Adrian’s POV

The moment Skye fl

fled from my resin, the haze of age clouding my

y mind began to cleat

I stared down at my hands, the same hands that had just term her dress, that hud gripped her too mughly, that had tried to im her against her will.

he fuck ha

What the bfuck /bhad 1 jest done?

I’d never been this aggressive with anyone I cared about, especially not Skye. The look of betrayal in her eyes cut deeper than any bphysical /bwound could

But the image of Leon kissing her, his tongue pushing into her mouth, kept reying in my mind like a nightmare I couldn’t escape,

I wanted to rip that bastards tongue out by the root. The very thought of him tinching what was mine made my wolf howl with territorial fury.

Mine. Protest. im.

I pushed my wolf down, disgusted with myself. Skye wasn’t property. She wasn’t something to be imed or marked out of jealousy.

But Leon bwas /bher true mate

As long as their mate bond remained intact, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he could take her from me bat /bany moment. The pull between mates ran deeper than logic or choice, I knew this better than most

his kiss

Had Skye truly resisted bhis /b

I couldn’t bear to think too dreply about it. I knew how powerful a mate bond could be, how it could override every other consideration.

Falshback

It bhad /bbeen a rainy day! four years ago when my life changed

ged forever. The skies had opened up, pelting our territory with sheets of water that seemed to mirror the grief that bwould /bsoon engulf bus/b.

My father’s Beta and several warriors carried bhis /bbody back to bour /bpound. Their faces were prim, clothes soaked with brain /band blood.

In my mind, my father had always been the strongest person in the world; indestructible, powerful, eternal. I had never in

Imagined ba /bbday /bwoulde when would fall.

ent of death clung to him, mingling with the metallic tang of blood band /bthe

As theyid his body down in our ceremonial bhall/bb, /b1 brushed /bforwardb. /bThe scent of earthy smell of the forest where he had fallen.

His once strong body was now ba /bbcanvas /bof deep gashes and bsavage /bwounds. His throat bhad /bbeen torn open, the killing blow from whatever enemy had finally bested him

Looking at bhis /bbbody /bcovered in bwounds/b, I broke down bsobbing/b, my knees giving way beneath me. My ws extended involuntarily, digging into the wooden floor bas /bI howled. But as the Alpha heir of the Stormbowl Park, I forced myself to regainposure quickly. bOur /bpeople needed strength, not btears/b,

ording to bour /bancient werewolf tradition, we kept vigil over the deceased for seven days.

We ced bexactly /bseven white candles in a perfect circle around the coffin, which had to remain lit for the entire period. The elders taught us that the light guided the spirit, preventing the departed from falling into darkness and helping them find their way to paradise instead

The circle represented temal protectionb; /bour pack bonds transcending even death.

For the first two nights, my mother insisted on watching over my father’s body balone/b.

1/31

Chapter b141 /b

By the third night, I worried about her exhaustion and decided to take her ce, giving her time to rest,

When I approached the mourning hall, strange am?nda trached my enhanced hearing

Low mani, a man and woman’s intertwined sighs of pleasine, cut though the silence of the night with disturbing rity. Along with these chce nesun came that unmistakable scent: sex, sweat, and the muusky aroma of

The scents were so strong they nearly masked the ceremonial incense burning around my father’s body.

Who would be so disrespectful as to defile my father’s mourning hall this way?

I decided to catch them and banish them from the

m the pack immediately. My will use close to the surface, rage building with each step I took

As I moved closer, however, I heard a familiar voice that stopped me culd.

I love you, Lillian. I’ve always loved you.”

Lillian, my mother’s name

I froze as I heard my uncle Maxwell repeating her name over and over, his voice thick with passion.

I could hear their movements against the wooden floor of the adjacent prayer room,

the rustling bof /bclothes, the quickening of breath

“We can be together now,” he whispered. “It’s our time.”

I turned band /bsilently

walked away, bile rising in my throat

That night, I didn’t sleep.

I shifted and ran along the beach buntil /bdawn, the cold wind and pounding bsurf /bfailing to wash away what I’d discovered. My paws dug deep into the wet sand, my howl lost in the crash of bwaves /bagainst the shore.

The next day, I gathered my courage and confronted my mother. Her scent still carried traces of my uncle, making my

stomach bturn/b.

Why would you betray Father like this?” I basked/bb, /bmy voice barely controlled.

A sh of panic crossed her eyes before her expression smoothed into practiced calm. She sat down at her vanity, fingers nervously tracing the edge of my father’s photograph.

my actual “Your father and I were a political match, bAdnan/b,” she exined softly. I was never his true mate. After I married him, I discovered Maxwell was mate.” Her eyes took on a faraway look, her fingers now absently touching her neck where a mate mark would be ced. But by then, I was already pregnant with you. I had to reject Maxwell band /bstay with your father“

I didn’t know how to process this revtion.

intended to defend my father’s honor, but I couldn’t deny the love I saw in my mother’s eyes when she spoke of Maxwell.

The way her voice softened, how her scent changed; it wasn’t the behavior of someone driven purely by lust or disrespect

Was this the power of the mate bond? Strong enough to ovee loyalty, rows, even basic decency?

Now, sitting alone in my hotel room, I wondered what Leon truly meant to her.

If the connection between mates was bas /bpowerful bas /bwhat Ed witnessed between my mother, and uncle, how long could Skye mally resist it?.

My well whinedb, /barious and confused. We had nearly marked her tonight, an act that would have bound her to us forever. But a mark given in anger and possession rather than love would have been unforgivable.

Chapter 141fn69b8 Th?s chapter is updated by find?novel/fn69b8

I needed to make this right, but first, I needed to understand what I was truly afraid of.

Was it losing Skye?

bOr /bwas it bing like my fatherb, /ba man who married a woman whose heart secretly belonged to someone

I pressed my palms against my eyes, trying to block out the memories, but they persisted.

My mother’s voice echoed in my mind: “1 was never his true mate.”

What if, despite everything bSkye /bsaid about choning me, the mate bound eventually pulled her back to Leon?

The questions tormented me as the night grew deeper, and Skye’s absence from my bed felt like a physical wound that wouldn’t heal.

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