Scarred by His Bite, Crowned by the Moon

My mate was an honest wolf who didn't know the first thing about romance. No moonstone band at our mating ceremony. Not a single bloom in five cycles. In our den at night, he was a plank of wood.

When I finally carried his pup and asked him to come to my heat-carrying examination at the Healing Hall, he frowned like I was asking too much

Next time, okay? I've got to keep grinding so you and the pup can have a good life.

The other she-wolves all said the same thingLore-keeper Ashthorne stays in the Lore-Hall until the moon is high every night, earning enough to feed a litter. He's loyal, he doesn't stray. You should be grateful.

I told myself the same thing. He just wasn't wired for romance.

Then I walked out of the Healing Hall alone after my examination, and my feet stopped dead.

Across the open ground, Roderic Ashthorne was carefully helping a young performing Omega into a sleek black obsidian carriage.

This wolf who had shared a cramped old den with me for five cycles was dressed head to toe in the finest pelts and fabrics, a master-crafted timepiece on his wrist, every hair in place.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine roses nearly buried Seraphine Velvetmoor whole. He leaned down and kissed her.

That face, always so flat and indifferent, wore an expression I had never once seen: reverent, doting, utterly tender.

I stood frozen at the edge of the path, one hand over my five-moon belly, tears blurring everything. Somewhere deep inside me, my wolf went very still, the way a creature goes still when it scents danger on the wind.

That night, I logged into a second account on the spirit network and pulled up the feed Roderic had blocked me from.

A ten-carat moonstone ring, slid onto her finger as he knelt. A cycle's worth of journeys across distant territories

He was never a poor lore-keeper. He was never cold by nature.

His generosity, his romance, had simply never been meant for me.

I wiped my eyes and reached for my crystal communicator

I accept the offer. I'll lead the Silvercrest Pack's vast territory-strengthening endeavor.

In five days I would cross the ocean and disappear from his life.

1.

It was the blocked feed that finally showed me: my mate wasn't just a humble lore-keeper. He was a co-owner of one of the great packs.

His yearly take wasn't the pittance he'd told me. It was a fortune in gold moons.

A cycle ago, Seraphine Velvetmoor had come to his Lore-Hall to study for a performance. That was how they met.

Good-morning and good-night sendings every single day since.

She was often away on distant ground, but she sent him everythingtrips to the finest markets, her morning brews, glamorous images from her performances.

No matter what she posted, Roderic never left her hanging.

One image, ten thousand gold moons. A reward for sharing her day.

And when I shared something with him? The same line, every time

Aurora, I'm teaching. We'll talk when I'm done.

To keep Seraphine happy, he threw luxuries at her like they cost nothing.

On my Moon Blessing Day, he'd given me something once too. A bracelet. He said it had cost him two moons' wages.

I cried so hard that day. I was so moved.

Now I knew the truth. It was a trinket Seraphine had tossed aside as rubbish.

Had he been laughing at me the whole time? His pathetic, gullible mate?

Then came the thousandth image in the feed. Roderic on one knee, sliding a moonstone ring onto Seraphine's finger.

I'll protect your future. That's my promise.

I looked down at my own bare ring finger, and the pain drove through my chest like a thousand needles. My wolf made a sound I'd never heard it make before, low and broken, scratching at the inside of my ribs.

My hands shaking, I tapped the latest update.

It was Seraphine's heat-pregnancy confirmation from the moon-healer.

My mind went blank.

Roderic had given her a fine-blooded courser to celebrate

Only the finest things are worthy of what you're going through to carry our pup.

And my reward for carrying his pup?

Washing his worn things by hand for five cycles straight so he could save a few gold moons.

Footsteps at the den door. Roderic was home.

He'd changed back into his threadbare old tunic, fraying at the edges. Behind those plain spectacles his face still looked honest, decent. But now all I could see was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

When he noticed my red-rimmed eyes, he paused, then quickly crossed the room and pulled me into his arms.

What's wrong? Did something come up at the examination?

I didn't answer. He sighed and leaned in to kiss me.

The scent rolling off him struck me before his lips could. It was wrong. Cedar gone slightly sour, warm copper, and beneath it all a cloying sweetness that masked something rotten. Layered over it, sharp and foreign, hung overripe jasmine and sugared honey turning to decay. My stomach turned. A growl rose in my chest and I swallowed it down.

One of my young lore-students made a mess in the Hall. I had to clean it up.

How about a feast of fine roasted game tomorrow? We can call it a makeup meal for our mating anniversary. Sound good?

Don't bother. I'm not worthy of anything that costly.

