- 11 hours ago
Broken by My Twin Alphas Ep,23 RS
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Short filmTranscript
00:00again. Damien's voice came from above me, low, horsky, burning with the heat of an alpha in rut.
00:08I had lost count by now. Three times, maybe? His arms were braced on either side of my head,
00:15veins bulging at his temples, every thrust hitting me with a force that felt more punishment than
00:20pleasure. I didn't dare make a sound. The patrol guards outside would hear. The entire pack would
00:27know that the wolfless, worthless Omega was being used as a painkiller by their alpha.
00:32Nobody knew I was Damien's fated mate. Or rather, he refused to let anyone know.
00:37A nobody from the slums whose wolf had never awakened. How could someone that pathetic ever
00:41deserve to be the fated mate of the pack's twin alphas? So for three years, I had been hidden
00:46away in the gray sector, a run-down district packed with crippled and discarded wolves.
00:50I was his dirty little secret. The third time ended and Damien finally got off me.
00:56I laid there gasping, my whole body trembling. All I wanted was to close my eyes and sleep.
01:02Then a pair of hands grabbed my waist again.
01:06Turnover.
01:06It was Damien's voice. But the hands were wrong. The Kaleds were in different places.
01:10The ring he always wore on his left hand was missing. I was too exhausted. My brain was mush.
01:15I couldn't think straight. Four, five. He was rougher than before.
01:19His fingers dug ug into my waist hard. I thought they would break through the skin.
01:23Hmm. Which felt better?
01:25He leaned down to my ear. His voice dropped to a whisper. There was something cruel and
01:30mocking in his tone that I had never heard from Damien.
01:33Hmm? Answer me.
01:38Six. Seven. My mind was coming apart. Every release ripped away what little strength I had left.
01:44In the haze, I turned my head and reached for his mouth. I wanted a kiss. Just one.
01:49My lips found his, but my eyes found him first. Damien's eyes were gray-blue, cold and still.
01:55The eyes staring down at me were blown wide, bloodshot, with a faint gold sheen of something
01:59savage. Caspian, Damien's twin brother, the one the whole pack called the rabid dog behind
02:04his back. My blood went cold. The scream stuck in my throat because his hand was already on my neck,
02:10his thumb resting right over my windpipe.
02:13Figured it out?
02:14What? Caspian grinned at me, wearing the same face as Damien.
02:17Too late, little waste.
02:19A small sound came from the far corner of the room. A wall lamp clicked on. Damien was sitting
02:24in an armchair, fully dressed. His shirt sleeves rolled up to his forearms, a glass of whiskey in
02:29his hand. He had been here the entire time. He had watched his brother take his mate,
02:33and he looked bored.
02:35Why?
02:35My voice came out wrecked, unrecognizable. Damien swirled his glass. Ice clinked against the amber
02:41liquid. You're my fated mate, sure, but so what? His tone was flat, his expression blank.
02:47You have no wolf, no family. You can't even shift into a full wolf form. What makes you
02:51think you deserve the Luna title? The moon goddess played a sick joke on me.
02:55He took a sip.
02:56Tying a waste of space to me as my fated mate. So I made the best of it. Your body
03:01calms our
03:01ferial episodes. Your blood works as a pain repressor. Beyond that, you have zero value.
03:08Caspian climbed off me and wiped his hands on the sheet. Basically, you're a sedative
03:12the two of us share. You think you actually deserve the mate title?
03:17My hands were shaking. Shaking so badly I couldn't grip the sheets. Three years. Three
03:23full years. I had skipped meals to buy herbs for Damien's pain relief tonic. I had pricked
03:29my own fingers with a sewing meal to feed him my blood for the remedy. I had told myself
03:34that if I was good enough, useful enough, he would eventually claim me in front of the
03:38pack. My mate. My alpha. I had believed I was his future Luna. Turns out, I was never
03:46anything more than a tool he was too ashamed to mention.
03:49Next week, Serena will officially become the pack's Luna. She's from the Blackwell bloodline.
03:54Pure lineage. Powerful wolf form. The entire pack already believes she's my mate.
03:58Damien stood and adjusted his cuffs. He said it the same way he would read a memo.
04:02I won't correct them. Serena. A complete stranger was going to wear the Luna crown that should have
04:09been mine, and I wouldn't even be allowed to sit and watch. Damien walked to the door and glanced
04:14back. You will attend the ceremony. His eyes swept over my bruised marked body. There was no guilt in
04:21his gaze. No disgust. Nothing at all. You'll kneel in the last row of the gallery with the servants.
04:28You'll bow to the new Luna. And if you make a scene, or if Serena or anyone else finds out
04:34you're my
04:35mate. He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to. Caspi had cut in. He bent down and patted
04:42my sweat-dripped face. I'll rip your tongue out myself. Little waste. The door closed. The room went dark.
