He helped Raven rise with infinite care, his thumb brushing gently over the red marks blooming on her cheek. His scent wrapped around her protectively.
She collapsed into his arms, sobbing harder against his chest. "Kael, I was so frightened..."
He turned to look at me then. His eyes were winter frost. His Alpha dominance pressed against the room like a physical weight.
"Lyra, why must you be so vicious?"
"Look at yourself. You're behaving like a feral wolf who's lost all reason."
I straightened slowly, one hand pressed against my bruised side. "Kael, she said my sire deserved to die. Do you agree with her words?"
Something flickered in his amber gaze. Raven clung to him, crying, twisting the truth with practiced ease. "No, I only said it was an accident back then at the mating feast, and she just started striking me..."
Kael's stare grew colder still.
"It was an accident. Can you not let it rest?"
"Lyra, I'm the one who owes a debt to your bloodline—not her. Stop taking your grief out on Raven."
"Besides, I completed the mating bond with you. I've given you five years of my life. What more could you possibly want?"
"From now on, remain in your proper place and you'll always be the Alpha's mate of Stormhowl. But my pack business is none of your concern."
"Consider this my debt repaid—for everything your sire did for me when I had nothing."
He walked out with Raven cradled in his arms.
Never looked back.
By the time I finished meeting with the Tribunal Advocate, night had swallowed the territory.
At the boundary where forest met the main path, blinding lights seared my vision.
The screech of impact. My body launched into the air, then slammed into the frozen earth.
Every bone felt crushed beneath the weight of the blow. Pain everywhere, all at once, like fire consuming my flesh.
Blood surged up my throat. I tried to howl for help but no sound escaped.
Through the haze of agony, a dark figure approached, backlit by the harsh lights.
"Next time, don't interfere with wolves you cannot afford to challenge."
A pause. Then, quieter, almost a whisper against my failing ears:
"We killed your sire. We can kill you just as easily."
Footsteps faded into the darkness of the forest.
I lay on the frozen ground, unable to move, unable to shift, my wolf whimpering somewhere deep inside as consciousness began to slip away.