The Alpha-Consort’s Betrayal:Her Stolen Nesting Grounds

"Looks like the mistress isn't even as pretty as the bonded mate. What was that wolf thinking?"

Raven's face twisted with fury. She lunged at me, claws extending as her fingers tangled in my hair. "I'm the mistress?!"

"I've been mated to my mate for three years! I just whelped his son! His mother even performed the naming rite herself!"

"Don't let her deceive you with her lies!"

Our bodies crashed together, struggling for dominance—and that's when my heightened senses caught it.

The moon-gold chain gleaming at her throat.

One of the pieces from my pup's stolen heirlooms. Seren's favorite, etched with protective runes by my own mother.

Rage ignited in my chest like wildfire. I tore the chain from her neck with a sharp yank. "You dare wear my pup's things?!"

"You're not worthy of touching them!"

She wasn't prepared for the force behind my pull. Raven crashed to the cobblestones, a thin line of blood welling where the chain had scraped across her skin.

I hadn't planned to cause a scene in the market-den.

But seeing my daughter's belongings displayed so boldly around this she-wolf's throat—I couldn't swallow that insult down.

I held up the necklace for the gathered pack members to see, my voice cutting through the murmuring crowd. "There's an engraving on this. My pup Seren's initials, marked in the old script!"

"You and Kael can expect a summons from the pack tribunal!"

The words had barely left my mouth when something slammed into me from behind.

I lost my footing. The necklace was wrenched from my grip.

Kael's voice exploded above me: "Who the hell said those are your pup's initials?!"

I was on the ground. My knees had landed on scattered shards of broken pottery—pain shot through me, sharp enough to steal my breath.

I looked up, my wolf snarling beneath my skin.

Kael had Raven cradled protectively against his chest, his body curved around her in a shielding stance. And behind him stood Morwen, his mother, holding an infant wrapped in ceremonial swaddling in her arms.

So that was Kael's illegitimate pup.

When I'd whelped Seren, Morwen had claimed she wasn't experienced enough to assist with the birthing. Said she'd rather hire an expensive nursemaid from the healer's circle than risk harming my daughter with her inexpert hands.

Now I understood the truth. She simply preferred male heirs to carry the Ashvale name.

Before I could process any of it, Kael turned to face me fully. The disgust burning in his amber eyes hit me like a physical blow.

"Lyra!" His lip curled back, revealing the sharp points of his canines. "Are you done with your little breakdown? Then get out of here. Stop harassing my mate!"

Mate?

Kael was publicly acknowledging his affair? Claiming this she-wolf as his bonded before the entire pack?

He didn't wait for my reaction. He turned back to Raven, gently refastening the moon-gold chain around her throat, his gaze soft with concern as he smoothed her disheveled hair. "Sweetheart, are you hurt anywhere?"

"You just whelped—you can't let yourself get upset like this. Does your belly pain you?"

Raven melted against his broad chest, pointing at me through theatrical sobs that filled the air with the sharp scent of false distress. "My love, she said the nesting grounds you gave me are hers. She even tried to steal the moon-gold you had crafted for me!"

"Who... who is she?"

Kael glanced at me, his expression flat and cold as winter stone. "I told you before. There's a rogue omega at the pack hall who won't stop throwing herself at me. That's her."

"I'll handle this nuisance. Don't worry your pretty head about it."

The crowd's murmuring shifted. Understanding dawned on their faces—followed by open contempt. They looked at me and laughed, their scorn washing over me in waves.

"Oh, so she's the delusional rogue. I was wondering why any wolf would stray with someone plainer than his bonded mate."

"Trying to seduce someone's mate and then destroying his mate's claimed territory? What's wrong with this she-wolf?"

"Why are you so obsessed with another wolf's belongings? Howling about it won't make them yours."

I laughed—a hollow, disbelieving sound that scraped from my throat.

I looked straight at Kael, each word precise and clear. "Kael. That moon-gold has my pup Seren's initials engraved on it. You commissioned the work yourself from the pack smith. What exactly are you trying to claim?"

His jaw tightened, a muscle jumping beneath his skin. "Who told you that?"

"The initials are obviously my mate's and my surnames. S and L."

What?

My mind went blank. S and L? For... their names?

But Kael had told me himself—our pup would be called Seren, Seren of the Ashvale line, because she was the living proof of our sacred bond.

Which meant...

When my daughter was born, they were already together.