"Seraphina, you poisoned me for him? How could you bring yourself to do that?"

Seraphina's eyes reddened, and she apologized over and over.

"I'm sorry, Fenris. He found out you exist. Based on the timing, the pup could be yours. He won't allow anyone to threaten his position."

So she laced the pastries I loved most with Hollowbane, and I never suspected a thing.

"Seraphina, my stomach hurts so badly. I just swallowed it, there's still time. Please, go find a healer."

She didn't move. My voice cracked raw with panic. "I won't mate with you, alright? I won't. I don't want to live like this, worse than death. Once I'm better, I'll leave. I'll go far away. I won't stand in your way, I swear."

No matter how I begged until my throat gave out, Seraphina didn't flinch.

She held out her arm. "Bite down on me. It won't hurt as much."

I shoved her arm away. "Go find a healer. I'm begging you, Seraphina."

"Fenris, stop talking nonsense. No pack healer is going to treat someone of your station."

"The poison's already taken hold. It's too late. Just be good. Even if you can never sire pups again, my pup will still call you father."

I gripped her hand so hard my knuckles went white. "Seraphina, listen to me. I am the Alpha Heir. The Supreme Alpha's own son. Go find a healer to save me. Now."

But she thought I was lying. She wrenched her hand free, anger flashing across her face.

"You've really disappointed me. There's a limit to how far a lie should go. This is the pack stronghold's territory, not some borderland den of yours. One wrong word here can cost you your head."

She turned on her heel, the night-blooming jasmine of her scent already retreating, already cold.

"It's only barrenness. It won't kill you. Look after yourself."

I watched her walk away, and the last shred of hope inside me died.

Deep in my chest, my wolf let out a sound that wasn't quite a howl. Low, airless, like something crawling into a place it wouldn't come back from.

I curled into the corner. The feeling below my waist began to fade, replaced by a pain so sharp I could barely breathe. The Hollowbane was working its way through my blood, burning from the inside. I could feel it reaching for something deeper than organs, deeper than bone. It was reaching for my bloodline itself, the thread that connected me to every Ashvale who had ever lived, and it was cauterizing the end.