[Kaelen POV]
Ethan's question was a blade forged in ice, and it plunged straight into my heart.
How could he possibly know about that?
"It was a sudden emergency," I tried to explain, a cold sweat beading on my forehead. "Seraphina's mother had been cut by a magical vine. I was just helping get her to the shaman. That's why I missed the ceremony for my mate's parents' Hero's Spirit Stones."
"A cut?" Ethan's voice was as cold as a northern blizzard. "You call a sprained ankle a mortal wound? It seems your 'ally's' mother is far more important than your mate's parents, who sacrificed their lives for every wolf on this continent."
His words were laced with an undisguised, venomous scorn.
Every wolf in this room hailed from a major Pack. No one was buying the flimsy excuse of an "ally." My secret mating, my public courtship of Seraphina—it was the worst-kept secret in our circle.
Worse still, the Northwind Alliance revered the sanctity of the mate bond above all else. In their eyes, betraying a mate was an unforgivable sin. As the future leader of the North, Ethan's disgust was palpable. The nobles who had been so eager to network moments before now regarded me with a cool distance.
I could feel their judgment closing in.
I had come here tonight to build connections. Now, I'd be lucky to leave without being thrown out.
Ethan was younger than me, but the sheer, oppressive weight of his pure-blood Alpha aura—the aura of a true apex predator—sent a shiver of pure dread down my spine.
"The dead can't compete with the living."
The idiotic words could only have come from my Beta, Lucian.
"She could have received the Spirit Stones on her own. It's not like she's helpless. But Lady Seraphina's mother had a sprained ankle. That could be serious! Kaelen was just being considerate!"
A murderous light flashed in Ethan's eyes.
He rose from his seat, each step toward Lucian deliberate and heavy, his presence swelling until he seemed like a great wolf about to launch an attack.
"What did you just say?"
Lucian, completely oblivious to the danger, puffed out his chest. "I said, the dead can't compete with the living! Elara's parents have been dead for three years. Was Kaelen supposed to abandon an injured she-wolf just to go with her to pick up a box of rocks?"
CRACK!
The sound of the slap was a gunshot in the silent room.
Lucian staggered, crashing into a low table with a loud bang.
"Lord Ethan, that's going too far," I said, stepping forward. Lucian was my Beta, after all.
Ethan's face was a mask of pure fury, his obsidian eyes blazing.
"Too far? Not nearly fucking enough!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, he drove his foot into Lucian's gut.
Lucian let out a strangled groan, his body flying backward like a broken doll. As he struggled to get up, Ethan was on him, slamming his tactical boot onto Lucian's chest, pinning him to the floor.
I rushed forward. "Lord Ethan, what are you doing?"
"What am I doing? I'm teaching this worthless cur a lesson," Ethan's voice was ice. "He speaks of things only a beast would dare!"
"Does he think he is worthy of even mentioning Elara's parents?!"
"W-what's so unworthy about it?" Lucian choked, struggling for breath. "Are we not allowed to talk about her dead parents?"
"Elara is nothing! She's been mated to Kaelen for three years, doing nothing but freeloading! Any wolf with half a brain knows Seraphina is the better choice! Don't tell me the great Lord of the North has fallen for some sob story and taken pity on that woman? She's not worth it!"
Lucian was shouting, desperate. He knew his entire future was tied to me. This was his chance to prove his loyalty.
"Ha… haha… hahaha…" The laughter that ripped from Ethan's throat was terrifying.
The heroes he revered, the woman he considered a sister, dragged through the mud by these pathetic curs.
And the worst part? I, Elara's mate, had stood by and said nothing.
"Do you also believe your mate is inferior to Seraphina?" Ethan's gaze was two shards of ice, piercing straight into me.
I hesitated. The question was a trap.
Finally, I made my choice. "In terms of bloodline and contributions to the Pack, Elara is indeed not Seraphina's equal. But she is my mate. I don't mind her lack of ability."
Ethan removed his foot from Lucian's chest. He looked at me, his face a mixture of contempt and pity.
"Her ability? What do you know of her ability?"
"Without her, do you honestly believe your little Blackwood Pack could have risen so quickly in just three years?"
"That was Kaelen's insight, his decisive judgment, his exceptional talent," Seraphina interjected, her voice a smooth defense of my honor.
But Ethan's gaze never left me.
I remained silent. Because that was what I had always believed. I had built this Pack from nothing with my own two hands, my own strength.
"Kaelen Blackwood," Ethan's voice dripped with scorn. "Without Elara, you are nothing."
"Your precious insight, your so-called exceptional talent—it was all her, working in the shadows!"
"What?" I was stunned.
Seraphina's expression soured. "Lord Ethan, even if you wish to speak for Elara, you have no right to belittle Kaelen's hard work."
"Yeah, what could Elara possibly do to help Kaelen?" Lucian wheezed from the floor, his voice much smaller now.
"What could she do?" Ethan scoffed, his disdainful gaze sweeping over every one of us.
"Back in the Silvermoon Clan, she was the foremost student of Ancient War Strategy. The Moonshadow Defense System she designed was so revolutionary that the entire Northwind Alliance upgraded its fortifications based on her work."
"If she hadn't given up everything in her clan for you, her achievements by now would have shaken this entire continent."
His words were a thunderbolt, striking the room with devastating force.
Everyone was frozen. Lucian's eyes were wide, his mouth agape. "H-how is that possible? Elara couldn't possibly be that capable!"
"And why would I lie to you?" Ethan shot back.
No one answered. The heir to the Northwind Alliance would never invent such a lie for a rejected mate.
My face was burning with a deep, humiliating shame. Ethan had just announced, in front of everyone, that everything I, Kaelen Blackwood, had ever accomplished was because of Elara.
I was nothing but a fraud, adorned in her stolen glory.
I wanted to argue, but the words were stuck in my throat.
Memories of the past three years flashed through my mind. Elara, sitting with me, going over plans. Every time I was uncertain, she would offer a single, brilliant suggestion that would change everything. Several of the Pack's most critical partnerships had been secured by her, so quietly I had barely noticed.
I had always thought it was luck.
But what if it wasn't?
What if it was all Elara?
A cold dread washed over me, a chill that shot from the base of my spine to my skull.
"The rising star of the eastern forests? What a joke," Ethan sneered.
"Kaelen Blackwood, the only one you should be thanking is Elara, for wasting three years of her life on you."
"Then again, her judgment is questionable. To give up so much for a male like you. And you, the one who benefited, were so utterly clueless you thought it was all your own genius."
Every word out of his mouth was a vicious slap across my face.
And I had no defense.
Ethan turned away from me, addressing Seraphina's uncle. "It seems this party is over. I'm leaving."
"Yes, of course," the diplomatic elder stammered, terrified of offending the northern tyrant.
Just as he reached the door, Ethan stopped and turned back to me.
"By the way," he said, his voice flat and cold, "the four Great Law Guilds won't take your mother's or your sister's case."
"I made sure of it."
My world shattered.