"Marrying each other through mating has consequences. One of you will die if two decades pass and you fail to break the sacred bond with your spouses," the babaylan had warned.
Being married to Devon while still bound to Daniel was no easy feat. That’s why we did it through mating instead of making it sacred. Every week, we had to visit the babaylan to perform the ritual. We couldn’t proceed without the oil that protected my heart from breaking, since I was still linked to my true husband.
For Devon, there was no risk. The danger lay solely with me.
"My son will start his training tomorrow," Devon informed me as I prepared the tools for mating.
I nodded quietly, keeping my focus on my task.
"My daughters are learning everything they need to know," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I knew I was leading them into a grim life of vengeance, but peace had long been a distant dream for us. Retribution remained the only path.
"How was your visit to them?" I asked, wiping sweat from my brow as he adjusted his sleeves.
“They’re preparing to appoint someone as alpha. They’ve made it seem as if their adopted son is their biological heir.”
I smirked. “The rogue boy? A full-blood alpha? That’s laughable.”
I stood and faced him, meeting the eyes of the man who had been my companion in suffering for years. We had grown accustomed to each other’s presence—partners in crime and sin, not love. What connected us was rage and a hunger for revenge, a bond of ruin that left no space for tenderness.
Still, it wasn’t hard to see why humans whispered behind our backs, calling us sorcerers who never aged.
Devon’s form remained as formidable as ever, his mature face chiselled with a dark aura that never faded.
To the world, he was my husband. But every time we performed the mating ritual, my blood screamed for Daniel.
Soon, I would end him. The time was close.
“It’s a long process,” Devon continued, his expression hard. “I’ve already planted the idea in the council that your brother never owned your wealth. It rightfully belongs to you.”
“But doesn’t everyone believe I’m dead?”
“Some of your father’s loyalists still remember. They know you bore a child and sent him to another pack. That inheritance could fall to him.”
I clenched my jaw. "We need to find that child before they do. If it’s about wealth, others might use the child to challenge the next alpha. We can’t afford any obstacles."