Apart from necessary pack gatherings and alliance meetings, he lived more austerely than a temple monk.
I racked my brain, but I couldn't imagine—didn't dare imagine—that he might have a hidden offspring.
Yet if that wasn't the case, how else could I explain why he'd rewritten his blood-oath will to name Alaric Ravenhart as heir?
After an agonizing wait, the results finally came.
The moment I saw them, my entire body turned to stone.
"No biological bloodline connection detected."
Those words pierced through me like silver-tipped blades driven straight into my heart.
My uncle had truly given away everything he'd spent his lifetime building—his vast territory, his tribute networks, his entire legacy—to a complete stranger with no blood-tie to our line?
I couldn't understand it. I truly couldn't.
Did this stranger hold some secret over my uncle? Some leverage?
But the Tribunal Sentinels had said during their inquiry that Alaric Ravenhart was merely a low-ranking member of some insignificant pack. What possible hold could such a wolf have over an Alpha of my uncle's standing?
Unless... they shared that kind of bond?
Considering my uncle's complete disinterest in taking a mate, the possibility suddenly didn't seem so impossible.
The thought nearly struck me dead where I stood.
My mind churned in chaos.
Was I supposed to simply watch as the territory that should have been mine passed into a stranger's hands?
Let my uncle's life's work be devoured by someone with no rightful claim?
I stood frozen for a long while before finally pulling out my communication stone to contact a rogue tracker I knew.
"I need you to investigate someone named Alaric Ravenhart. Go back three generations. From his birth to now—everyone he's met, every tribute he's received or given, every territory he's crossed through. Leave nothing out. The more detailed, the better. And make it fast."
After severing the connection, I sought lodging at a well-appointed traveler's den. When I tried to access my pack credit-marks, the keeper's face went cold.
"Your marks have been frozen, young wolf. I cannot honor them."
The words echoed through the empty hall like a death knell.
Only then did I remember—all my resources flowed through my uncle's authority. Now that everything had passed to Alaric Ravenhart, he would have moved immediately to cut me off.