04:53I curled up on the crumpled sheets. Every part of me felt crushed. The tears wouldn't come. Not
04:59because it didn't hurt. Because it hurt too much. So much that even crying felt pointless. I was their
05:05fated mate. I was supposed to be this Pax Luna. And I couldn't tell a single soul. I didn't know
05:10how
05:11long I lay on that bed. My thighs were still sticky. The air reeked of two alphas pheromones mixed
05:18together. So thick it made my stomach turn. My phone buzzing woke me up. A message from my neighbor
05:26in the gray sector. Five words. Nana's is not going to make it. I jumped off the bed barefoot and
05:33ran out
05:34the door stepping over the mess on the floor. The shack in the gray sector smelled of blood.
05:39Heavy, rotten blood. Nana was curled up on her worn-out mat. Dark blood was seeping from the
05:44corners of her mouth. And her nostrils her body was seizing, jerking and sharp violent spasms.
05:49Nana! I dropped to my knees beside her scrambling to wipe the blood away. But it kept coming. The
05:54pack doctor was already packing up his kit ready to leave. The wolf spide has reached her bones.
05:59He barely glanced at her. Unless you can get alpha blood for the antidote, she's done.
06:04Alpha blood. My mate. My alpha at least in name. His blood could save her life. But he wouldn't
06:11even acknowledge that I existed. I closed my eyes and reached for the thin thread of the
06:15mate bond between me and Damien. That bond had worn down to almost nothing after three years of
06:19one-hided draining. But it was still there. No matter how much he despised me. A mate bond was
06:24the moon goddess Mark. As long as both of us were alive, it couldn't be broken.
06:28Damien, please. Just one drop of blood. Nana is dying.
06:32The link went quiet for two seconds. Then Serena's sugary voice bled through the mind link.
06:38Damien, look at this one. Don't you think the lease neckline is prettier than the last dress?
06:48And then Damien's voice. So gentle, I almost didn't recognize it.
06:55They all look beautiful. You look beautiful in anything, my Luna.
07:00My Luna. He had never once called me that. I was his mate. But that title, those two words,
07:06he gave them to a woman who had no fated bond with him at all. I screamed through the link.
07:11Damien! I'm begging you!
07:15Shut up.
07:15That wasn't Darmian. It was Caspian. His consciousness slammed into the link with open disgust.
07:20Using the old woman for sympathy again? Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough? An alpha's mate
07:28living in the gray tech tour, crying and begging. If word gets out, how do you think that makes us
07:33look? It's not an excuse. She's really bleeding out.
07:37Enough, Ivy. Damien's voice came back. Colder than the night wind.
07:42Today is Serena's dress fitting. As the future Luna, every moment of her day matters more than
07:47whatever crisis you've invented. Stop acting crazy.
07:50The link was severed from his end. The backlash hit me instantly.
07:55Pain exploded inside my skull. I grabbed my head and collapsed. My ears ringing so loud I
08:00couldn't hear anything else. By the time I pulled myself off the floor, Nana had stopped seizing.
08:06Her hand was cold. She was looking at me. She reached into her shirt with shaking fingers and
08:11pulled out an old whistle carved from bone. She pressed it into my palm. Then her lips moved.
08:17No sound came out. Just a shape. Run. Her hand dropped. I held her body as it went stiff.
08:23I couldn't cry. Not because I didn't want to. The moment the link had been cut, it felt as though
08:28something inside me had been severed too. My tears along with it.
08:34Outside, the pack loudbeater was playing Serena's recorded message on a loop.
08:39Everyone is welcome to attend my ceremony with Damien. Next week, I will officially become the pack's
08:45Luna. Luna. That seat was supposed to be mine, but I didn't even have the right to fight for it.
08:51Fighting required being acknowledged first, and I was not even allowed to exist. Some time passed.
08:57The door opened. Cold air rushed in. I squinted against it. A tall figure stood in the doorway,
09:03wearing a tattered cloak. Every nerve in my body went tight. I shot to my feet and stood in front
09:08of
09:09Nana's body. Who are you? He didn't answer. He looked at the body on the floor. Then at me.
09:14Then he walked to the corner, picked up the shovel leaning against the wall. He lifted Nana's body
09:19onto his shoulder and carried her outside. I think I understood what he was going to do.
09:23He dug a hole in the frozen ground behind the hill, filled it in, set up a plank of wood
09:28as a marker.
09:29Why are you helping me? I asked. Six months ago, in the alley behind the market, you saved my life.
09:36He turned and disappeared Dinto the dark. I stood in front of the fresh grave,
09:40gripping the bone whistle Nana had left me. The sharp edges of the bone had cut into my palm.
