I was an ordinary Death Walker from the Hollowmere Pack. By chance, I pulled both the Alpha Heir Fenris and the Beta Lord Hadeon Ravencrest from the river, and I became pregnant with the Alpha Heir's pup.
On the night of our Moon Ceremony, the Alpha Heir never showed. He took his bonding procession to Elder Thornwood's den and mated Cressida Thornwood instead.
I tried to confront him, but Hadeon Ravencrest stepped in my way.
He confessed that he was the one who'd gotten me pregnant that night. He said he was willing to bond with me and take care of me for the rest of my life.
A moon cycle after the bonding, raiders descended on my pack. All one hundred and ten households were slaughtered. Not a single soul survived.
Standing before that mountain of corpses, wolves denied their Moonfire Rite, I collapsed under the weight of my grief. I lost the pup.
Hadeon never left my side, never even changed out of his bloodstained clothes. It took a long time, but slowly, he pulled me back from the edge.
Three years later, I was carrying again. I wanted to tell Hadeon the good news right away, but on my way to find him, I overheard a conversation between him and a friend.
"Hadeon, the Alpha Heir keeps undermining you at every turn. Doesn't that eat at you? Back then, you bonded Perenna Ashvane for his sake and even claimed a pup that wasn't yours."
"I didn't do it for him. I did it for Cressida. In this territory, the firstborn pup inherits regardless of his mother's rank. If Perenna had given birth to an heir first, how would Cressida ever secure her place in the Alpha King's court?"
"We all know you're hopelessly in love with Cressida Thornwood, but did you really have to annihilate all of Hollowmere to keep them quiet? The Death Walkers have been all but wiped out since then."
"I had no choice. The wolves in Hollowmere knew too much. To eliminate any future threat, every last one of them had to die."
I had always believed that falling for the Alpha Heir was the greatest mistake of my life. I never imagined that falling for Hadeon Ravencrest would prove a far worse one.
……
"Just now, one of the servants from the den came by. Your attendant turned her away, but I think I heard her say Perenna is carrying..."
Hadeon's hand tightened around his cup. It nearly slipped from his grip, but he was always composed. Within a breath, his expression smoothed over.
"I won't let her carry it to term."
"That's your own flesh and blood."
"Her womb carried another wolf's seed once. I find that repulsive. Besides, she spent her whole life handling corpses. Any pup she bears could come out wrong."
Hadeon turned to the attendant standing nearby. "Tell Nyx Whithollow to mix the wolfsbane extract into the lady's meals. Be careful about it. Don't let her find out."
His friend let out a sigh. "Perenna really is pitiful..."
Hadeon went still for a moment. His gaze turned dark and unreadable as he stared into his cup. "I'll let her live out her days as my bonded mate, comfortable and provided for. Consider it compensation."
I clamped a hand over my mouth and crumpled to the ground. My wolf, who had been curled warm and quiet around the new life inside me, went absolutely still. Under the bewildered stares of the servants around me, I scrambled back to the den on my hands and knees.
In the darkness of my room, I wept alone.
So the wolf who had shared my bed that night was never Hadeon at all. And yet he had still bonded me, this tainted she-wolf, willingly, all for Cressida Thornwood.
He had even accepted a pup that had nothing to do with him.
I remembered the day the raiders slaughtered my pack. He had looked at my skirt, soaked through with blood, and wept until he could barely breathe.
He had sworn to me, voice shaking with conviction: "Perenna, I promise you, I won't let the pack die in vain. And I won't let our pup's sacrifice be for nothing."
He kept his word. Within three days, he tracked down the raiders' hideout and killed every last one of them.
For years, I had been overwhelmed with gratitude toward him. It never once crossed my mind that all of it, every single piece, had been his doing from the start.
Nyx's voice came from outside the door. "My lady, your meal is ready."
"Leave it. I'm not hungry."
The food laced with wolfsbane extract. I didn't dare touch it. My wolf pressed herself low against my ribs, guarding the tiny heartbeat beneath my own.
When the pack healer had last checked me, he told me my body was weak, my womb cold and depleted. I needed to rest and take care of myself. If I lost another pup, I would never be able to carry again.
I wanted this pup desperately. Before, it had been for Hadeon.
Now it was for the wolves who had died because of me. The ones whose bones lay unburned, denied their Moonfire Rite, their spirits wandering without the Moon Goddess's light.
I couldn't bring them back. Other than ensuring the Death Walker's legacy carried on, I didn't know what else I could do to make amends.
