She Betrayed the Crown Prince,Now He Won't Take Her Back

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I hid my identity and lived as an ordinary mate with Seraphina Blackthorn.

The day I learned she was carrying pups, she said it without warning: I'm bonding with the Alpha heir of the Stormfang Pack in three days.

I'm actually the trueborn daughter of the Elder Councilor's bloodline. He and I are a proper match. The bonding gifts have already been delivered to my family's estate, and... he and I have already consummated our bond.

When she saw me frozen in place, she added, "I'll set you up with a den. You'll never want for anything."

I stared at her in disbelief. "So I'm to be a kept wolf, hidden away for the rest of my life. Is that it?"

Seraphina turned her face away. "He's a kind and respectable mate. As long as you don't cause a scene in front of him, I can give you everything except the title."

A sharp sting hit the bridge of my nose. I never imagined I meant so little to her.

"What if I told you... that I could match your status?"

Seraphina froze for a moment. A long silence passed before she spoke.

"Fenris Ashvale, I know it was wrong of me to hide my identity and bond with someone else. But the world doesn't run on 'what ifs.' In all of the Crescent Dominion, the only wolf who matches my standing is the Alpha heir of the Stormfang Pack."

"We've been mates at the foot of this mountain for three years. I know exactly who you are."

But she had hidden her bloodline. How could she be so sure I hadn't done the same?

I looked around. The den we had built with our own hands. The territory we had cleared together. I refused to believe any of this was real.

"Seraphina, you're carrying my pups. Can't we just go back to the way things were? Please don't bond with him."

My gaze locked onto the woman in front of me. If she would just say yes, I was willing to forgive everything.

But all she did was press her lips together and say, quietly, "He and I have already been intimate. I have to take responsibility for that."

My eyes burned red. My body wouldn't stop shaking. "And what about me? Don't you owe me that same responsibility? What about our pups?"

Seraphina reached out and wiped the tears from my cheek. Her eyes were full of ache.

"Fenris, I'm only taking a mate. I'm not abandoning you."

"There's a three-courtyard den on the outskirts of the territory. I've already purchased it. If you like the country life, I'll have someone plant herbs and moonberry bushes in the yard for you. Whatever you want, I'll make it happen. Trust me."

I stepped back, shaking my head over and over.

"I won't be locked away as your dirty secret. I won't let myself and our pups live in the shadows for the rest of our lives."

But Seraphina simply walked up to me, her expression unchanged, her voice calm.

"I've never thought of you as a kept wolf. As long as you don't make trouble in front of my mate, you'll still be mine. Isn't that enough?"

I kept shaking my head. "No. It's not. I'm not leaving this place."

This was where Seraphina and I had spent three years of love. I wanted to be here when our pups were born.

"Fenris, you know my mating ceremony cannot have a single flaw. I have to erase every trace of our past. It's the only way to keep you safe."

Before the shock had even settled, she raised her hand. The guards behind her stepped forward with torches and set the entire den ablaze.

In an instant the fire roared to life, swallowing the timber cabin, the fence, the courtyard whole. Something deep in my chest lurched my wolf, silent for so long beneath the herbs I used to suppress my scent, throwing itself against the walls of my ribs in a soundless howl.

I gripped the fence and screamed. "No! Stop! Stop it!"

Seraphina pulled me away and pressed my thrashing body against her chest.

She held me there while I struggled and howled. Her scent washed over me night-blooming jasmine over cold steel and underneath it, something acrid that I had never let myself name until now.

"Fenris, when the time is right, I'll make you my secondary mate. Our pups can carry the title of a legitimate heir. We can be just like before."

But Seraphina, I am the Alpha Heir. How could I ever be your secondary mate?

The den was gone. There was no going back.

Three years ago, I had a fight with my father and stormed out of the pack stronghold in a fit of rage, chasing after my dream of a quiet life far from the howling and the hierarchy.

I suppressed my Alpha scent with rare herbal compounds, concealed the Ashvale bloodline markings that glowed faintly under moonlight, and shook off his shadow sentinels along the way. I settled at the foot of this mountain in the borderlands, where no wolf of standing would think to look.

That was when I met Seraphina Blackthorn. She was running in human form along the ridgeline, dark hair streaming behind her, a smile playing at the corner of her lips. Her scent hit me before I even saw her face. One look, and I fell hopelessly in love.

I hid my identity from her, and she told me only that she was a rogue she-wolf wandering the territories. With the Moon Goddess as our witness, we became mates.

