Alpha Alaric leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his face calm but unwavering. “Back then, Nyra didn’t choose me. I couldn’t take her as my mate, couldn’t give her my mark. But I can still prove that I’ve never abandoned her. Giving her Silverfang Holdings is the least I can do.”
The air seemed to vanish from my lungs.
“And your Luna?” Ram pressed, his voice low, almost pleading. “What about Kaia? She gave you everything.”
Alpha Alaric’s lips curved, cruel in their softness. “She told me she loves me. She said she’d endure anything with me. A weaker life, even the loss of her title. She won’t complain.”
The words cut deeper than claws. My knees trembled, and I gripped the frame of the door as if it were the only thing holding me up. My wolf whimpered in the back of my mind, wounded, betrayed.
Ram’s gaze darkened. “Alpha Alaric, if Kaia learns the truth, that you never marked her out of love, but only to keep her away from Ronan Stormclaw and Nyra, she’ll be destroyed.”
Destroyed.
The word echoed in my skull, rattling against the walls of my heart.