I turned away from his lips and stepped out of his arms.

Last cycle on this same date, I sat in a feasting hall waiting for him for five hours. When he finally answered the communicator, his voice was nothing but irritation

Didn't I tell you I'm running a working of lore? Stop bothering me.

As if he'd completely forgotten what day it was.

So he remembered after all. Only this time he felt uneasy enough to think about "making it up to me."

Aurora, what is your problem? I'm laying out for a grand feast and you're still not satisfied? What exactly do you want from me?

Pure annoyance on his face, as if I were the one being unreasonable.

I had followed this wolf for years without so much as claiming a single decent garment for myself.

One feast of fine game. Compared to everything he gave Seraphine, what was that?

I was about to speak when his communicator chimed.

He glanced at the crystal, and every crease of irritation vanished.

Roderic, the pup kicked me my belly hurts. Can you come stay with me?

A sweet, breathy voice leaked from the stone.

Roderic panicked. He turned and headed straight for the door.

Only at the threshold did he seem to remember I existed, not even looking backEmergency at the Lore-Hall. I've got to go. Get some sleep.

I watched the wolf and all his lies disappear through the door, and I laughed until the tears came.

Five more days. Then you won't have to sneak around anymore. I'll set you free.

Half a turn of the moon later, Seraphine's feed on the spirit network updated.

How does this wolf love me so much~

In the crystal recording, Seraphine was doubled over with heat-sickness. Roderic, who could not abide a speck of filth, caught her sickness in his bare hands without a second of hesitation.

I thought of a few weeks past, when I was sick all over the den floor. He didn't even try to hide his disgust.

I begged him to take me to the Healing Hall. He yanked his hand out of mine

I have an important Council review today. If I miss it, I might lose my standing. Take a carriage. Be good.

I took a long breath and told myself:

It's fine. From now on, I'll love myself the way he never bothered to.

I saved every image and every crystal-recording. The next morning, I went straight to a Beta advocate of the Pack Council.

Roderic didn't come home to our den until the afternoon.

"Lore-work ran too deep into the night, so I just slept at the Lore-Hall. We're feasting at my parents' den tonight. Go change."

He held out a new gown. It was beautiful, woven by a craft-house he'd never once been willing to spend a single moon-credit on for me before.

The old me would have thrown her arms around him in delight.

I just took it quietly and murmured: "Okay."

Roderic frowned, looking me over:

"You don't like it? That gown cost over a thousand gold moons."

Yes. Too late. No gift beneath the Moon Goddess could make me happy now.

He had no idea.

That morning, on my way to the advocate's den, I'd caught his scent next door at the territory-holdings hall, where he stood touring a riverside den with Seraphine Velvetmoor. His scent reached me first, that expensive cedar gone slightly sour, and beneath it the cloying sweetness I had never let myself name. My wolf went still inside me, hackles lifting at something that didn't smell right.

A sprawling riverfront den, tens of millions in moon-credits. Seraphine said "I love it," and he sealed the claim without blinking.

She rose on her toes and pressed her nose to his cheek, beaming. He smiled gently and smoothed the hair from her forehead.

The handsome lore-keeper and the beautiful performing Omega. A perfect match.

If only this man weren't my mate.

I'd once dreamed of a den by the river too, even a small one.

I'd clung to Roderic's arm and begged:

"The water shines so beautifully under the moon. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could live there?"

He hadn't even looked up from the lore-scrolls he was marking:

"Do you have any idea what riverfront dens cost? You don't even hold a place in the endeavor. How am I supposed to afford that on a lore-keeper's share?"

I'd pouted and suggested a slow blood-oath of payment. He'd erupted:

"Aurora, I said no!"

"What's wrong with our den? You don't have the standing of an Alpha's mate, but you've sure caught the sickness for it!"

So it was never about the price. And he knew exactly how beautiful the water shone.

I was just the one who didn't deserve it.

I swallowed the pain twisting through my chest, lifted my crystal communicator, recorded him claiming that riverside den, and walked into the advocate's den.

That evening, the last feast at the Ashthorne den. Goblets touched, laughter rose easy and warm around the long table, the scent of roasted game thick in the air.

I stood up.

I pushed a bond-rejection oath across the table, right over the haunch Roderic was carving.

"Roderic. I want a bond rejection."

The air at the table went dead.

"Carrying a pup's made you lose your mind? Where do you get off howling about rejection!" Brunhilde Ashthorne was the first to recover, her voice shrill and cutting, the bitter clove of her scent sharpening across the table.

Roderic's hand froze around his knife.

A long moment passed before he looked up at me, brow creased deep: "What are you making a scene about now?"