09:45That was when I felt it. A tiny flutter deep in my belly. Something stirring in my blood,
09:51faint and timid, nudging against my skin from the inside. I pressed my dirt-covered hand against my
09:56stomach. Two. Two faint heartbeats. I was pregnant. Carrying my Alpha's children. Funny, wasn't it?
10:04He refused to claim me as his mate, but he had left his bloodline growing inside me.
10:11In the distance, the main house was blazing with light. A golden countdown sign for the wedding
10:18was glowing on the front porch. I knew Damiathian Cassibian would never let these children be born.
10:23A secret mate they treated as a tool found to be carrying their pups. That wasn't just a scandal
10:29that would make the entire pack question Serena's Luna status. They would kill these babies the same
10:34way they had killed every last shred of my dignity without blinking. I had already lost Nana. I would
10:41not lose them too. I looked down at the blood-stained bone whistle. I thought about the cloaked wolf who
10:47had just buried Nana for me. I raised the whistle to my lips and I blew it with everything I
10:53had left.
10:55The whistle sound didn't carry far. The winter wind swallowed it whole. Nobody came. Not that
11:03night, at least. Three days later, the night before the Luna coronation, two guards dragged me out of
11:10my shack in the gray sector and shoved me into the servants' changing room in the pack's main house.
11:19Put this on.
11:21One of them tossed me a gray linen robe.
11:23Tomorrow you stand in the last row of the gallery, with the servants. You kneel and bow to our new
11:28Luna. No looking up. No talking. No looking at the Alpha.
11:31I took the rough fabric and said nothing. What a joke I was this Pax Alpha's fated mate.
11:36The Luna crown should have been on my head. Instead, I would be wearing slave clothes kneeling
11:41on the ground watching a woman with no mate bond sit in my seat.
11:46The door locked behind me. I crouched on the floor. One hand pressed against my belly without
11:51thinking three days in those two heartbeats. Had grown a little stronger, tiny stubborn.
11:57Pushing outward, the door swung open. Not a guard, Serena. She wore an ivory velvet robe,
12:03her hair loose, her feet in satin slippers. Two personal attendants trailed behind her.
12:10So you're Ivy. She tilted her head and looked me over. The wolf-less waist from the gray sector?
12:16She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. You smell disgusting. I have no idea why Damien even
12:23knows someone that pathetic. Her eyes narrowed, studying me. I kept my head down. I didn't dare
12:30speak. If she found out I was Damien's real mate, Kassarbin had promised to rip my tongue out.
12:37Serena didn't push further. Her gaze dropped to my neck, where Nana's bone whistle hung on a cord.
12:45That's interesting.
12:47She reached out without warning and ripped the cord off my neck.
12:52Give it back!
12:53I jumped to my feet and grabbed for it. The slap knocked me back to the ground. Serena shook out
12:59her hand, then held the whistle up and studied it. She smiled. Do you know Dead Man's Valley?
13:05That ravine behind the hill? The one full of bones? I'm going there tomorrow morning for a
13:12purification ritual. Before the coronation. She spun the whistle between her fingers.
13:20I'll toss this filthy thing down there for you. Consider it the future Luna cleaning up the trash.
13:28Tonight, you stay on your knees right here. You don't get up until I say so. She turned and walked
13:34out. I stayed kneeling on the cold stone floor. Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.
13:40The next morning, I ran to Dead Man's Valley. It was a deep ravine cut into the far side of
13:45the
13:45hill. The rock walls on both sides were streaked with old dried blood. I dug through the rubble at
13:50the mouth of the valley, tearing through loose stones and broken bones. My fingers were sliced
13:54open. Blood dripped onto the rocks. I knew you'd come.
13:58Caspian's voice came from behind me, amused, entertained. Before I could turn around,
14:02something cold wrapped around my ankle. A silver-laced chain. The second the silver touched
14:06my skin white. Smoke hissed up from the contact point. The burning pain hit me so hard it felt
14:11as though someone had pressed a red, hot iron against my bones. I screamed and collapsed.
14:16Caspian gripped the other end of the chain and dragged me across the rough stone. Ground 10-15
14:21feet. Maybe more the skin on my back. My arms and my shins shredded against the rocks.
14:27K-silver dust ground into the open wounds. The pain was so intense I couldn't breathe,
14:31but I kept both hands over my stomach. I didn't let go once Damien was standing nearby. He was
14:37dressed for the coronation black suit white shirt. Without a single wrinkle his mate was being
14:41dragged in front of him torn apart by silver chains. And his face showed nothing he could
14:46have been watching. A stray mutt on the roadside. Ivy. He spoke his tone was flat official.
14:53From this moment, I formally sever the mate bond between us. You don't deserve to be my mate.
14:58You don't deserve to be this Pax Luna. You never did.
