothing and leather belt draped over a carved chair.
That belt. The one I had given him for our first mating anniversary, tooled with protective wards.
Raven had marked beneath the image: "My wolf's hunting skills are impressive. I am well-fed tonight."
I replied to her mark: "That belt belongs to my bonded mate."
I attached the memory-capture of Kael examining that same belt the night I had gifted it.
The howl-stream erupted.
Wolves flooded in from across the territory networks, calling Raven a bond-breaker, a shadow-mate, a disgrace to Omega-kind.
My communication crystal hummed. Healer Elena's voice came through, low and steady as a winter stream.
"Selene. Tomorrow morning, first light. I have secured you the earliest ritual time for the termination."