"I'm not making a scene."

I clenched my teeth and confronted him about Seraphine Velvetmoor.

He rubbed his temples, looking thoroughly put-upon:

"Seraphine was only collecting some reference lore from the Hall. I helped her a little, that's all."

"You wanted a pup. I gave you one. So what exactly is your problem?"

One word. Unreasonable. And every grievance I carried was stuffed right back inside me.

Brunhilde's voice rose to a bark: "This is what happens when a she-wolf's life has been too soft. It's made her completely out of control!"

Reynard Ashthorne rolled his eyes in open contempt:

"Every wolf in the territory knows you've been living off my son since the mating. Walk out that door, and you're just some used-up Omega no pack would take."

Roderic's older brother set down his goblet, voice dripping with scorn:

"A she-wolf who acts up like this? Who besides Roderic could stand the stench of it."

"That's enough."

Roderic cut them off and turned to his parents: "Aurora is still your daughter by bond. She's upset, that's why she's howling about rejection. Once I explain things, she'll settle."

Instantly the whole table rallied around his "defense" of me, praising him as the perfect mate, calling me an ungrateful drain on the bloodline.

They'd all forgotten. I hold a Lore-Master rank from the Lore-Keepers' Circle, earned in the pureblood Frostmoon line.

After the mating, Roderic said he didn't want me known beyond our den. And because I loved him more than anything, I became a mate who served and nothing more.

What he never knew was that for cycles, the strongest packs across every territory had sent envoys to me, begging me to lead their strengthening endeavors. I turned every one of them away.

I never imagined that everything I gave up would become the silver blade his family used against me.

"Roderic's already shielding you. Quit while you're ahead and stop being so ungrateful!"

They thought I'd back down after all that.

I didn't.

I pushed the Blood Oath of rejection closer

No explanations needed. Sign, Roderic.

He stared for two full seconds, then let out a cold laugh

Don't be stupid. Walk out that door and you can't even feed yourself.

I looked at the face in front of me, so familiar yet so foreign, and felt a disappointment I had never known before. Beneath my skin my wolf went very still, the way she did when something she'd trusted turned strange.

So even he saw me that way.

Then why was I still bending over backward for this?

I was about to speak when his communicator chimed at his waist.

He answered, and his expression shiftedDon't be scared. I'm coming right now.

Then he looked at me, impatient

Seraphine's being harassed by some rogues. I have to go.

I've been good enough to you all these cycles. Seraphine and I are just friends. Don't you dare start this again.

He swept the rejection papers into the hearth-bin and slammed the den door on his way out.

Brunhilde watched him go and let out a sharp snort, dry oak and cold ash curling off her with the contemptUngrateful little wretch. Get out of my den.

I didn't bother acknowledging the insults at my back. I walked straight out.

It wasn't until I reached the ridge road that I realized Roderic had already taken the carriage to fetch Seraphine.

He couldn't bear the thought of her getting hurt at all, yet he'd forgotten I was carrying his pup.

And he'd forgotten that five cycles ago, kneeling at my parents' burial cairns beneath the moon, he'd sworn before the Goddess to protect me for the rest of my life.

Maybe the vow had been sincere at the time. Too bad hearts change.

The person who promised to protect me was the one who hurt me the most.

The territory edge was remote. Not a single hired carriage passed the whole stretch.

I stared down the pitch-black mountain road, clenched my fists, and started walking.

By the time my legs felt like lead, my communicator buzzed with a message from an unknown sending-stone.

It was Seraphine.

Did you and Roderic have a fight? He looked awful when he got here.

He's in a much better mood now, though. I took very good care of him.

In the crystal-image she'd attached, a man stood with his back to the lens, water sluicing over him. Claw-marks streaked across his back, and the steam did nothing to hide that tall, familiar frame. His scent even carried faint through the image somehow in my memory, cedar gone sour, that cloying sweetness I'd once mistaken for warmth.

I saved the image without a word and called a friend who tracked secrets for coin.

You said you had dirt on Seraphine Velvetmoor? I'll buy it. Whatever it costs.

And dig into my mate's holdings while you're at it.

It took me four full hours to walk back to the den. The instant I turned the latch, I heard laughter inside.

Just relax and stay here. Nobody's going to bother you.

Roderic's voice. Soft. Gentle.

I pushed the door open. Seraphine was on the couch. Roderic stood over her holding a bowl of something rich and strengthening, spooning it carefully to her lips

The healer said you unsettled the pup. Stay still, I've got it.