15:05Every word landed on me with the force of a blade splitting open my chest. The moment the
15:10mate bond snapped something deep inside my soul was ripped away. The pain was beyond anything I
15:15had ever felt worse than the silver burning through my flesh. A thousand times worse. The mark the moon
15:21goddess had carved into my soul the day I was born. He crushed it with his own hands.
15:25Throw her down. Damien turned around and straightened his cuffs. The ceremony's about
15:30to start. Serena is waiting. Caspian hauled me by the chain to the edge of the cliff.
15:36Then he kicked me in the back. I didn't scream on the way down. I hit the bottom of the
15:41valley and
15:42felt three ribs snap. My left shin bent at an angle that shouldn't have been possible. The silver
15:48chain was still wrapped around my ankle, still burning. The stench of rotting bones filled my nose and
15:53mouth. Through my blurring vision, I saw something white. Nana's bone trussel wedged in a crack between
15:59two old bones. I dragged myself toward it with my one working hand, inch by inch, until my fingers
16:05closed around it. The moon carvings on the bone whistle began to burn, scorching hot. The heat poured
16:12from my palm into my veins, flooding through my limbs, rushing up my spine, slamming into the top of my
16:18skull.
16:18Something cracked. A seal. My back arched off the ground. A sound ripped out of my throat that did
16:27not belong to a human. The bones scattered across the valley floor blew outward from the force of it.
16:32My eyes turned solid gold. I got to my feet and started walking toward the pack square.
16:38The coronation was already underway. Thousands of wolves were gathered around the altar,
16:43torchlight flickering across their eager, reverent faces.
16:48At the center of the altar, Serena stood draped in a white luna ceremonial robe.
16:52She was walking slowly toward the moonstone, a sacred rock that had stood for a thousand years.
16:56The stone only responded to a true mate. Only the alpha's faded mate could make it glow,
17:01confirming the luna title everyone was waiting for that moment. Damien and Caspian stood on either
17:06side of the altar. Black suits, gold crests, their alpha oris pressed down on the crowd. Their faces
17:11were calm, everything under control. When Serena's hand touches the moonstone,
17:15she will officially become this Pax Luna. The elder's voice rang across the square.
17:20Serena raised her hand, her fingertips were less than an inch from the stone.
17:25The stone exploded. No warning. The massive white rock split down the middle with a blood-red crack,
17:32then shattered completely. Ash rained down across the square. The stone had rejected her because she
17:40was not the mate. The stone knew. The moon goddess knew. Screams erupted across the square.
17:47Serena stubbled back two steps, her whole body shaking. She stared at the ash on her fingers.
17:58Damien shot to his feet. For the first time in public. His composure cracked. Nobody could answer
18:05him. Because the full moon above them changed color. The white light bled red, inch by inch,
18:10until the entire moon hung in the sky the color of fresh blood. A blood moon. The elder's legs gave
18:15out. He collapsed to the ground. This is the moon goddess's punishment. She rejected Serena.
18:25Because the alpha's true mate is not her. The crowd erupted. Damien and Caspian both went rigid.
18:34Then the real horror began. The entire pack's mind link was hijacked, forced open. Every single wolf in
18:43the pack, from the lowest omega to the highest ranking alpha, had the same vision explode inside
18:47their heads at the same time. They saw me, Damien's fated mate, being passed between him and his twin
18:54brother. Used. Discarded. They saw me on my knees, begging the alpha for a single drop of blood to save
19:00my dying nana. And the answer that came back was, Today is Serena's day. They saw me chained at the
19:06ankle, with silver-laced links dragged across jagged rock, for fifteen feet. Skin shredded,
19:13bone exposed. And they saw Damien standing there in his spotless white shirt, his face completely blank,
19:20saying, Throw her down. The ceremony's about to start. Serena is waiting.
19:26Every wolf in that square now understood the truth. For three years, their alpha had hidden his
19:31fated mate in the gray sector. He had used her as a pain repressor and a tool to relieve his
19:35rut.
19:36Then he had handed the Luna throne to a woman who had no mate bond with him at all. Thousands
19:40of
19:40wolves grabbed their heads at the same time. Some threw up on the spite. Young pups burst into
19:46screaming sobs. The adults stared at the twin alphas on the altar. The awe was gone from their eyes.
19:53All that was left was disgust, fear, and doubt. Who did this? Damien roared, his alpha aura blasting
20:03outward at full force. Who hijacked the packlink? His aura had a wall, an invisible wall that was
20:12ten thousand times heavier than anything he could put out. It was coming from Dead Man's Valley.
20:17Every pair of eyes turned toward the hill. The ground was shaking, a low rumble at first,
20:24then harder. The stone tiles under their feet cracked apart. I stepped out of the fog in my
20:31wolf form, pure white. It was my first shift. My body was barely holding together. But my wolf was
20:38two full sizes bigger than any alphas, and that was enough to freeze every wolf in the square.
