Voren’s verdict hung heavy in the air, echoing across the deck like a death sentence. As the Alpha, his word was final. Nobody challenged him. Nobody even thought about it.

The last bit of strength drained from Olivia’s legs and she collapsed to her knees on the hard wooden deck, the rough surface scraping against her skin. Tears poured endlessly down her face as she stared up at Voren with desperate, pleading eyes.

"Voren... please," she begged, her voice trembling so badly it threatened to shatter. "I spent my whole life raising you." She pressed both hands hard against her chest, sobbing openly. "All the love I could never give my own daughter, I poured it into you instead."

Her shoulders shook violently as she crawled forward a little, her face twisted with raw desperation. "Please...don’t do this."

Voren didn’t move an inch. His expression stayed as cold and hard as stone while he looked at her the same way he would stare at an enemy who had destroyed everything he held dear.

"I never begged for your love," he said, his calm voice cutting deeper than any scream ever could. "Everything you ever did was for your own selfish reasons. You didn’t raise me because you loved me. You raised me because keeping me close protected all your lies."

His jaw tightened. "It would have been better if I had grown up knowing the truth. It would have been better knowing the sacrifice my real mother made for me than living this whole damn lie."

The rest of his words trailed off as his expression suddenly changed. His eyes lost focus while a terrifying new thought slammed into him. A heavy, suffocating weight settled deep inside his chest.

His mother... she had died giving birth to him.

His breathing turned ragged and uneven. Was it because of him? Because of his wolf? His father wasn’t a black wolf, and that kind of power didn’t just pass down naturally from parent to child like the white wolf. So, where the hell had it come from? Had that same power taken his mother’s life before he even opened his eyes?

Seraphine noticed the change in him immediately, her concern washing away everything else. She gently turned until she was fully facing him, still comfortable on his lap. One arm slipped around the back of his neck while her free hand softly cupped his face.

"Voren..." Her voice was so gentle and full of love. "Are you okay?"

He looked into her eyes, his own filled with deep worry. For a moment, the rest of the deck completely disappeared. He lowered his voice so only she could hear. "I need to know why my mother died giving birth to me. What if... what if it was because of my wolf?"

His brows pulled together tightly. "The white gifted wolf is inherited. But the black wolf... it doesn’t work that way."

Seraphine understood his fear right away. It wasn’t an unreasonable thought at all. But another explanation came to her just as quickly. She gently brushed a strand of hair away from his forehead.

"I don’t think your mother was a gifted wolf," she said softly. "If she wasn’t strong enough to carry the pup of a black gifted wolf..." She let the thought finish itself. His mother may have simply been unable to survive the pregnancy.

Then she smiled at him, warm and confident. "But I’m not an ordinary she-wolf. I’m different. I have Marsha."

Those words instantly chased away the dark fear clouding his mind. Relief washed over Voren’s face. He gently rested his forehead against hers, breathing her in.

"In that case, I don’t have to worry." A small smile finally broke through his lips, his hand found hers and held on tight. "If pregnancy would ever put your life in danger, I would never allow you to go through with it. Nothing matters more to me than you."

Seraphine smiled warmly back at him. "I know." She squeezed his hand. "But you don’t have to be afraid. My white wolf is stronger than any other. We’ll be fine."

Voren nodded. For the first time since that terrifying thought had hit him, he felt his heart finally settle.

Before either of them could say anything more, Vladimir’s powerful voice thundered across the deck. "You will be banished as Voren declared."

Every eye turned toward him. His face was cold and merciless.

"But before that..." His stare locked onto Olivia like a blade. "You will take me to the Season Pack to meet your husband."

Olivia’s eyes widened in pure horror. All the color drained from her face. "No!" she cried out so loudly that everyone flinched. "No... please! You can’t send me back to him!" Her breathing turned frantic and desperate. "He’ll kill me!"

Vladimir didn’t show even the slightest bit of sympathy. "You still haven’t changed," he said, disgust filling his eyes. "Even now, you’re only thinking about yourself."

His fists tightened at his sides. "I have something far more important to do. I must retrieve my late wife’s skeletal remains." Pain flashed across his face. "She deserves a proper burial. And she deserves every apology I failed to give her all these years."

Silence fell over the deck. Everyone understood just how painful that journey would be. The entire Grimroot Pack would soon learn they had been living a massive lie for over thirty years.

Their Luna, the woman they had loved and respected, had been long dead. Vladimir owed Oriana that final act of respect, no matter how devastating it would be.

"Please, Vlad..." Olivia broke down completely. She crawled across the deck until she reached him, then grabbed both of his feet, clinging to them desperately. "Please don’t make me go back..."

It was the worst mistake she could have made. The instant her fingers touched him, a kick sent her flying over, she almost fell into the water if not for the gunwale.

The kick echoed loudly across the deck. It happened so fast that almost no one saw Vladimir move. He sat back comfortably in his chair, even as Olivia was thrown sideways onto the floor, blood immediately pouring from her nose. She stared up at him in complete shock.

Vladimir looked down at her with nothing but pure hatred. "You are in no position to make demands. You are nothing to me, Olivia." Every word landed like another brutal slap. "I married Oriana, not you."

He took one slow breath before delivering his final judgment. "And before your banishment, you will stand before the entire pack. You will confess every lie. And you will face public disgrace."

The sentence brought a deep sense of satisfaction to Voren. It wasn’t just revenge but justice.

Olivia’s cries grew louder and louder. She wailed so hard her entire body shook violently, but no one pitied her anymore. No one stepped forward. No one offered her any comfort.

At last, with nowhere else to turn, she slowly crawled toward Seraphine. Tears and mucus ran down her swollen face. She looked completely shattered.

Stopping right in front of Seraphine, she lowered her head. "Sera..." Her voice cracked painfully. "I know I wronged you." Fresh tears splattered onto the wooden deck. "But... please forgive me. I’m so sorry."