“There’s nothing I never gave you,” I whispered.
“No.” His eyes turned glacial. “You trapped me in a dull life, a tiny den, pretending you're normal. Vanya, at least, embraces ambition and understands pack politics.”
“We faced everything together.” My voice cracked. “Five years. A life was built side by side. The pup—”
The memory of that freezing healer’s chamber cut through me. The decision Axton insisted was “for the pack.” The sterile stone. The way he held my hand as we severed the life growing inside me.
Axton’s laugh tore through the room like shattered bone.
“The pup? That was just strategy.”
He leaned back, loosening his mantle. “A child might’ve softened your pack. Might’ve opened their vaults. But when your elders didn’t budge—” He shrugged nonchalantly. “Why keep it, then?”
My knees nearly gave out. I dug my nails deeper into the stone frame.
“And besides—” He shot Vanya a wicked smirk. “That was the night I met this spark. Remember that tavern near the healer’s hall?”
Vanya’s red-painted lips curved. “Oh, very clearly.”
“While you were unconscious from the procedure,” Axton continued, “Vanya and I had… quite the celebration in my inn chamber. Didn’t we?”