20:44The elder dropped flat on the ground. His voice broke apart mid-sentence.
20:49Moon. Moon goddess's daughter. White wolf bloodline. She is. She has always been. The alpha's true mate.
21:00The real Luna.
21:01I walked onto the shattered altar and swept my gaze across the thousands of terrified faces below.
21:08Then, I locked eyes with Damien and Caspian. Both of them dropped to their knees at the same time.
21:14They didn't choose to. Something buried deep in their blood. Something that overrouded every
21:19alpha command. Forced their bodies down against their will. Their knees slammed into the broken
21:24stone. Caspian fought it. Veins bulged in his neck. His teeth ground together so hard I could hear it
21:30from where I stood. He couldn't lift a single finger. Damien's face had gone white. Deep inside his soul,
21:36the mate bond he had severed with his own hands was tearing back through him. Every ounce of pain I
21:41had felt
21:42when he cut me off was hitting him now. Multiplied.
21:46He raised his head. His eyes were shot through with red.
21:51Ivy?
21:51He finally recognized me. I didn't answer him. I turned and looked at Serena. She was backing away,
21:59clutching her hand, her face frozen in disbelief. But I wasn't focused on her face. My nose had
22:06caught something. A faint scent drifting from her sleeve, witching herbs. Black thornberry extract.
22:13Odorless and tasteless. Long-term use created a false sense of mate bond dependency in alphas towards a
22:19specific person. I shifted back to human form. Elder, check what your future Luna has been hiding
22:27in her sleeve. My voice was quiet, but every wolf in the square heard it. The Elder was still on
22:33the
22:33ground. But two enforcers had already rushed forward. Serena screamed and stumbled backward.
22:39Don't touch me. I'm the Luna. Damien, do something.
22:48Nobody listened. An enforcer ripped her sleeve open. A small vial of thick black liquid rolled out
22:57and hit the stone tiles. The cat popped off. A sharp, sickly sweet smell spread across the square
23:06instantly. The Elder's face went green the second he caught the scent.
23:13Black thornberry. This is a witching drug.
23:19She has been drugging the Alpha. That is why he bonded with a woman who has no mate bond with
23:26him.
23:26It was never fate. It was the drug.
23:30Dead silence. Then the square exploded.
23:33She pointed out the Alpha? No wonder the Moonstone shattered. That woman was a fraud.
23:37She used witchcraft on our Alpha. That's treason.
23:41Serena's face went from white to gray. She turned to Damien. Her lips trembled.
23:45Damien, you believe me? I didn't. I would never...
23:48Damien didn't look at him. He was on his knees in the rubble, drenched in sweat, his eyes locked on
23:52me.
23:52Seize her. The Elder's voice came from behind. On the charge of treason, Serena Blackweck is to be detained immediately.
24:01Two enforcers grabbed Serena by the arms and dragged her away. She thrashed and fought,
24:06the screams cutting through the night. Damien! You said you loved me! You said I was your Luna!
24:14Damien didn't move. I looked down at the two of them, both still on their knees. Honestly, I could barely
24:20stand.
24:21The first shift had drained almost everything I had. The two heartbeats in my belly were pounding hard,
24:27protesting everything I had just put my body through. But I held on long enough to look Damien in the
24:31eye.
24:32You told me I didn't deserve to be your Luna. Now you know the truth. You were too blind to
24:38see it.
24:39Someone drugged you, and you couldn't even tell what was real. But even without the drug, you never once looked
24:44at me.
24:45Did you? Damien's throat moved. He opened his mouth. I didn't let him speak.
24:50From today, you and I have nothing to do with each other. I straighted up and turned around.
24:55On my first step, my legs buckled. On the second, my vision went black. On the third, my knees hit
25:02the stone.
25:05I didn't hit the ground. Someone caught me. One arm wrapped around my waist from behind.
25:10The other hand cradled the back of my head. Steady, precise. As if he had calculated exactly when my third
25:15step would give out.
25:16I caught a faint scent. Pine and frozen earth. Familiar. The cloaked wolf.
25:21Caspian finally broke free of the suppression and surged to his feet.
25:24Let her go! She's ours!
25:26Yours?
25:26The cloaked wolf's voice was calm, almost polite. But the moment he spoke, the temperature across the entire square dropped.
25:33An alpha aura far more terrifying than Damien's rolled outward.
25:37Every wolf in the square, including the twins, buckled.
25:40Not to their knees. Their legs just went soft.
25:42Pure instinct, screaming at them to submit. The wind caught the edge of his cloak and pulled it open.
25:49Underneath was not rags. It was a black jacket.
25:52A silver wolf-head crest was pinned at the collar. The Elder's face changed instantly.
25:58That crest. That's the Rogue King's crest.
