Kat looked at Kaleb, her face contorting with absolute disgust. Even now, under the judging glare of the Grand Council, the sharp, bitter tang of Kaleb’s scent betrayed him, he couldn’t deny that he still lusted after the woman he had ruined. He still wanted Rhea.

Rhea shifted her weight in the cold mud, her silver eyes drilling into Kaleb. She waited, watching the pulse jump in his throat, giving him one final chance to deny that his sick obsession mattered more than his own son.

But he remained frozen, wrapped in guilt. Rhea shook her head, a chill cutting through her veins. How could he claim to want her, while his hands still smelled of the silver blade he had just pressed to her throat?

"He is a pathetic, sniveling pup," River growled inside her skull, her phantom claws scratching for purchase. "He does not even deserve to gaze upon the soles of our boots!"

"Weapons down!" Elder Magnus commanded, his voice shattering the quiet as his hand cut sharply through the air.

Without a second thought, the vanguard warriors dropped their bows, the tension snapping as arrows slithered back into quivers.

Magnus turned his piercing gaze toward Adam, then locked onto Kaleb. "Stand down. Both of you." His tone was softer now, but it carried the absolute weight of the Grand Council’s law.

Kaleb’s knuckles turned white around his knife before his grip finally faltered. With a bitter sneer, he slid the blade back into his ankle sheath. Across the clearing, Adam receded slightly, his fists unclenching as he stepped back.

Elder Magnus stepped into the center of the clearing, his heavy furs rustling as he crossed his arms over his chest. "The Council was summoned tonight on the claim that two royal heirs are missing. One stolen, and the other presumed slaughtered," he said, his golden eyes raking over each face. "Someone needs to start speaking before we strip titles and unleash the executioners."

Rhea looked at Kaleb, then at her sister. Neither of them breathed a word. Bitter amusement flared in her chest, and she stepped forward, her boots crunching sharply on the frozen leaves.

"My son is the one who is missing," she announced. Every eye in the clearing snapped to her. "Before Kaleb attempted to kill me that fateful night, they both looked me in the eye and swore the boy died during the war. Yet his supposed grave lies empty, filled with nothing but the carcass of a spring lamb." She threw her hand out, pointing sharply at the dark, open pit.

The elders’ brows pulled together, their collective scents turning sour with disapproval. Elder Rowan walked to the edge of the pit, his ancient face twisting as he peered down at the cloven hooves in the dirt.

"I need the Council to demand the truth from Kaleb and Kat," Rhea pressed, her voice trembling slightly with the raw, agonizing hope of a mother who had just realized her baby might still be alive. "An Ironfang omega told me that my pup was being slowly poisoned just as I was. Kat claims she never saw him die and has no knowledge of who took him, yet she helped build a fake grave. I want my answers."

"The only one who should be questioned is him," Kat spat, throwing a trembling, accusing finger at Kaleb. "He wasn’t my child, Rhea! Why should I have cared when I wasn’t his mother! I didn’t know what was happening to him, and by the time I realized something was wrong, everything had already spiraled out of control."

River let out a deafening, bloodcurdling roar inside Rhea’s head. "The absolute nerve of this parasite! Let me out, Rhea! That bitch needs her face dragged through the mud!"

Rhea’s silver eyes blazed white. "You are his aunt! He carries your blood!" she snapped, the power in her voice making the surrounding wolves shift back.

"Barely," Kat countered coldly, her hand moving back to her stomach. "Besides, the only thing that matters to me is my own son. Just like I am standing in this freezing forest fighting for mine, you should have stayed and fought harder for yours."

Rhea felt the words like a physical strike to her chest, her eyes burning with hot, unshed tears as River wailed in raw, suffocating sadness within their bond.

"I would have burned every kingdom to ashes to keep him safe from this world," Rhea whispered, her voice cracking before hardening into pure steel. "But you made it impossible when you poisoned me with that slow-acting venom and made me believe the arrow was the only thing killing me."

"Who does that to their own flesh and blood?" Elder Seraphine murmured, her lips curling into a disgusted snarl. She whirled her furious gaze onto Kaleb. "You are the boy’s father, Alpha King. Tell this Council exactly what happened to your firstborn."

Kaleb frowned, the muscles in his jaw working frantically. He refused to meet Rhea’s gaze or the judging eyes of the elders, keeping his focus pinned entirely to the mud at his boots.

"I don’t know, the healers said he wouldn’t survive the winter. I was told there was no hope," he said, shrugging his broad shoulders with a maddening, hollow indifference. "One certain thing is that someone stole him right out from under our noses. But the pup was already nearly dead anyway, so I never bothered to waste warriors looking for him. I mean, what Alpha wants a sickly child for an heir?" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"You spineless bastard! Let me out so I can rip his bloody tongue from his jaws!" River barked in a violent frenzy.

Rhea’s hands curled into tight, shaking fists, her claws drawing blood from her palms. "Did you even bother to investigate why your heir was sick, Kaleb? If the common servants knew the pup was being slowly poisoned by your mistress, how could the great Alpha King be so blind?"

"Or perhaps he was the one holding the vial," Elder Rowan suggested, his eyes narrowing.

"I will slaughter him if he was!" River howled.

Kaleb’s head snapped up, his amber eyes flaring as he opened his mouth to bark a retort at Rowan. But before he could speak, Elder Rowan turned his gaze sharply toward the shadows where Adam stood.

"Why are you keeping your jaws shut, Thorne? You explicitly told the me—"

Adam’s eyes flashed with a lethal, suffocating dominance, a low rumble vibrating in his massive chest that instantly silenced the elder. His jaw hardened into stone.

But it was far too late. The words had already left Rowan’s mouth. The clearing plunged into a tense, breathless silence, and every eye slowly shifted toward the BloodVeil King, questioning his quietness.

Rhea’s breath hitched, the scent of cedarwood and wet earth suddenly feeling heavy, suffocating. She frowned, a cold, sickening confusion twisting in her gut.

"What were you going to say, Rowan?" she asked, her voice dropping into a tense whisper. She slowly turned her head, her silver gaze locking onto Adam’s rigid profile. "What was he going to say, Adam? Do you know something about my son? Do you know where he is?"