Seraphina's POV
On the anniversary of our mating, my Alpha-mate took me and our pup to the festival grounds at the edge of the human city, where the lights spun bright against the dark treeline.
Midway through the day, an urgent call pulled him away through his communicator. To my horror, the great spinning ride above us groaned and seized, the gears locking, leaving my pup stranded high in the air with me, the wind cold and thin around us.
Clutching her trembling body against my chest, I called her father over and over, ninety-nine times, before he answered at last.
My voice was hoarse as I pleaded for help. But instead of his worried answer, what reached my ears was the sound of muffled, intimate breathing.
Then, after a pause, a woman's voice came through.
"Roderick, back then, when you chose to give up Seraphina's cub in order to save our pup, I was truly moved. I have nothing else to give you, except my body."
There was a brief silence before Roderick Blackmoor answered, his tone low.
"I promised you. I would protect our pup at all costs. As for Seraphina's cub, he never should have survived in the first place."
At that moment, my tears spilled uncontrollably. Somewhere deep inside me, my wolf made a sound I had never heard her make, a low keening that had no name.
For years, I had carried the guilt of losing my cub when he was three.
But now I knew. He hadn't gone missing at all. Roderick had sacrificed him, to save the pup of his precious first love.
With the last of my strength, I dialed Caspian Sterling's number.
"I'll mate you. But I want you to destroy the Blackmoors. Especially Roderick."
A low, satisfied laugh came through.
"Sure. Nothing would please me more."
——
After ending the call, I clutched my pup in my arms. Her scent, new snow and warm milk, was the only thing keeping my wolf from tearing free of my skin.
Just then, Roderick's communicator chimed again. I answered it without saying a word.
"Roderick," a woman's voice came through, "I saw it on the spirit network. There seems to have been an accident at the festival grounds Seraphina and her pup went to. Do you want to go check on them?"
Roderick's voice on the other end was completely indifferent.
"You still have the energy to worry about things like that? Seems I didn't tire you out enough. Besides, those two aren't fools. I'm guessing the moment I left, they were no longer in the mood to have fun."
I could hear the sound of the woman kissing him.
It was then that I finally recognized her voice. Calla Thornwood, Roderick's first love. Her scent had always clung to him faintly when he came home, sweet jasmine curdling over something rotten beneath, and my wolf had growled at it for moons without my understanding why.
When the Blackmoor territory had collapsed into ruin, Calla hadn't hesitated to flee for the far Northern Alpine lands.
And I, I gave up my arranged mating with Caspian to bond myself to Roderick, who at the time had nothing, no rank, no territory, no name worth speaking in the pack councils.
For ten years, he treated me like a treasure. I truly believed we were happy. I had believed his scorched cedar and woodsmoke meant home.
But in reality, before I knew it, my Alpha-mate's heart had long since changed.
Tears streamed down my face. Wrenna, my pup, must've sensed my pain, because she reached up to gently touch my cheek with one small hand.
On the other end of the line, Calla kept talking. I covered my pup's ears, and with a heart cold as ash, I kept listening.
"Roderick," she asked sweetly, "if our pup were to have another accident, would you save him again? I remember Seraphina still has a daughter left."
My chest tightened sharply. Calla had already been the cause of my cub's death, and now she had set her sights on my pup too.
I had thought, even if Roderick had no love left for me, he would never harm our pup.
But the next second, he replied without hesitation. "When that time comes, I won't think twice. I promised you. Only our pup can be the bloodline heir."
Delight filled Calla's voice, though she feigned concern. "But, if Seraphina ever found out, wouldn't she hate you?"
Roderick paused briefly before answering coldly. "She won't hate me. Those two cubs are my due. She owes them to me. Back then, she was the one who climbed into Caspian's bed first. If both those cubs die, so much the better."
"I'll never reject her. She'll remain my Luna forever. I've already been generous enough to her," he added.
The moment his words ended, I heard the unmistakable sounds of intimacy on the other end.
In that instant, I finally understood why Roderick had done everything he'd done.
My eyes burned, my vision swimming red, hatred clawing at me until I could barely breathe. My wolf surged beneath my skin, claws pressing at my fingertips, every instinct in me screaming to tear Roderick and Calla to pieces.
When the Blackmoor bloodline had fallen into crisis, my own family had not held enough power in the councils to save them.
It was I who went to Caspian, clinging to the remnants of our old feelings.
Caspian agreed to pour his pack's strength into saving Roderick's territory, on the condition that I spend a single day with him.
When I told Roderick, he only smiled, brushed his fingers through my hair, and said gently, "I trust you. Besides, you're doing this for me. I'll never let you down for the rest of my life."
So this. This was his idea of never letting me down.
From that day on, he saw me as tainted. As marked by another wolf's scent.
He even began to doubt whether the twins were truly his.
The thought made my stomach churn. I ended the call without a shred of hesitation.
I knew full well it had been Calla calling.
And yet, I still felt a twisted kind of gratitude. At least she'd laid all the truth bare for me.
A few minutes later, she sent a barrage of taunting messages across the sending-stone thread, along with crystal-captured images of her in bed with Roderick.
I saved every single one, studying them until I could see every detail clearly.
Not long after, my communicator pulsed with a message from Caspian.
[Seven days from now, I'll come for you. Hold on three more minutes. My warriors are nearly at the grounds.]
Reading that made me finally let out a sigh of relief.
I had survived a thousand meters in the air.
Now, the ones who should die. It would be Roderick and Calla.