I stood there, staring at the two of them, and a sharp pain pushed through my chest, as if the den I'd lived in for five cycles had really been theirs all along. My wolf pressed low in my ribs and would not lift her head.

Seraphine spotted me and immediately stood

Aurora, you're back.

She still had that flawless skin, that perfect face. The faint reek of overripe jasmine and sugared honey clung to her, and not a trace of pup-scent under it. She didn't carry as though she'd quickened at all.

Meanwhile the heat-carrying had wrecked me. My once-clear complexion had broken out, I'd gained over twenty pounds, and the face caught in the polished glass cabinet was oily and hollowed out.

Roderic set the bowl down and glanced at me, his tone flat

Seraphine's den was sniffed out by some obsessive admirers. I told her she could stay with us a few days.

Seraphine came over and reached for my hand

I was just so scared, and Roderic insisted on bringing me here. You don't mind, right?

I shook her hand off and stared at her, cold.

You're a known performer. You think luring a mated wolf is something to be proud of?

That's not what this is, I

Seraphine turned to Roderic with wounded eyes, her lashes already glistening, a tear about to fall.

He pulled her behind him instantly and fixed me with a hard stare, a low growl threading beneath his wordsI told you, there's nothing between me and Seraphine. Can you stop with the pointless jealousy?

The way he shielded her from me made me feel like I was the shameless rival omega.

I swallowed the burn in my nose and pulled out the rejection papers I'd fished back out of the hearth-bin, every word deliberate.

I'm not jealous. I'm giving you what you want.

My eyes, steady and unblinking, held his.

Aurora

His heartbeat stuttered without warning, and he reached for me.

A young she-wolf had once set her sights on Roderic. When I caught the scent of it on him, I wouldn't let it go. I kept asking, kept pushing, and he gave me a full week of silence for it.

After that, the smallest thing could set my nerves on edge, my wolf pacing under my skin at every shift in his scent.

This time, he'd assumed at first that "bond rejection" was just another bid for attention.

Now he was confused. Why wasn't I clashing with Seraphine? Why wasn't I even baring my teeth?

What he didn't understand was that jealousy had lost all meaning.

The harder I fought, the further his heart tilted toward Seraphine and her soft, wounded act.

More than that, I simply didn't care anymore.

Just as Roderic was about to reach for me, Seraphine let out a sharp cry:

"Roderic, my stomach hurts so bad!"

His expression changed instantly. He pulled his hand back, scooped her up, and rushed for the door.

"I'm taking Seraphine to the Healing Hall. We'll talk when I get back!"

He looked frantic, cradling her like she was something precious.

I slammed the blood-oath papers down on the low table, turned, and went upstairs to pack.

Late that night, Roderic climbed into bed and wrapped his arms around me from behind. Beneath the cedar of his scent, that sour, cloying rot lingered, and my wolf curled away from it.

"Aurora, I know I've been neglecting you lately. I know you're upset."

"But Seraphine and I really are just friends. Her mate's away across the far territories, and she's carrying a pup with no one to look after her. That's the only reason I let her into the den, just to keep her safe for now."

I lay silent in the dark.

Did he actually believe that after what I'd seen with my own eyes, I'd still swallow his lies?

"Once this whole thing with the obsessed she-wolf blows over, she'll go. I promise. Everything will go back to normal."

His voice dropped lower, softer: "Aurora, I love you."

He sounded exactly the way he used to, same warmth, same voice, as if nothing had changed.

All I felt was disgust.

Maybe the tenderness was real. But so was the pup he'd made with someone else.

I wrenched myself free of his arms. I couldn't stand another second of his touch.

I could feel his gaze lingering on my back for a long time.

The next morning, I woke to the smell of cooking drifting up through the den.

I walked into the main room and found Roderic, who had never once set foot near the hearth, wearing an apron, carrying a bowl of stewed fish to Seraphine.

"The healer said more fish stew makes the pup stronger."

Seraphine spotted me and waved with a bright smile:

"Aurora, come join us! Roderic was up before first light making this. You're so lucky, a hearth-cooked meal like this every morning."

Roderic's hands went still.

I gave a faint smile: "He's never once cooked for me."

I glanced at the stew. My stomach turned, the smell sitting wrong in the back of my throat, and I headed for the washroom.

"I can't stand the smell of fish. Never could."

Seraphine followed me in. Under her sugared scent, that thread of tin sharpened, and a growl I didn't let surface stirred low in my chest.

Her face was all sincerity: "Aurora, I've never wanted to come between you two. Please don't overthink this."

The moment the door closed behind her, the mask dropped: "If you're going to leave, leave already. He stopped caring about you a long time ago."

