Page 165 of The Ashpaw: Part One

It wasn’t polite to eavesdrop, but he wanted a hint of her current disposition to prepare himself.

“… And I say again, it was a misstep to encourage him to leave the bitch during her heat. Now the whole clan has turned against me.”

Darion’s face twisted in confusion. That was Kyntha’s voice, without a doubt, but stripped of its softness, her tone harsh and cruel.

“I will admit that I had not considered the wolfkin outside of the alphas would care much about her, but what else could have been done? The willow bark was the only misdirect I could think of.”

He registered the words quickly, but the understanding came slower, his heart trying to stop him from fully putting them together. Because if they meant Kyntha had purposefully spoken in a way that seemed like truth in order to turn him against Fern…

No, no, he was not so easily manipulated. There had to be context he was missing. Surely.

“We should have gone with my plan to say I was with child. An alpha will instinctually protect a pregnant female. He would have done anything I asked, including finally giving her to some other alpha to be rutted and bred. And then he would have lost all interest in her.”

“But he would have caught the lie…”

“Mother, you taught me better than that. All I would need to do is force myself to be sick, then muse whether or not I was carrying his pup. No deception to be found.”

Her mother laughed. “I suppose I have…”

Darion, for his part, wouldn’t need to force himself to be sick to throw up.

Who was this she-wolf? This was not his sweet Kyntha. The one who begged so prettily for his kisses, who smiled and leaned towards him whenever he was near.

He swallowed, backing away, about to leave when he remembered what he’d even come there for.

To tell Kyntha about Fern. That she would also be his mate, and that Kyntha had been wrong about her.

Darion’s head swam as he knocked, hoping to find two other she-wolves inside. That what he had heard had all been some misunderstanding, and that his love had never knowingly lied to him.

Katreena called, her voice rising into something he now recognized from the meeting of the clans at Hearth Hall.

“Coming!”

She opened the door a crack, and seeing it was him, lowered her gaze and dipped in small curtsy.

“Alpha Darion, it is an honor to see you on this blessed day. We have missed your company this past week, and pray you are of sound mind and body for this most sacred union between alpha and mate.”

A hint of irritation was there, but he couldn’t address it now. “I need to speak to Kyntha in private.”

Katreena paused for a moment, and then bowed her head, opening the door fully to let him in.

Kyntha was a vision in white lace and silver, stealing his breath as he beheld her. She looked even lovelier than she had on the first day they’d met, when he’d already been falling in love with her. For one foolish moment, he believed he must have completely fabricated the conversation. This was no schemer. She was living moonlight, pure and beautiful.

And yet there was something darker clinging to her now. A wrongness that he could see only from the corners of his eyes, dissolving each time he tried to focus on it.

She smiled shyly, soft chimes sounding when she moved from the chains and small bells threaded throughout her hair.

“My Alpha,” she greeted him, her lashes batting. “I’ve missed you so.”

Her voice… had it always been so grating?

“I… I’m sorry you were forced to tend to her,” she continued, her eyes tearing. She dabbed them with the tips of her fingers. “I know you did not want to, especially after she deceived you into bedding her. But it is over now, and you won’t have to touch her again until—”

“Kyntha, she did not deceive me.”

She froze, then a series of expressions ran through her face like she couldn’t decide on which one to wear.

“What do you mean? She went into heat, and you must have found the willow bark…”