All those years he'd held her like something precious—it had all been a lie. She was nothing but a stepping stone in his bond with Selene, disposable the moment she became inconvenient.
A bitter curiosity flickered through her mind: His "urgent pack gathering"—was he with Selene right now? Were they curled up in the alpha's private quarters together, him blowing gently on that tiny scratch on her finger, whispering the same sweet words he'd once reserved only for her? Was he breathing in her scent like it was the only thing keeping him alive?
Gritting her teeth against the searing pain in her forehead, Lyra reached for her scent-tag communicator on the bedside table with her right hand—the one without the healing compress.
Her fingers shook so badly that the identity recognition failed twice before finally accepting on the third try.
She didn't bother with unread messages. She went straight to the pack's shared howl-network feed.
Selene's latest post sat right at the top.
The caption was a single line, dripping with calculated sweetness: "Even if I'm not an Alpha's daughter by blood, I still found a wolf who'd do anything to protect me~"
Three scry-captured images were attached.