I couldn't believe it. The Alpha who'd sworn his devotion to me for over a decade, whose scent had been imprinted on my very soul, had so easily surrendered to another's touch.
I lost control completely. My wolf howled through me, clawing at the surface. Screaming. Sobbing. Hysterical.
I wanted to destroy them. Drag their betrayal before the Pack Council. Make them face the shame of what they'd done.
But all that rage collapsed into despair the moment the healers revealed my sire's wasting sickness—a curse eating through his blood that no moon magic could cure.
I begged Kael. I reminded him of everything my bloodline had done for him—the sanctuary, the warriors, the territory rights that had lifted him from nothing. All I asked was that he go through with the mating ceremony as planned.
Just long enough for my sire to leave for the distant healing sanctuaries with peace in his heart.
Kael agreed. But he kept it from Raven.
At the mating feast, she drove her vehicle straight at me.
My sire threw himself before the rushing metal.