His brow furrowed deeper, dark eyes narrowing. "Come to think of it, I ran into Raven's mate a few days ago at the border patrol gathering. Couldn't tell they were heading for a Bond Severance."
"It's Raven's decision alone," I said, keeping my voice even. "Her mate doesn't know yet."
"Isn't dissolving a mating bond supposed to be a two-wolf decision?" Confusion clouded his handsome features.
I looked him straight in the eye, holding his gaze without flinching. "Because Raven discovered her mate was secretly meeting up with his first intended—the one he'd courted before her—behind her back. She caught traces of the other female's scent on him. She couldn't accept it, so she decided to file the petition quietly with the Mooncourt. If she confronted him directly, he'd probably refuse to agree right away and invoke his Alpha rights."
Righteous indignation flashed across his features, his wolf bristling visibly beneath his skin. "Then she absolutely should sever the bond. A wolf like that is unworthy of his rank."
I lowered my gaze and said nothing.
Fenris knew Raven's mate personally—they'd hunted together, shared territory patrols.
Given how he always prided himself on knowing everything about his inner circle, there was no way he didn't know whether Rowan had a first intended or not.
Yet he hadn't hesitated for even a second before agreeing with me.
Which meant his mind was already somewhere else entirely.
"How much longer on Aurora's Bond Dissolution cooling period?" I asked suddenly.
"Fifteen more days." The answer came without a moment's thought—he'd clearly been counting down each moonrise.
I gazed at the pale sunlight streaming through the lodge window, watching dust motes dance in the golden beams. "That should line up nicely, then."
"What?" He blinked, confusion rippling through his scent.
"Nothing."
I smiled and let it drop.
His message-sigil pulsed with an incoming call.
This wolf who hadn't spared a single thought for my seventeen missed howl-calls now answered on reflex, like a trained response burned into his very bones.
"Hello, Aurora?"
His voice turned gentle instantly, all the hard edges of the Alpha melting away.
Through the sigil's connection came Aurora's tearful whimper: "Fenris, I'm alone in the den and I'm so scared. There are strange scents near the boundary."