We had no Blood Circlet or moonlit ceremony, but tending the herb garden and running the tree line side by side, we were happy.

Now the den was destroyed, and I was locked away in that isolation den.

The only glimpse of the outside world I could steal was through a crack in the corner of the wall.

A few women passed by on the road, whispering about the mating ceremony at the Stormfang estate.

"Did you hear? The Elder Councilor's trueborn daughter petitioned the Supreme Alpha himself to get a Blood Circlet for the young Alpha heir. Traded three generations of warrior bloodline honors for it!"

"Well, he is the heir to the Stormfang Pack. He deserves that kind of ceremony."

"They're a perfect match in bloodline standing. What a striking pair they'll make."

The Blood Circlet they spoke of had been my favorite in the stronghold. I simply hadn't reached the age to take a mate, so my father never bestowed it upon me.

On my own mating night with Seraphina, all I had worn was a wreath of moonflowers she'd woven by hand.

She had said, "My Fenris deserves the finest things in the world. Even an Alpha Heir's Blood Circlet wouldn't be too good for you."

And now she had traded her family's honors to give that very circlet to Caspian Stormfang.

That evening, Seraphina brought a whole box of the pastries I loved.

She sat across from me, her expression calm. "Eat something. You haven't had a bite all day."

I picked up a piece and ate it slowly, in small bites.

But watching her act as though nothing had happened filled my chest with a bitterness I couldn't swallow.

"When did it happen?"

Seraphina froze for a moment. She poured me a cup of tea, her movements stiff with embarrassment, then answered in a flat voice, "On your Moon Blessing Day."

The blood drained from my body. A moon cycle ago, on my Moon Blessing Day, Seraphina had vanished without a word. I searched for her the entire night, combing every slope and valley in wolf form, up the mountain and down, nose to the ground, tracking her scent until it dissolved into nothing at the river crossing.

She didn't return until the next day, windswept and dusty, claiming she'd gotten lost while looking for a gift for me.

Then, beaming like a child presenting a treasure, she produced a snow lotus from behind her back.

I hadn't slept all night, but seeing how much thought she'd put into it, I couldn't bring myself to scold her. I took the flower and tended it carefully.

Now she was telling me that on my Moon Blessing Day, she had been with Caspian Stormfang in secret. Nausea churned through me.

Even so, thinking of everything we'd shared, I couldn't stop myself from wanting to give her one more chance.

"Seraphina, can you not mate with him?"

She turned the teacup between her fingers, brow furrowed tight.

"Not mate with him? Mate with you instead?"

"Do you really have to force me to say something cruel?"

"He's the Alpha heir of the Stormfang Pack. And you? An unmarked wolf who knows nothing but watering crops and tilling soil. How could you possibly be worthy of an Elder Councilor's trueborn daughter?"

My face went white. I pressed on, unwilling to let go. "Do three years of what we had really have to be measured by bloodline standing?"

A sharp, twisting pain tore through my lower abdomen. I clutched my stomach, but I still waited for her answer.

"In pureblood families, bloodline and rank are everything. The line between trueborn and unmarked is absolute."

She paused, and guilt crept across her face as she looked at me.

"The pup I'm carrying might be his."

My mind went blank. I stared at her, unable to comprehend.

"Fenris, my pup has to be recognized as the Stormfang Pack's firstborn legitimate heir. That's the only way you'll be safe."

The pain in my gut twisted like a knife. Cold sweat beaded across my forehead. Something deep inside me, the faintest ember of my inner wolf, stirred with a low whine I barely recognized as my own. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the box of pastries.

"Seraphina, you poisoned me for him? How could you bring yourself to do that?"

Seraphina's eyes reddened, and she apologized over and over.

"I'm sorry, Fenris. He found out you exist. Based on the timing, the pup could be yours. He won't allow anyone to threaten his position."

So she laced the pastries I loved most with Hollowbane, and I never suspected a thing.

"Seraphina, my stomach hurts so badly. I just swallowed it, there's still time. Please, go find a healer."

She didn't move. My voice cracked raw with panic. "I won't mate with you, alright? I won't. I don't want to live like this, worse than death. Once I'm better, I'll leave. I'll go far away. I won't stand in your way, I swear."

No matter how I begged until my throat gave out, Seraphina didn't flinch.

She held out her arm. "Bite down on me. It won't hurt as much."

I shoved her arm away. "Go find a healer. I'm begging you, Seraphina."

"Fenris, stop talking nonsense. No pack healer is going to treat someone of your station."

