"Then we shall discuss division when the bond rejection is finalized. Until then, I ask that you leave. This is my birth pack's den."
Morwenna shoved her son forward.
"Speak up! Say something to your mate!"
Kael studied me, his expression caught between conflict and something harder to name.
"Lyra, just bring out the token. We can talk this through properly."
"You call what happened at the feast a proper discussion?"
I held his stare without wavering.
"Rigging the Moonbite omen so I would be the one to find the marked portion? Announcing in front of everyone how my blessing would be divided? Sending your pack to tear through my belongings? That is what you consider talking things through?"
"If you keep defying the matriarch, you will only suffer for it!"
Kael's brow furrowed with frustration.
"You have never been careful with resources. Whatever you keep will vanish soon enough. Better to let Mother manage it."
A cold laugh escaped my throat.
Now I understood completely.
In his heart, there existed only the Stormhart pack. Our small family meant nothing.
I looked directly at Kael and spoke each word with care.
"What if I simply refuse to hand it over? What will you do then? Strike me? Or reject the bond?"
Kael went still.
He had never considered being forced to choose.
But Morwenna leaped up in fury.
"She must have hidden the token with her birth pack! Search everything!"
Seven or eight wolves immediately began tearing through the den, overturning storage chests and ripping open cupboards. The noise woke Liri, who had been sleeping peacefully in her nest of blankets.
My pup's wail split the air.
"Mama, I am scared!"
My mother rushed toward her, arms outstretched to gather the frightened child.
Without warning, Morwenna's hand shot out and shoved my mother with brutal force.
"The token might be hidden on her! Search her too!"
My mother stumbled, her footing lost. She crashed to the floor.
Crack.
The sound was sickening. My mother lay crumpled on the stone, blood pooling from a wound on her head.
"Mother!"
I kicked hard at Kael's grip on my arm and broke free, rushing to gather her limp form.
But my poor mother had already lost consciousness. No words would come from her lips.
"You! All of you are murderers!"
Rage turned my vision red. My entire body shook with it.
Everyone froze.
None of them had expected this outcome.
Kael moved as if to approach, but Morwenna seized his arm and held him back.