You Stole My Pup, I'll Slaughter Your Pack!

Wind howled across the Moon Goddess Altar. I squeezed the linen prayer cloth, feeling the warm, sticky dampness of my own blood against my palms.

"Keep chanting, Elara," Kaelen ordered, his broad shoulders tensing beside me.

"I am," I replied, my voice hoarse.

Ten years of feeding my spiritual energy into the pack's wards. Five years of pouring my life force into our adopted son, Leo, just to ensure he survived to see his first shift tonight.

"Your hands are shaking," Kaelen noted, his gaze fixed on the center of the altar.

"He needs my blood to anchor the transition," I told him, pressing my bleeding palms harder against the sacred linen. "I won't let him suffer. His body is too frail."

"You've given him so much," Kaelen murmured, leaning close enough for his warmth to brush my shoulder. "He will be a strong Blackwood wolf tonight."

Bone cracked. A tiny whimper echoed off the stone pillars.

I leaned forward, wiping a smear of sweat and blood from my chin. I expected the midnight-black coat of the Blackwood line to burst forth.

Instead, moonlight caught on blinding, iridescent silver.

My pulse stuttered violently.

Silver.

Not black. Not brown. Silver. The unique genetic signature of the Croft family. Of my husband's first love.

"Is that..." an elder murmured from the front row of the stands.

All the guilt I carried—the fear that my weak spiritual power had stunted our adopted orphan—evaporated. A cold, sharp clarity took its place.

This wasn't an orphan of the border wars. This was a lie wrapped in five years of fake gratitude.

Gasps rippled through the gathered pack members in the lower tiers.

"Quiet!" Kaelen barked.

He didn't hesitate. He tore the ceremonial velvet robe from his shoulders and lunged forward. In one swift motion, he threw the heavy fabric over the shivering silver pup, completely swallowing the boy's form.

"Alpha," Councilman Thorne called out, standing up from his seat. "The fur color—"

"The shift is overwhelming him," Kaelen interrupted, his tone a low growl. "He needs darkness to settle."

"But the silver—"

"I said he needs darkness!" Kaelen snapped.

He pulled the struggling bundle tight to his chest, hiding the evidence. Hiding *her* evidence.

Footsteps pounded against the stone stairs.

"Leo!"

Selene Croft shoved past the elite guards. Her blonde hair whipped around her face as she sprinted toward the center of the sacred circle. She didn't bow to the altar. She didn't acknowledge me.

She reached her hands out, fingers trembling, aiming straight for the bundle in Kaelen's arms.

"Let me see him," she demanded, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Kaelen, please. Just let me touch his head. Is he hurt?"

"He's fine, Selene," Kaelen muttered, shifting his stance to shield the pup from the wind. "Go back to your seat."

His voice lacked any real Alpha command. It was a plea.

I moved before he could say another word.

I stepped between my husband and his former lover, planting my boots firmly on