"The poison's already taken hold. It's too late. Just be good. Even if you can never sire pups again, my pup will still call you father."

I gripped her hand so hard my knuckles went white. "Seraphina, listen to me. I am the Alpha Heir. The Supreme Alpha's own son. Go find a healer to save me. Now."

But she thought I was lying. She wrenched her hand free, anger flashing across her face.

"You've really disappointed me. There's a limit to how far a lie should go. This is the pack stronghold's territory, not some borderland den of yours. One wrong word here can cost you your head."

She turned on her heel, the night-blooming jasmine of her scent already retreating, already cold.

"It's only barrenness. It won't kill you. Look after yourself."

I watched her walk away, and the last shred of hope inside me died.

Deep in my chest, my wolf let out a sound that wasn't quite a howl. Low, airless, like something crawling into a place it wouldn't come back from.

I curled into the corner. The feeling below my waist began to fade, replaced by a pain so sharp I could barely breathe. The Hollowbane was working its way through my blood, burning from the inside. I could feel it reaching for something deeper than organs, deeper than bone. It was reaching for my bloodline itself, the thread that connected me to every Ashvale who had ever lived, and it was cauterizing the end.

I would probably never sire pups again. And the one pup I had prayed for day and night turned out to belong to someone else.

I drifted in and out of consciousness through the night. Below my waist, everything had gone numb long ago. My wolf had gone quiet. Not sleeping. Not resting. Just quiet, in the way a wounded animal goes quiet when it stops believing help is coming.

The door burst open with a single kick. Caspian Stormfang strode in with a handful of guards behind him. The smell hit me before I could focus my eyes: polished steel and northern pine and the sharp musk of territorial marking, aggressive and deliberate, filling the small room like a claim.

He glanced at me, drenched in blood, then settled himself at the table and poured a cup of tea as though he had all the time in the world.

"Don't blame me. After all, the pup in Seraphina's belly is mine. Can't very well have him calling another wolf father, can we?"

I braced myself against the wall, barely upright. "So you'd rob me of ever siring pups again?"

Caspian let out a short laugh. "Now that's unfair. Seraphina was the one who laced the food. Seraphina was the one who decided you wouldn't keep the ability. I merely... mentioned the idea."

I stared at him, nails digging into my palms until I felt skin break.

He rose and walked over to me. "Though, you should count yourself lucky the pup isn't yours. Imagine it growing up and calling me 'Father.' How would you stomach that?"

"Bring the tonic over. Make him drink it. Help build up his strength."

The guards pried my jaw open and forced the liquid down my throat. I recognized the taste. Severance Root. Bitter as wolfsbane, but worse. Wolfsbane killed the body. This killed everything else.

I thrashed, tried to spit it out, but they held me fast, fingers clamped around my face. The root hit my stomach and I felt it immediately, a wrongness spreading outward, reaching for the place where my wolf lived. Not pain. Silence. A silence that was growing, swallowing the low hum that had been there since the day I was born, the presence that had breathed when I breathed and howled when I howled and had never, not once in my entire life, left me alone.

Caspian crouched in front of me and patted my cheek, slow and deliberate, every touch a humiliation. "Can't have you coveting Seraphina down the line. Can't have you producing more heirs and stirring up trouble."

"My mating ceremony's in two days. Still need to go try on my Blood Circlet. If you'll excuse me."

As he stood, the moonstone pendant at his waist swung into view. He made no effort to hide it.

It was Seraphina's. She had told me it was the only thing her mother left her. And she had given it to Caspian Stormfang.

He paused at the door, as if just remembering. "Oh, right. Seraphina transferred the deed to this den into my name. I hear you're fond of the pastoral life. Just remember, you're living under my roof now. Mind my rules."

My whole body went rigid. When Seraphina burned down the countryside den, she had told me this estate was bought for me. That I could fill it with moonberry bushes and silver-leaf fruit trees and herb gardens.

From the very beginning, she had never intended to give me anything.

"Caspian Stormfang."

I called after him, my voice scraped hollow.

"Has the young Pack Alpha Heir ever laid eyes on the Alpha Heir of the Crescent Dominion?"

Caspian froze for a moment. "What, you're going to claim you have some connection to the Alpha Heir? The one who barely shows his face at pack gatherings?"

I let out a bitter laugh. "I've heard he's fond of the Bloodhowl frequency. If we could earn even a smile from him, get him to attend your mating ceremony, wouldn't that be a feather in your cap?"

