"There's a three-courtyard den on the outskirts of the territory. I've already purchased it. If you like the country life, I'll have someone plant herbs and moonberry bushes in the yard for you. Whatever you want, I'll make it happen. Trust me."
I stepped back, shaking my head over and over.
"I won't be locked away as your dirty secret. I won't let myself and our pups live in the shadows for the rest of our lives."
But Seraphina simply walked up to me, her expression unchanged, her voice calm.
"I've never thought of you as a kept wolf. As long as you don't make trouble in front of my mate, you'll still be mine. Isn't that enough?"
I kept shaking my head. "No. It's not. I'm not leaving this place."
This was where Seraphina and I had spent three years of love. I wanted to be here when our pups were born.
"Fenris, you know my mating ceremony cannot have a single flaw. I have to erase every trace of our past. It's the only way to keep you safe."
Before the shock had even settled, she raised her hand. The guards behind her stepped forward with torches and set the entire den ablaze.
In an instant the fire roared to life, swallowing the timber cabin, the fence, the courtyard whole. Something deep in my chest lurched — my wolf, silent for so long beneath the herbs I used to suppress my scent, throwing itself against the walls of my ribs in a soundless howl.
I gripped the fence and screamed. "No! Stop! Stop it!"
Seraphina pulled me away and pressed my thrashing body against her chest.
She held me there while I struggled and howled. Her scent washed over me — night-blooming jasmine over cold steel — and underneath it, something acrid that I had never let myself name until now.
"Fenris, when the time is right, I'll make you my secondary mate. Our pups can carry the title of a legitimate heir. We can be just like before."
But Seraphina, I am the Alpha Heir. How could I ever be your secondary mate?
The den was gone. There was no going back.
Three years ago, I had a fight with my father and stormed out of the pack stronghold in a fit of rage, chasing after my dream of a quiet life far from the howling and the hierarchy.