26:03A wave of gasps swept through the square. The Rogue King. Leader of the largest exile alliance in the Northern
26:09Territories.
26:10He belonged to no pack. He answered to no elder council.
26:13His followers were the most savage cast-out alphas from every corner of the continent.
26:16Rumor said he had wiped out two mid-sized packs on his own.
26:19Rumor said his wolf form was pure black. As large as the ancient wolves.
26:23And this man was standing in the middle of their square. One arm around my waist. His other hand brushing
26:29the blood-mad hair from my face.
26:31Stay awake. You can't sleep yet.
26:33He looked down at me. His voice was low. My mind was barely hanging on.
26:39Are you here to repay a debt?
26:43My lips moved, but my voice was almost gone.
26:46Tally six months ago. All I did was pull you out. You don't have to.
26:52This isn't about a debt.
26:54He pulled me closer.
26:56I'm here to take you home.
26:58Damien got to his feet. The calm was gone from his face.
27:02What replaced it was something I had never seen on him before.
27:06Panic.
27:07His voice was raw.
27:09She's my mate. She belongs to this pack.
27:12You have no right- Excuse me?
27:14The Rogue King lifted his gaze. His eyes were pure black. No light in them at all.
27:19You severed the mate bond yourself.
27:20You threw her into Dead Man's Valley.
27:23She's free now.
27:25On what grounds do you claim she's yours?
27:27Damien had nothing to say.
27:29Caspian charged forward.
27:31Don't you dare play games with me!
27:33The Rogue King didn't even glance at him.
27:35He tilted his head half an inch.
27:37A black wolf shadow shot out from behind him.
27:39So fast, the human eye could barely track it.
27:42Caspian's body flew twenty feet through the air and slammed into the wreckage of the altar.
27:46Blood sprayed from his mouth on impact.
27:49Nobody in the square moved.
27:50The Rogue King looked down at me.
27:52He pulled off his black cloak with one hand and wrapped it around my body.
27:56The cloak was huge.
27:58It covered me almost entirely.
28:00It smelled of pine and frozen earth.
28:02It was warm.
28:03Let's go.
28:04He said.
28:05I had no strength left to answer.
28:07But my fingers found the edge of his cloak and held on.
28:10I didn't let go.
28:11He carried me and turned towards the hills.
28:14Thousands of wolves parted to make a path.
28:16Not one of them dared to step in his way.
28:19Damien stood where he was.
28:20He watched another alpha carry me away.
28:23His hands were clenched into fists.
28:25His nails had broken the skin of his palms.
28:30Blood dripped between his fingers.
28:33But he couldn't take a single step.
28:35His wolf was howling inside him, slamming against his consciousness.
28:38The remnants of the mate bond were burning through his soul.
28:42He had severed it himself.
28:44Now the backlash had come.
28:45The crackling of a fire woke me up.
28:48I opened my eyes.
28:50Rough wooden beams crossed the ceiling above me.
28:53The air smelled of burning pine resin and faint herbal medicine.
28:57I was lying on a bed covered in thick animal pleps.
29:00My wounds had been treated.
29:02The silver burns were covered in dark green salve.
29:05My broken ribs were wrapped and stabilized.
29:08My left shin was splinted tight between two wooden blades.
29:12I moved my fingers.
29:14Two faint fluttered came from my belly.
29:17Still there.
29:17They were still there.
29:19The tears hit me all at once.
29:21I had held it together in Dead Man's Valley.
29:23I had held it together on the altar.
29:26But now, finally, I broke.
29:31You're up.
29:32The door opened.
29:33The rogue king walked in carrying a bowl of hot soup.
29:36He had changed into clean clothes.
29:38No military jacket.
29:40Just a plain black long-sleeved shirt and worn jeans.
29:43His hair was tied back loosely.
29:45He didn't look anything close to the terrifying rogue king.
29:48He could have passed for a regular alpha who had just walked out of the kitchen.
29:51Where am I?
29:53The Northern Territories.
29:54My territory.
29:55He set the bowl on the wooden stool beside the bed.
29:58You're safe.
29:59I stared at the soup.
30:01Why should I trust you?
30:02You don't have to.
30:03He leaned against the doorframe.
30:05Arms crossed.
30:06But right now you've got three broken ribs, a fractured left leg, silver burns all over
30:11your body, and two pups in your belly.
30:13Where exactly do you think you'd go?
30:15I opened my mouth.
30:17Everything he said was true.
30:21Drink the soup, he said.
30:23It's not as good once it gets cold.
30:24I hesitated.
30:25Then I picked up the bowl.
30:27Bone broth.
30:28Thick and rich, with chopped herbs mixed in.
30:31Slightly bitter.
30:32But the warmth hit my stomach and my whole body loosened up.
30:35What's your name?
30:36I asked.
30:36Ronan.