He looked half-convinced at best. "A wolfless wretch like you would know the Alpha Heir's preferences?"

"Believe it or don't. If it turns out to be false, it costs you nothing."

After Caspian left, I curled into the corner of the bed. My body burned with fever, and a vicious pain twisted through my lower abdomen, but no one came.

Looking back now, meeting Seraphina Blackthorn was the single greatest regret of my life.

Somewhere in the haze of unconsciousness, I caught the distant sound of a Bloodhowl threading through the night air outside the window. The frequency that only Ashvale blood could produce, and only Ashvale-sworn sentinels could answer.

Only then did I let myself breathe, and smile.

Long ago, my father and I had made a pact: no matter when or where, if a Bloodhowl carried on the wind, it meant I was in danger. Someone would come to take me away.

At some point, Seraphina arrived. She sat at the edge of my bed for a long while.

When she saw me open my eyes, she touched my forehead. "The fever's broken. Come on, sit up and have some broth."

I dragged myself upright, every joint screaming. My inner wolf, which had been a constant low hum at the back of my mind for as long as I could remember, was silent now. Not sleeping. Gone quiet in a way that felt like a room after someone has died in it. "Caspian was here. He forced an entire dose of Severance Root down my throat. Did you know that?"

Seraphina's expression stiffened. She lowered her gaze. "I knew."

"You knew?"

I fought with everything I had to keep the tears from falling. Inside the hollow space where my wolf should have been, there was nothing. No growl of rage, no surge of betrayal. Just silence, vast and terrible, like pressing your ear to a chest and hearing no heartbeat.

She reached for my hand. I pulled away.

"Fenris, he was only protecting himself. If you and I were to have pups someday, where would that leave him and his bloodline? Where would that leave the pups? It's only natural."

I laughed, hollow and sharp. Natural. What a convenient excuse.

Seraphina set down the bowl and spoke again. "Caspian's been doubled over with stomach pains ever since he got back to his den. It's possible some dark energy from you affected him..."

She trailed off, watching me, choosing her next words carefully.

"There's a venerable elder at Moonspire Shrine. I need you to go to him, have him perform a cleansing rite for you, and then climb every one of the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine steps in wolf form to obtain a Moon Goddess blessing charm for Caspian. Do that, and we can put this whole matter behind us. All right?"

I stared at her, my eyes burning red.

"Seraphina Blackthorn, you and I are finished. If you want a blessing charm, go get it yourself."

I forced my battered body off the bed, trying to leave this wretched place.

But Seraphina blocked my path.

She ordered her servants to drag me away. They ignored my struggling, threw me onto a horse, and rode hard to the foot of Moonspire Shrine.

"Take him up the mountain."

Two guards seized me, one on each side. The steps were inlaid with silver dust, and even through my boots I could feel the burn. I hauled my broken body forward, one step, one bow, one step, one bow. Except I couldn't shift. The Severance Root had stolen that from me. So I climbed as a man on hands and knees over silver-laced stone, and the burning was just burning, with no wolf to share the pain.

Two days without food or water, freshly poisoned and wounded. I passed out and came to and passed out again along the way.

I have no memory of how I obtained the blessing charm. All I know is that the moment I saw Seraphina waiting at the bottom, my legs gave out and I collapsed.

She caught me and gathered me into her arms. Her scent hit me then, night-blooming jasmine over cold steel, and for the first time it made me sick.

"Fenris, you've suffered so much. I promise, even after I mate with Caspian, you'll be the only one in my heart."

I closed my eyes slowly. Three days ago, I might have believed those words. Now they made my stomach turn.

"You have your blessing charm. Let me go."

But she ignored my plea and had me carried back to the den.

"Fenris, don't be stubborn. Tomorrow is my mating ceremony. Caspian has agreed to let you keep living in the den afterward. You'll stay out of each other's way. All right?"

Before she left, she added one last instruction: "The Alpha Heir may attend the ceremony tomorrow. Stay in the den and don't cause trouble."

Shortly after she was gone, my father's shadow sentinels found me.

I looked in the direction she had disappeared, then at this countryside den that had never truly been mine, and a quiet smile crossed my lips.

Tomorrow, I hope you have no regrets.

On the morning of the mating ceremony, the Stormfang estate was draped in moonsilk banners, every corner bursting with celebration. Seraphina stood shoulder to shoulder with Caspian in her ceremonial gown, radiant in white and silver.

The ceremony was about to begin when a voice rang out from beyond the gates: "The Alpha Heir of the Ashvale Bloodline has arrived!"