Five years of mating, and I had never once considered it. I had suppressed my bloodline, muted my scent with wolfsbane tinctures until even my own wolf could barely recognize me, poured the Silvercrest fortune and every alliance my family name carried into building the Ironmaw Pack from nothing. Five years of disappearing into the role of quiet, submissive mate. Five years of watching him grow powerful on resources he never once questioned the origin of. But the first time the thought came, it came with a force that nearly knocked me sideways.

And my wolf. My wolf, who had been silent through all of it, who had curled into that dark unreachable place and refused to surface, finally stirred. Not with grief. Not with rage. With something quieter and far more dangerous. A cold, clear recognition. The kind of stillness that comes right before a predator decides it is finished being prey.

"Theron, I don't know who you are anymore." My voice was quiet, almost calm. "I really don't. Not even a little. You feel like a complete stranger to me."

I smiled, cold and hollow, and took one step back. Then another.

Something flickered across Theron's face. His wolf surfaced behind his eyes for half a second, a flash of amber that was gone before it fully formed. He reached for my arm. "Sera, don't be so petty. I was just helping her out. My love belongs only to you."

I wrenched my arm free.

"Don't touch me. You're filthy."

The words left my mouth and the mating mark on my neck went cold. Not warm, not burning. Cold. Like the bond itself had heard me and flinched.

I turned my back on him and walked down the hallway toward the room that had once been ours. My footsteps were steady. My spine was straight. My wolf walked with me, step for step, rising slowly from wherever she had hidden, pressing against the inside of my ribs like she was reminding me she was still there. Still mine. Still breathing.

Behind me, the mingled scent of scorched iron and cloying honeysuckle hung in the air like something rotting.

I did not look back.

I shook off his hand and walked toward my den chamber like a dead woman walking.

He didn't follow. Behind me, I heard Corvina coaxing him: "Theron, go check on her, please. I'd hate for her to be upset because of me."

"Let her cool down. She loves me too much to stay angry. She'll come around."