30:37That's it?
30:38No last name?
30:39No pack?
30:40Rogues don't have packs.
30:42His voice was even.
30:43I was exiled from my original one.
30:45Why?
30:46Killed someone I shouldn't have.
30:47He didn't explain further.
30:49I didn't push.
30:51We sat in silence for a moment.
30:53You know I'm pregnant?
30:55I looked at him.
30:56I can smell it.
30:58Two of them.
30:59And you're not worried about the trouble?
31:00Taking in another Alpha's mate?
31:02Pregnant with his pups?
31:04Damien won't let this go.
31:05Ronan glanced at me.
31:07His black eyes held no complicated emotions.
31:10Just calm.
31:11When you saved me in that alley six months ago, did you know I was the Rogue King?
31:16No.
31:16Then why did you do it?
31:18You were dying.
31:20Exactly.
31:21He nudged the soup bowl toward me, telling me to keep drinking.
31:25Same reason.
31:27I lowered my head and buried my face in the steam rising from the bowl.
31:31The tears mixed with the hot broth and I swallowed them both down.
31:36Two months later, I gave birth to two pups in Ronan's cabin in the Northern Territories.
31:41The delivery nearly killed me.
31:43My body was already weak.
31:45The silver poisoning made it worse halfway through.
31:48I passed out completely.
31:50One of Ronan's healers delivered them.
31:52When I woke up, two tiny bodies were curled against my chest.
31:55A boy and a girl.
31:57The boy had gray-blue eyes.
31:59Damien's eyes.
32:00The girl had a faint ring of gold around the edge of her pupils.
32:03The same gold my eyes had turned when I shifted.
32:06They were so small.
32:08So small that I was afraid a single turn in my sleep would crush them.
32:13Ronan was standing in the doorway, arms crossed as usual.
32:16Got names picked out?
32:17The boy is Asher.
32:19The girl is Selene.
32:21Selene?
32:22He raised an eyebrow.
32:23I knew what he was thinking.
32:25Luna.
32:26The title that had been taken from me.
32:27That's not why.
32:29I pressed a kiss to my daughter's forehead.
32:31It means moonlight.
32:33The moon was shining through the window when she was born.
32:36Ronan didn't say anything.
32:37He walked over and looked down at the two pups.
32:40Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out two small braided cords.
32:44He tied one around each of their ankles.
32:47Northern Territory's tradition.
32:49He said.
32:50Any pup born on my land is under my protection.
32:53Nobody takes them.
32:55Not for any reason.
32:57I looked up at him.
32:58You know Damien will come for them eventually.
33:01I know.
33:01He's not just any alpha.
33:03He has an entire PAX army behind him.
33:06I know.
33:07And that doesn't scare you?
33:09Ronan tilted his head down.
33:11The firelight reflected in his black eyes.
33:13Twelve packs have put a bounty on my head at the same time.
33:16His voice was casual.
33:18As if he were talking about the weather.
33:20One more won't make a difference.
33:22Damien found us on the day the pups turned one month old.
33:25He had actually located the Northern Territories a month earlier.
33:28But Ronan's wolves had driven every one of his scouts back.
33:31This time he came himself.
33:33No army.
33:34Just him and Caspian.
33:35They were standing in the snow outside the cabin.
33:38Both of them looked terrible.
33:40Damien had lost at least 20 pounds.
33:42His cheeks were hollow.
33:44His skin was gray.
33:45And his lips were cracked.
33:47The mate bond backlash had been tearing him apart for months.
33:50Caspian wasn't much better.
33:52His left arm was strapped to his chest.
33:54Word was that Ronan's wolf had broken it at the altar.
33:57And it still hadn't healed.
33:59I stood behind the window.
34:00Holding Selina in my arms.
34:02Asher was asleep on the bed.
34:03Ronan had his back to me.
34:05Sharpening a hunting knife.
34:06He didn't look up.
34:08Want to see them?
34:09No.
34:12Then I'll go run them off.
34:14Wait.
34:15I hesitated for one second.
34:18Then I put Selene down.
34:19Pulled on a jacket.
34:20And opened the door.
34:22Damien saw me and froze.
34:23His eyes went to my face first.
34:25Then they swept down over my body.
34:27I wasn't the starving skeleton from the gray sector anymore.
34:31The food in the Northern Territories was good.
34:33Ronan's herbal remedies had done their job.
34:36My skin had color again.
34:38My body had filled out.
34:40My eyes were bright.
34:42Then his gaze locked onto a spot near my chest.
34:45I hadn't brought the pups outside with me.
34:48But he could smell them.
34:50Milk.
34:51And underneath it, a bloodline scent identical to his own.
34:55Ivy.
34:56His voice cracked.
34:57You were pregnant?
34:58No.
34:58You had them.
34:59You had our pups.
