Elder Weston held Elara and Lyra in his gaze,his knowing smile thin and challenging.“Could it be that Alpha Ryder Thorne’s Claimed Mate is—”
“It is none of your concern,Elder,”Ryder interrupted with a fierce,low growl,clearly unwilling to discuss the fractured state of his claim with a Pack outsider.
The Elder nodded calmly,his eyes never leaving Elara.“I apologize,Alpha.These cycles,open claims are quite common among the Northern Packs.Ryder,you must be…”
He paused,a dark,dangerous smirk playing on his lips before he drawled sarcastically,“Do not worry,I know when to cease my territorial sniffing.”
Before Ryder could fully ignite with Alpha rage,the Elder turned to leave.As he melted into the shadows beyond the Keep’s perimeter,he tossed a final,chilling barb over his shoulder:“If you ever require my services for a severance,Alpha.Come to me.I will grant the Claimed Mate a sizable discount.”
Ryder instinctively glared at Elara,his voice cold with suspicion.“My Mate and I share a strong,functional bond,Elder.”
Elder Weston was already gone,lost to the scent trails,so it was unclear if he had heard.
But Lyra definitely did.
She leaned into Ryder,feigning a drunken wobble.Her eyes,magnified by her emotional state,were watery as she whispered,“Ryder...Am I disrupting the sanctity of your claim with Elara?”
Before he could respond,her face crumpled in practiced grief,and she struggled to pull away.“You are no longer my adopted Alpha...You have a Mate now...I shouldn’t be a burden.I must return to my solitary den.”
Ryder seized her tighter,his powerful hands gripping her upper arms.
His voice dropped to a pitch so soft it could melt the mountain ice,laden with raw protectiveness.“I may not be the Alpha who formally raised you...But you are always welcome and safe within my territory,Lyra.”
His burning gaze,full of an inappropriate depth of feeling,made Lyra’s face turn an even deeper shade of scarlet.Meanwhile,Elara stood a few feet away,observing the scene like a useless human sentinel guarding a bond that didn't exist.
Finally,Ryder seemed to recall her presence.Releasing Lyra,he looked at Elara with a fleeting flicker of guilt.“Elara...You don’t mind,do you?Lyra is my pack-sister,after all.”
He had already prepared the placating words—the Alpha rituals to soothe a jealous Mate.
But she only offered him a faint,hollow smile and said,“I do not mind,Alpha.”
Those three words were light and airy,yet they felt like a jagged piece of bone stabbing into her own heart.
The next morning,Elara woke up and instinctively reached for the other side of the massive,custom-made bed.Ryder’s side was already cold and empty.The bed only smelled of the residual musk of Alpha sleep—no lingering presence.She pulled on her silk robe and walked barefoot down the third-floor hallway,looking down toward Lyra’s temporary chamber on the second floor.
Through the slightly ajar door,she caught the scene.Ryder,the Alpha King,was carefully feeding Lyra a bowl of a pack remedy for the ceremonial mead hangover.
When Lyra frowned and pouted,Ryder gently blew on the spoon to cool the broth.When she complained about her tangled hair,he picked up a comb—a human,delicate tool—and skillfully tied a complex,beautiful ponytail for her.
Elara’s nails dug deep into the soft skin of her palm as she watched,her breath hitched in her throat.
Then,the memory returned.She recalled the time she suffered internal bleeding after drinking too much with the Pack’s trade allies.The next morning,Ryder only asked the Omega servants to prepare her a common,bland soup.She had once tearfully asked him to tie her hair into a simple ponytail for her,but he had simply stated,“I do not possess the human skill for such a trivial task.”
Elara stood frozen until Ryder finally guided Lyra out of the room,their forms vanishing down the spiral staircase.
Her legs were numb,but she stubbornly refused to move.
She refused to descend and play the part of the foolish,irrelevant Claimed Mate—the useless shadow in their perfectly scripted fated love story.
Perhaps because her mind was elsewhere,lost in the icy solitude of her decision,Elara misjudged the steep,carved stairs as she finally walked down.She stumbled.Then,she fell heavily,her body thudding painfully against the polished stone steps.
“Ah!”
A sharp,searing pain exploded in her lower abdomen.She curled up on the cold ground,feeling a warm,metallic liquid—the undeniable scent of fresh blood—slowly spreading beneath her.
Her face,usually pale,turned a ghostly white.With trembling fingers,she pressed her lower belly.A horrifying,visceral realization hit her:The life she carried was trying to leave her.
“The Mate!The Alpha’s Mate!”
The elderly Pack Servant rushed over in a panic.When the servant saw the dark blood spreading on the floor,her composure shattered.“I—I will call the Pack Healers immediately!And the Alpha’s private comm!”
The servant quickly seized Elara’s rejected phone.“I have tried the Alpha King’s private line ten times,Mate,but he is outside the range!I have tried seventeen times on your line...No response from the Alpha’s comm-link…”
On the harsh metal gurney,Elara weakly opened her eyes and grabbed the Healer’s sleeve.
“I…I will sign the decree myself…I do not want the pup…”
Her voice was barely a whisper,but it carried the chilling,crushing weight of a final judgment.
Elara remembered how Ryder had commanded her to prepare for a Pack heir just two moon cycles ago,securing the future of their shaky bond.She had ceased the human suppressant.This pup had come unexpectedly—a desperate,fragile link.
Now,it was leaving her,just as unexpectedly.
The lead Healer spoke with grave concern.“The situation is critical,Mate.The pup may not survive the trauma,but we can attempt a full bond restoration—”
“There is no need,”Elara whispered,closing her eyes.
Tears,hot and silent,slipped down her temples and into the cold metal beneath her head.On the unforgiving surgical slab,the bright,sterile surgical light burned her eyelids.The metallic sounds of the tools were sharp and mechanical,and every movement felt like a piece of her very Claimed flesh was being cut away.
Elara bit down hard on her lip until she tasted the sharp tang of her own blood,refusing to make a sound.She refused to scream.She refused to let the Alpha feel the pain of his dereliction.She refused to feel anything at all.
