“Kael… my child, stop. Let me go—”
“Mother,” I said softly. “It’s alright.”
Fourth draw.
I received a Black Bloom Seven.
They revealed a Red Moon King.
Darian lit a roll of bitterleaf and exhaled slowly.
“Still calling, Alpha?”
I stared at my paired Sevens and the hidden bone beneath my hand.
“I call.”
“Reveal.”
I had believed they couldn’t possibly hold three Kings.
I was wrong.
When the final bones were turned, my three Sevens were crushed beneath their three Kings.
The restraints cut into my flesh as I slumped back.
For the first time, despair outweighed pain.
The howls of triumph echoed through the sea-den, crashing against my ears like waves of mockery. The gathered wolves celebrated—not just their winnings, but the promise of what came next. My foster-dam, caged and vulnerable, would be their entertainment.
"I told you Kael Nightthorne would lose! A pathetic excuse for an Alpha like him could never defeat the Tidefang King in a Dominance Wager."
"Utterly delusional to even try."
Darian Frostveil exhaled smoke directly into my face, his posture radiating insufferable arrogance.
"Kael Nightthorne, how could you lose? Your mother is still waiting in that cage for you to save her!"