Zephyrine
“That’s the… bracelet I pleaded with you to get at the Moonlight Tradest week, Nyroth. You’re giving it to her?”
When I pushed open the carved ironwood doors of Hue Pack’s council chamber without knocking the door, only to find my mate slipping a bracelet onto Ka’s wrist.
My sudden appearance brought the room to a halt.
Inside the chamber stood the Beta of ckbridge Pack and two of their elders. Among them was a female, one I recognized too well. She hailed from ckbridge Pack, and I swallowed hard when my eyes met hers.
Ka.
My Mate’s childhood crush. His obsession.
My gaze dropped from Ka’s face to the bracelet in her wrist and a small frown crept onto my face.
My question made my mate roll his eyes and let out a low growl of displeasure.
I’d interrupted his perfect moment. And it seems I wasn’t wee here at all.
I scanned the room, reading the tension, and managed a thin smile.
“Nyroth, when you’re done, I have something to tell you.”
“If it’s about the bracelet, then forget it. Ka is getting it, Zeph,” he snapped, his grey eyes shing with irritation. Then he shrugged, like he hadn’t just chosen her, again.
“She’s hosting the festival at ckbridge. It’s her first since returning from her mission to bring peace. Five years serving as envoy, Zeph. She deserves a gift, don’t you think?”
Another chill ran down my spine. Thoughts surged through my mind, but I suppressed them with a bite to my lower lip.
Ever since Ka has returned from her mission as envoy, Nyroth obsession for her had grown and he didn’t bother fron hide it anymore.
“But I asked for it first, Nyroth,” I muttered helplessly.
To this, Kai, the Beta of Hue Pack and Nyroth’s best friend who had stood quietly rolled his eyes.
“We won’t be hearing a rogue’s nagging now, will we? You heard him. It’s just a gift. And it’s a stupid bracelet anyway. Why do you care?”
Rogue？
That one word tightened my chest and my wolf stirred within me, but I forced her back. I never told Nyroth that I was from the Ash Pack.
Soldiers from our Ash Pack were called Ashmere, warriors by blood, loyal to death, and respected across the Empire for our unmatched discipline.
When an Ashmere walked onto the battlefield, even kings and Alphas held their breath and stood aside.
But now, they all assumed I was a rogue?
And what he called stupid was the only thing my mother had left me. A day before they went off to war and never returned.
On the inner band of the bracelet was engraved the name my mother had lovingly written for me—For my beloved Zephy.
Now my mate was gifting my mother’s left to his crush?
I stepped forward, seized Ka’s wrist, and coldly snatched the bracelet away.
“This is mine.” My voice trembled, yet it carried an unyielding firmness.
“What are you doing?!” she gasped, a flicker of panic shing in her eyes.
The next second, Nyroth stormed over and shoved me aside, his face dark with anger.
“Are you crazy? You’d really make a scene over something so trivial?” he roared, his using gaze cutting into me like a de.
I clutched the bracelet tightly against my chest, my fingers turning white from the force. I turned my gaze to my mate, who was still staring at me, his jaw clenched tight with impatience.
“What belongs to me, no one will ever take away. But I didn’te here for the bracelet, Nyroth. That’s not what I wanted to talk about, I came here for my parents.”
“And I thought they were dead…” Ka muttered and I stiffened.
Did I just hear her right?
What audacity.
I’d never once said a word to Ka. Not when she paraded herself before my mate. Not when she lingered after council meetings. But now I could feel my patience slipping.
I bit back the words threatening to rise and turned to Nyroth, who was now staring at me, waiting.
“I just received a letter,” I said, trying to steady my voice. “It says their wolves have been cremated, and the Moonstone Vessel holding their ashes is ready to be brought home.”
I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until he finally responded.
“Good.”
No emotion. Just one clipped, careless word. It sounded more like a dismissal than anything else.
“Nyroth…” I began again, forcing another smile. “After five years of silence, they’reing home…My parents always wanted a son-inw. We can go together to retrieve the vessel. It’s just at the border of the empire. ”
Silence fell.<fn1d95> Checktest chapters at find?novel</fn1d95>
Heavy. Crushing.
“I… uhm…” he began, and I turned to him, clinging to thest thread of hope. “Yeah, I was supposed toe along with you, but… I need to be somewhere with Ka. Her mother invited me to dinner, and I can’t say no.”
My heart sank.
This was cruelty. Pure, sharp, deliberate cruelty.
I stared at him, stunned. Confused.
“You’re… You mean you’d choose a meal over…” I started to say, but Nyroth shot me a cold re.
Then he looked away and Shrugged.
A soft sigh escaped him, and when he looked back at me, he wore that same hypocritical look of apology he always used to excuse his betrayals.
“I’ll ask my Beta to apany you. Don’t worry, you’ll be safe.”
I nearly scoffed.
Safe?
Did he think that’s what I needed from him?
Safety? Or… him?
I stared down at the bracelet still lying on the ground. I picked it up and walked out Quietly with my Heart shattering.
“I don’t get why she’s acting all pained,” I heard Ka say behind me. “She’s a rogue who should be happy you offer her shelter, Nyroth. Do you even have to give her an exnation?”
I slowed down. Waited. Expected, hoped, that Nyroth would say something. Anything but what followed was silence.
The same cold silence he gave when his family bullied me. When his pack members spat at me. When they called me rogue.
I no longer offered any exnations and went alone to the border.
“I, Zephyrine Ashmere, the only daughter of thest warlord, am here for the Moonstone Vessel.”
Before the imprable walls of Moonveil Fortress, I stood and said those words, allowing the goosebumps to overwhelm my skin and permitting my wolf to awaken inside me.