When he studied pack laws and territory maps, I'd sit quietly beside him, dozing off or folding herbs.
Once, when my sire was away on a territory patrol, I spiked a high fever in the middle of the night.
Still just a young wolf himself, Kael carried me on his back, stumbling through the dark forest all the way to the healer's den in the main settlement.
I came through fine. He ended up with a deep gash on his foot from a sharp rock that kept him off his feet for three whole months.
I was too young to understand things. The first time my heat cycle came, I thought I was dying.
I sobbed like the world was ending. It was Kael, face burning red beneath his tan, who found the elder Omega healers and awkwardly helped me understand what was happening to my body.
Growing up, we were inseparable. Two halves of a whole.
At twenty, he confessed his feelings. His scent had always called to mine—being together felt like the most natural thing in the world.
At our coming-of-age ceremony, he proposed a mating bond.
He asked me to wait three years—just until he'd built enough pack power for a proper mating feast.
I told him I didn't care about rank or territory. He said whatever other she-wolves had, I deserved too.
I waited three years. What I got was him recognizing another's scent.
After his training was complete, Kael chose to build his own pack influence. My sire gave him warriors, resources, and sanctuary—every bit of power he'd accumulated over his lifetime.
Raven Duskveil was a low-rank attendant who'd joined Kael's growing faction.
She'd clawed her way out of the mountain outposts through sheer grit. Kael said looking at her was like looking at his younger self.
That was why he'd taken such special care of her.
Right up until the night before our mating ceremony—when I caught them tangled together in the den we'd prepared for our bonded life.
I couldn't believe it. The Alpha who'd sworn his devotion to me for over a decade, whose scent had been imprinted on my very soul, had so easily surrendered to another's touch.
I lost control completely. My wolf howled through me, clawing at the surface. Screaming. Sobbing. Hysterical.
I wanted to destroy them. Drag their betrayal before the Pack Council. Make them face the shame of what they'd done.