35:01I didn't answer his question.
35:02What do you want?
35:04To bring you home.
35:05Home?
35:06Back to being your drug?
35:08Your sedative?
35:09Back to kneeling in the gray sector where nobody can see me?
35:12No.
35:13Damien stepped forward.
35:15I found out the truth.
35:17Serena had been dosing me and Cassian with Black Thornberry for three straight years.
35:21The things I said to you.
35:22The things I did.
35:23Half of that was the drug controlling me.
35:26Half?
35:26I smiled.
35:28What about the other half?
35:29Damien's lips moved without sound for a moment.
35:32The other half was my own prejudice.
35:33And my own cowardice.
35:35His voice dropped so low I almost couldn't hear it.
35:38I know an apology means nothing.
35:39I don't deserve your forgiveness.
35:41But those pups, they carry my blood.
35:44Let me be clear.
35:44My voice went cold.
35:46They are my children.
35:48Not yours.
35:49You wanted them dead before they were even born.
35:52Have you forgotten?
35:56At the edge of Dead Man's Valley, you told Caspian to throw me down.
36:00You said the ceremony was about to start.
36:03You said Serena was waiting.
36:06That wasn't me.
36:07That was the drug.
36:08You just told me the drug was only half.
36:11Damien looked gutted.
36:12Every bit of air seemed to leave his body.
36:14Caspian stepped forward.
36:16We can make it up to you.
36:17Make it up to me?
36:18I turned to him.
36:19You told me you'd rip my tongue out.
36:21You dragged me across rocks for 15 feet with a silver chain and now you want to make it
36:24up to me?
36:25Caspian opened his mouth.
36:26Closed it.
36:27He had nothing.
36:28Go home.
36:29I step back and grip the door handle.
36:31The bond between us is gone.
36:33I have no pack.
36:34I have no alpha.
36:36And I don't need one.
36:37My children are protected.
36:39You don't need to worry about them.
36:41I shut the door.
36:43Outside, the snow kept falling.
36:45They didn't leave right away.
36:47They stood in the snow, outside the cabin for the entire night.
36:50The next morning, Ronan opened the door and looked at them.
36:54You leaving or not?
36:55Damien lifted his head.
36:56Frost clung to his eyelashes.
36:58His lips had turned purple from the cold.
37:00Let me see the pups.
37:03Just once.
37:04Ronan turned and looked at me.
37:05I was holding both pups.
37:07I looked down at Asher, S. Gray, blue eyes.
37:10Those eyes were identical to Damien.
37:12S. I was quiet for a long time.
37:14One minute.
37:15Damien S. steps were careful when he walked in.
37:17He was trying not to wake anyone.
37:19He saw Asher and Selene.
37:22Two tiny pups, nestled together in a fur blanket.
37:25Sleeping soundly.
37:27Damien raised his hand.
37:28He reached toward Asher's face.
37:31His hand stopped in midair.
37:32His fingers were trembling.
37:34He didn't T-touch him.
37:36He pulled his hand back and took a step away.
37:42His voice was barely there.
37:44Fragile in a way I had never heard from him before.
37:47Then he turned and walked out of the cabin.
37:48At the doorway, Caspian had seen them too.
37:51The man the entire pack called the Rabid Dog was standing in the snow, staring at the two small babies
37:58inside.
37:58His eyes were red, but he said nothing.
38:00They left.
38:02They disappeared into the Northern Territory's blizzard.
38:05Ronan shut the door and tossed two logs into the fire.
38:08They'll be back, he said.
38:09I know.
38:11What are you going to do?
38:12I looked down at the two pups in my arms.
38:15Selene yawned in her sleep.
38:16A tiny, perfect yawn.
38:19Asher's small hand was wrapped around my finger, gripping tight.
38:23I don't know, I said honestly.
38:25But I'm never going back.
38:27I looked up at Ronan.
38:28Firelight played across the side of his face.
38:31He didn't offer any comforting words.
38:33He just nodded.
38:34Then he pulled a small blanket from the cabinet and laid it over Selene.
38:38Winter's are rough up here, he said.
38:40Can't let the pups get cold.
38:42Outside, the blizzard had stopped.
38:44Moonlight broke through the clouds and spread across the snow.
38:47I pulled both children a little closer.
38:49For some reason, I thought of Nana.
38:52The shape her lips had made right before she died.
38:55Run.
38:56Nana.
38:57I made it out.
38:58I didn't know what would come next.
39:00Damien wouldn't give up.
39:02Neither would Caspian.
39:04Their blood was in my arms.
39:06Their obsession was carved into their bones.
39:09But I wasn't the same waste from the Grey Sector anymore.
39:11I had my wolf.
39:13I had my children.
39:14From today on, I was just Ivy, the white wolf.
39:17And I had my own life to protect.
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