The movement tore open the wounds on her arms—hundreds of needle marks from heat-draught injections and self-inflicted gashes, each one the width of a pup's forearm, splitting open and weeping fresh blood.
Yet she left as though she hadn't seen me at all.
The way she threw herself in front of the Matriarch's walking staff, shielding Dorian Frostclaw behind her without hesitation, made every comforting word she'd spoken to me moments ago seem utterly laughable.
"Grandmother! The plan was my idea—I did it for the Valeheart Pack! Please don't hurt someone who had no part in this!"
Matriarch Aurelia Valeheart froze, her sharp gaze instinctively cutting toward me.
When she saw the white bandages wrapped around my arm already soaking through with fresh blood, her expression twisted with frustration and disappointment.
"You wretched pup! He was stuck with over a hundred acupuncture needles just yesterday—can you not see all the wounds covering his body?"
Panic and regret flickered through Selene Valeheart's eyes. She started to rush toward me.
But behind her, Dorian Frostclaw collapsed straight to the ground.
In her alarm, she ignored her own injuries and moved to support him, clearly intending to leave.
The Matriarch planted herself firmly in Selene's path.
"You will not leave! You've just given birth—are you trying to kill yourself?"
"Your bonded mate is still in that room! Do you even want this family anymore?"
Hesitation filled Selene's eyes.
"I do! But Dorian was hurt by your staff! I can't just abandon him! Kael... you're watching over him, Grandmother. He'll be fine!"
There was a time when she would have thrown herself in front of danger for me without a second thought.
There was a time when I was never the one she chose to abandon.
I looked at her with hollow calm.
"Grandmother, let her go."
She seemed surprised by my composure.
After all, in the past, I had done anything to keep her from leaving. I had begged, thrown myself at her feet, clawed at my own flesh—cast aside every shred of dignity an Omega could possess.
Her expression grew complicated, as though she wanted to say something. In the end, she simply walked away.
The healer's assistant helped me dress my wounds again.
The pup was soothed back to sleep.
My communication crystal suddenly pulsed with her message.