Pity and triumph flickered together in her eyes.

"Did you know? He's already sworn his inheritance. Every holding goes to me and our pup. As for you and your whelp, you can spend the rest of your lives rotting in this run-down corner of the territory."

"Bond-betrayal really is your one true calling, isn't it."

I met her gaze. My voice was calm, but it cut.

The color drained from Seraphine's face.

I lowered my voice further:

"Roderic may not know what you really are. I know exactly what you are."

"I can walk away. But don't push me again."

A beat later, Seraphine's lips slowly curved into a smile, quiet, unreadable, and promising nothing good.

Seraphine dropped to the floor of the washing den, clutching her belly, and screamed.

My pup! Aurora, why did you push me?

The next second, Roderic burst through the door.

He saw Seraphine crumpled on the cold stone, sobbing, and his face went dark as he turned on me. The cloying sweetness of his scent soured in an instant, copper sharpening to something feral.

What did you do to her?!

Before I could say a word, he shoved me aside and scooped up Seraphine, still crying her pretty little eyes out.

Ah!

I hit the cold floor hard, and a searing pain tore through my stomach.

Beneath me, a dark red stain slowly spread.

I reached for Roderic, terrified: I didn't do anything to her. Roderic, my stomach

Shut up. Don't fucking pretend with me.

He didn't even glance at me. He carried Seraphine out the door and was gone, and his scent went with him, leaving the den hollow and silent.

I curled up on the floor, cold sweat soaking through every layer I wore.

My abdomen was screaming. Somewhere deep inside me my wolf had gone utterly still, the way a creature goes still when something it was guarding has already slipped away. My heart, though, that didn't hurt so much anymore.

I dragged myself upright, made it down the stairs one step at a time, and summoned a carriage alone.

Blood ran down my legs. The driver was so frightened he took the bends in the road too fast, the storm-hawks straining against their harness.

We passed the little grove on the corner, and I suddenly remembered where it all began.

That same old tree. A boy standing under it, face going red because I'd told him first, nodding before he could get a full sentence out.

Yeah, yeah

I mean, I like you too, Aurora.

The memory flickered past, so sweet it made me laugh out loud even as my eyes blurred with tears.

That honest wolf I'd found so endearingly sincere had only ever been something I invented.

Just last night, a full account of Roderic's holdings had landed in my sending-stone.

Vast hunting grounds. Territory stretching past the far ridges.

Even his parents weren't ordinary lore-keepers. They were silent owners behind an entire pack, seated among the Elders.

Yet he hadn't even been willing to give us a decent mating ceremony beneath the moon.

I finally saw it for what it was: he had never loved me.

Five cycles bonded as mates, nothing but a game to him. A lie spun to keep me from ever learning about the wealth.

Sitting on the bed in the Healing Hall, I pressed my hands against my hollow stomach, and my eyes went cold.

I reached my advocate through the sending-stone:

I've sent over all the evidence. Move to freeze Roderic Ashthorne's holdings.

I'd meant to part on decent terms. No need for that now.

My sending-stone pulsed. A message from Dorian Greywood, my old academy lab-mate and Alpha of the Silvercrest Pack.

Passage is arranged. I'll send a carriage for you the day after tomorrow.

Good. See you then.

The pup was gone. Five cycles of love, severed clean. It was time to leave.

At the edge of pack territory, right before departure, a message from Roderic.

Do you have any idea Seraphine almost lost the pup because of you?

Fine, I lied to you. I took her to my bed. But if you're angry, take it out on me. What does she have to do with it?

Just lower your head to Seraphine and we'll put it behind us. You only did all this because you love me too much, and carrying the pup made you a little emotional. I get it.

That interrogating tone, that lofty charity-dispensing attitude, I actually laughed.

What right did he have to defend Seraphine to me?

Where did he find the nerve to demand I bare my throat to her?

I sent back fast: In a few days, you can speak to my advocate. Before the Council.

Sent. Stone dark. I walked toward the waiting carriage without looking back.

Once I stopped loving him, the whole sky opened up. I was done being someone's useless mate. I had a place to claim, the lead architect of the Silvercrest Pack's territory-strengthening lore, work the whole wolf-world would one day know.

Eight hours later the carriage crossed into Silvercrest land and I woke the stone again.

Roderic's missed calls and messages hit the surface like a volley of arrows.

The first few dozen were all threats and warnings.

Then the tone shifted, fraying into agitation and unease.

By the last hundred or so, the long and short voice-sendings, the broken strings of words, they reeked of raw, bone-deep panic.

He had finally realized the bond rejection was real, and that I had slipped out of his grip for good.