Chapter 2

Kellan stood in the bedroom doorway, his brow furrowed with disgust.

He was Shadowreach Pack's absolute Alpha, accustomed to controlling everything.

Only in front of me would he ever lose his composure like he did when we were young.

"Isobel, I didn't call Lia here. She came on her own."

"You know she's just a server at the club. It's perfectly normal for her to serve drinks at a banquet like this."

I'd just pulled an all-nighter organizing materials, and my eyelids felt too heavy to lift.

"There's nothing to explain. You can like whoever you want. It has nothing to do with me."

"Isobel," his tone turned harsh as he continued his self-justification, "I know you're upset, but you're my Luna. How can you say it has nothing to do with you?"

"Are you finished?"

I cut him off, standing up to walk past him into the bathroom, but he grabbed my wrist in a death grip.

"Isobel, don't you care at all?"

I looked into his eyes, wanting so badly to tell him—I used to care.

When I first found that bra, I smashed everything breakable in the house to pieces.

Over these past three months, Kellan and I have fought countless times, but in the end, we never separated.

Only because we are fated mates, witnesses to the alliance between Shadowreach Pack and Tundra Pack.

At three years old, at the alliance banquet, he gave me a wolf-shaped wooden token and said, "Isobel, I'll protect you from now on."

At ten, when we were ambushed by rogue wolves, he shielded me with his body and took a blade for me, leaving a permanent scar across his back.

At seventeen, when my father fell gravely ill, he climbed through my window on the full moon night, held me tight, and said with absolute conviction:

"Tundra Pack's problems are my problems. I will always protect you."

Twenty-seven years of connection, like a dense net, trapping me inside.

"Kellan, I'm really tired." I tugged at my wrist but couldn't break free, my voice full of exhaustion.

"What do you mean?" His grip suddenly tightened, panic flooding his eyes. "Do you want to dissolve the alliance between our packs?

Isobel, you wouldn't dare!"

"Let go."

"I won't! You have to explain yourself today!"

In our struggle, a decorative piece in the living room crashed to the floor with a thunderous shatter, the crisp sound of breaking echoing through the night.

Silver fragments scattered across the floor, glinting coldly in the light.

It was the wolf-head sculpture cast together by the elders of both packs during our bonding ceremony,

engraved with our names and the oath of peace between our packs.

I'd smashed countless things during our fights, but I'd never touched this one.

Now, it was broken.

Kellan flinched and instinctively released my hand.

I collapsed to my knees among the fragments, sharp silver shards cutting into my kneecaps as blood instantly welled up.

Silver is a werewolf's bane—wounds from it hurt ten times more than ordinary injuries and heal a hundred times slower.

His face went deathly pale, his voice trembling: "I'm sorry, Isobel, I didn't mean to..."

The blood kept flowing, but I didn't feel the pain. I only felt a tightness in my chest.

He frantically picked me up, used wolf clan secret medicine to treat the wound briefly, then drove urgently to Shadowreach Pack's exclusive medical center.

His hands shook on the steering wheel, even his breathing was erratic.

We rushed into the medical center, and the attending physician came overnight to treat me.

After the wound was treated, the hospital room door opened.

Lia walked in carrying a thermos, her face displaying perfectly calibrated concern.

"Alpha Kellan, I heard you were injured, so I specially made some calming soup..."