Third Person’s POV


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    Ivy recalled the event as if it were a dream. “He brought a dagger and a promise, saying he’d personally eliminate the enemies who killed Alpha Bentley and your brothers at the southern border. He wanted to mate with you, using the dagger as a token.”


    Adide was stunned–Lance had asked to mate with her?


    “Mom didn’t agree, did she?” Hershes trembled.


    Ivy shook her head and said, “No, Luna Aire agreed.”


    Adide was puzzled. “Then why did sheter agree to Ulrik’s request?<b>” </b>


    Ivy sighed and said, “Luna Aire agreed to give him peace, but she feared Alpha Bentley couldn’t drive the Dragon Ash Kingdom’s wolves from the southern border, and Alpha Lance might not return…”


    “She was scared, Alpha Adide. Don’t me her. She thought Ulrik could give you a stable life.”


    Ivy reassured her. “Since taking over the Frostfang Pack, Luna Aire has never made a wrong decision- except regarding your mating.”


    “She valued your happiness but misjudged Ulrik.”


    Adide felt a lump in her throat.


    Lance had sought to mate with her before heading to the southern border–and he’d seeded where her


    father hadn’t.


    He did it–he defeated the Dragon Ash Werewolf Kingdom, reimed the southern border, and finished what her father had started.


    “Don’t overthink it.”


    Ivy continued, “Luna Aire actually liked Alpha Lance. She spoke all night with me when you mated with Ulrik. She was proudest of Alpha Lance but worried the southern border was too dangerous.”


    “She also thought if Alpha Lance returned victorious, as a royal descendant, he’d have many breeders in the ckthorn Pack–an environment unsuitable for your free–spirited nature,”


    Adide understood her mother’s fear,


    In her <b>eyes</b><b>, </b>Alpha Bentley was almighty and invincible. She loved and worshipped him, so she thought the southern border battlefield, where her father couldn’t survive, was hell.


    An omega from the ckthorn Pack entered with a bowl of thick meat stew.


    Adide had been feeling famished, but at the sight of the rising steam, her appetite vanished, and her throat tightened.


    Ivy picked up on the slight hitch in her pheromones–the usually cool, moonlit scent <b>now </b><b>carried </b><b>a </b>trace


    <b>1/2 </b>


    <b>10:04 </b><b>Fri</b><b>, </b>11 <b>Jul </b>GO


    of bitterness.


    She softly coaxed, “Eat something. Luna Aire would be really d to see you mate with <b>Alpha </b>Lance today, I promise.”


    Adide picked up the bowl, tears falling into the soup.


    Her voice quavered with a werewolf’s distinct low growl, “This heavy headpiece and veil are <b>suffocating </b>They weigh on my neck and bring tears to my eyes.”


    Her golden eyes, glistening with tears, revealed her vulnerability.


    Ivy wiped her tears, her own emotions in check.


    “After eating, I’ll help you shed this burden. Take a bath and rest. The pack’s bonfire burns bright tonight Lance will returnte.”


    Adide forced down a few bites, the food tasteless.


    She choked out, releasing a sorrowful pheromone, “What of the dagger he gave? Did Mom not return a token?”


    “The powerful dagger was stored in Alpha Bentley’s treasury. I brought it here. I’ll show it to you tomorrow. Luna Aire did return a token–<b>a </b>scarf,” Ivy said with forced cheer.


    Adide’s eyes widened in surprise. “That scarf was the token?”


    She remembered it as a clumsy childhood craft.


    “Right,” Ivy confirmed.


    “Among so many gifts, why choose to send a scarf?”


    Adide couldn’t eat another bite–how could her mother pick such an ugly scarf as a token?


    She still remembered the crooked stitches and how she’d inwardly mocked them back then.


    Ivy’s eyes moistened, but she smiled. “It was your firstpleted handmade gift. Luna Aire cherished it.”


    Adide cried andughed through her tears.


    Her pheromones finally carried a hint of sweetness as she ate the stew, her hunger oveing her


    emotions.


    “Why eat this in stew when there’s roasted meat and fresh berries on the table?” she asked <b>between </b>sobs.


    Ivy exined the ritual’s importance, “Tonight, you and Alpha Lance will share blood–oath wine. This meal follows your mating ceremony. Alpha–level ceremonies require your presence, but Alpha Lance understood your exhaustion from the blood link impact and ritual strain. Finish eating, then bathe. <b>The </b>stylist will remove your makeup afterward.”


    The totem veil, adorned with symbols and bone fragments, was indeed heavy. Ivy winced just <b>looking </b><b>at </b><b>it</b>.


    <b>III </b>