Freya’s POV


    +8 Pearls


    Even the memory of that forbidden chamber in the Whitmor estate–its stench of secrets, of chains, of blood–and thesh marks across Ss’s back, made bile rise in my throat. My revulsion toward his father, Cassian Whitmor, had long since calcified into something darker than hate.


    And yet, when Ss’s eyes found mine now, steady and searching, the words I wanted to say caught in my throat.


    “So…” His voice was low, almost careful, as if testing unfamiliar ground. “Does this mean… we’re officially together?”


    I blinked. The question stunned me into silence.


    Yesterday, in front of Caelum, Ss had dered himself as my mate, my boyfriend. I’d scolded him afterward, told him never to say something so reckless again. And now? Suddenly it had shifted into… this? Into something real?


    “I only said that earlier because…” I trailed, fumbling for rity.


    “I know.” He cut me off before I could untangle the knot in my chest. “I know you spoke those words to my father out of pity


    for the way he tried to strip me bare in front of you. I know you wanted to shield me. But Freya…” His dark gaze locked with mine, haunted yet desperate. “Even if it began as pity, can’t you grant me a chance? A chance to walk this path with you. To call it… courtship. To call it love.”


    My tongue stilled.


    T


    The silence between us stretched taut, straining like a bowstring.


    “Or,” he pressed, voice quieter now, “are you saying that every word you spoke to Cassian was a lie?”


    “No!” My response came swift, fierce, instinctive. Then I faltered, breath catching. “No. It wasn’t a lie. I meant it.”


    His chest rose in a sharp breath, waiting.


    I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and forced myself forward. “If you truly want this–if you want us- -then we set terms. A pact between wolves. I won’t bind myself to anyone without clear ground beneath our paws.”


    His lips curved, faint but unshakable. “Name them.”


    “First,” I said, my voice firm, “if one day you decide this doesn’t work, if we no longer fit… then we part in peace. No ws, no blood. We walk away without dragging each other into the dirt.”


    “Agreed.” He didn’t hesitate.


    ん


    “Second,” I continued, my heart tightening, “if another catches your eye, even while we are bound, I want the truth. Tell me inly. Do not hide it. I won’t cling. I won’t beg. I refuse to repeat the mistake I made with Caelum.”


    At the sound of Caelum’s name, Ss’s jaw tightened. His nostrils red, his wolf bristling with something territorial. But he gave a curt nod. “Agreed.”


    gel territone once, the


    “Third,” I said, meeting his gaze without flinching, “the most important one: no lies, None. If you deceive me, even once, trust between us dies. And without trust…” I swallowed hard. “There is nothing left. If I ever find that you’ve betrayed that vow, I will leave. Without hesitation. Without looking back.”


    For a heartbeat, his expression froze. Then something in his eyes cracked, sharp with fear. His chest tightened, his hand flexing as if the promise itself hurt to hold.


    If such a day came, if I ever walked away, I knew–it would destroy him.


    “Then I swear it.” His voice rang, low and solemn, like an oath spoken to the moon itself. “No deception. No falsehoods. If you ask, I will answer. If you doubt, I will bare the truth. You have my word, Freya Thorne–my vow as Alpha of the Irond Coalition.”


    The words hit me with the weight of steel, of blood–bound promise.


    “Then…” I exhaled slowly, feeling the air tremble with the gravity of it. “Then we are together”


    The admission hung heavy between us, but instead of fear, I felt… a strange, wild relief.


    +8 Pearls


    Because if I was willing to stand against Cassian Whitmor himself–if I was willing to put my body between father and son- then surely, I could not deny that I felt more for Ss than I had let myself admit.


    Especially when he asked if my words had been a lie. My denial had been immediate, fierce. Because the truth was, I couldn’t bear to see that flicker of despair in his eyes.


    When we first met, I’d seen only danger in him: an Alpha wrapped in shadows, a predator cloaked in silence. But over time, little by little, the shadows gave way to something else. To glimpses of the man beneath–the one scarred by cruelty, the one still capable of tenderness, the one who kept fighting despite the wounds carved into his flesh.


    And somewhere along the way, I had begun to admire him. To ache for him. To feel my pulse race when his presence drew


    near.


    Perhaps I did care for him. Perhaps I even… liked him.


    Better to embrace that truth than keep resisting it like a coward.


    The


    moment my words settled, Ss’s face transformed.


    It was as though sunlight had cracked through a storm. A smile–radiant, unrestrained, utterly unguarded–broke across his features. It reached his eyes, his entire being, reshaping the sharp nes of his face into something startlingly beautiful.


    I had never seen him like that before.


    It was blinding.


    And for a heartbeat, I forgot thesh marks, the chains<b>, </b>the shadow of Cassian Whitmor.


    All I saw was Ss Whitmor smiling at me as if I had just handed him the world.


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