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?