Knotting His Rejected Breeder

Destiny was still holding the wooden wolf when her father found her.

She stood near the fountain where the boy and the beggar had vanished, fingers tight around the smooth carving. The three words on the back kept pulling her eyes back to them.

Find Silvercrest.

"Destiny."

She turned, her father looked worn in a way the long market day alone could not explain. His gaze dropped to her hands.

"What happened? You were gone a long time."

The truth pressed against her teeth. The boy. The note. The arrow. The words the one who cried. She almost said all of it. Then she saw the residual fear still sitting behind his eyes from the stolen money, and the words died.

"I got lost in the crowd," she said. "After the panic. It took me a while to find my way back."

He did not fully believe her, she could tell by the pause before he nodded. Then he noticed the carving.

"Where did you get that?"

"I found it on the ground near the bench."

He held out his hand but Destiny hesitated only a second before placing the wolf in his palm. He turned it over once and his thumb brushed the carved words and for a brief moment his face went carefully blank, the same careful blank he had worn that morning when she asked about the voice in the night.

"You’ve seen it before?" she asked.

He gave it back at once. "No."

The lie was quiet and clean, this made Destiny closed her fingers around the carving again and said nothing.

Something cold settled under her ribs, her parents had always been steady and Honest, the kind of people who told the truth even when it was inconvenient but Watching him choose not to unsettled her more than the arrow had.

They returned to the small space they had claimed for their goods as Market officials had found nothing of the stolen pouch. No witnesses, no recovered coins. Her father stood looking at the nearly empty display cloth for a long time before he spoke.

"We go home tomorrow. Early."

Destiny’s throat tightened. "I’m sorry. If I hadn’t dropped everything, if I hadn’t—"

"You didn’t steal the money," her mother said firmly.

"But I was the reason we were distracted. I walked into that man. I caused the mess."

Her father cut her off with a small shake of his head. "No. Whoever took it is responsible, not you."

The words were simple and they still eased something raw in her chest, he would not let her carry the blame, even when the loss would hurt them all the way home.

They could not afford the goods they had come to buy, they could not even justify staying longer, by late afternoon the decision was fixed. They would spend one night at a cheap inn near the market’s outer edge and leave at first light.

The room was small and smelled of old wood and dust. Destiny lay awake long after her parents’ breathing had evened out, she kept turning the boy’s words over in her mind.

The one who cried. Your mother.

She thought of the dreams she had carried for as long as she could remember, the rain and a crying baby mix with a woman running through dark trees with the same broken whisper every time.

I’m sorry, forgive me.

For the first time Destiny let the dangerous thought fully form.

What if the woman in the dreams was not a stranger her mind had invented? What if she was someone who she had seen before or someone related to her parents?

The thought made her feel sick with guilt. She turned her face toward the shape of her mother who she knew or thought gave birth to her in the other bed.

"They are my parents," she whispered into the dark.

The question still remained.

Who was the woman in the dream?

She sat up carefully and reached into her bag and the cracked stone felt cool at first. She set the wooden wolf beside it on the blanket.

The stone warmed under her fingers.

A faint silver line traced the old fracture. Destiny froze, When she touched the crack, a woman’s voice moved through her head as clearly as if someone had spoken against her ear.

"Run."

She dropped the stone.

The room went silent again. Destiny looked toward the door and a shadow shifted in the thin line of light underneath it. Footsteps moved away down the corridor, soft and deliberate.

She crossed the room and pulled the door open but no one stood there.

On the floorboards lay a single black feather.

Destiny stared at it until her pulse hurt. Someone had been outside, someone had waited long enough to leave a sign. She picked up the feather, closed the door, and sat on the edge of the bed with the stone, the wolf, and the feather in her lap, wide awake until morning.

****

Across the market district, Dane sat in the main room of Bloodmoon’s temporary residence while Henrik finished his report.

"The archer escaped clean with no clear description. No claimed responsibility, and Market guards found the release point on a high roof, but the trail went cold in the eastern lanes."

Dane listened with his elbows on his knees. "Civilian injuries?"

"Minor, and no deaths."

"The girl?"

Henrik’s gaze lifted. He knew exactly which girl. "She’s fine."

Dane gave him a flat look. "I didn’t ask whether she was fine."

Henrik’s mouth twitched. "You asked about her."

"I asked about civilian injuries. She was in the middle of the panic."

"She was looking for something before the attack," Henrik added, mild as ever. "I don’t know what but she wasn’t frightened when she spoke to me. Annoyed, maybe, not frightened."

Dane remembered the collision. The broken jar and also the way she had looked straight at him and argued instead of lowering her eyes. The memory irritated him for no useful reason and he dismissed it.

A warrior entered with a short bow.

"Alpha. One of our scouts marked a man leaving the market in the confusion. Hooded. Matches the description of someone seen near the farm girl earlier. He was moving toward the Silvercrest delegation’s area."

Dane’s attention sharpened. "Certain?"

"Yes, Alpha."

Silvercrest had no business near an attack on open market ground, or if they did, someone needed to explain why.

"Investigate quietly," Dane told Henrik. "No accusations. No public pressure, I want information, not a diplomatic incident."

Henrik nodded once.

By evening Dane had barely set his cloak aside when his father, Ramon summoned him to the main sitting room of the residence. Sonia was already there and. Also Blane and Ivy sat near the elders who had accompanied the summit party. Hannah and Helena occupied the end of the long table, Henrik closed the door behind them.

Dane stopped just inside the room. "This looks serious."

Ramon gestured to the empty chair beside him. "Sit."

Dane sat. His eyes moved from face to face. "What happened?"

Ramon exchanged a brief look with Sonia before answering. "We received an invitation from Silvercrest."

"For what?"

One of the elders, Keith, cleared his throat. "The Lycan King and Luna of Silvercrest are holding a royal gathering. They are choosing a husband for their daughter."

For a moment Dane thought he had misheard. "A husband?"

Hannah’s eyes went wide but Sonia quickly gave her a warning glance before she could speak.

Ramon nodded. "The invitation was extended to sons of several high-ranking Alphas and powerful families."

"And they want me there?"

"You’re the Alpha of Bloodmoon now," Ramon said. "That makes you one of the strongest candidates whether you like it or not."

Dane leaned back slowly, he had expected trade arguments and Border talk, Political noise. He had not expected to be summoned to compete for a princess’s hand.

"What happens if I refuse?"

Blane gave a quiet laugh from across the room. "Then someone else will marry her."

"That doesn’t answer my question."

"It does," Blane replied. "You just don’t like the answer."

Henrik spoke from his place near the wall. "If the marriage happens, Bloodmoon gains a powerful alliance. Silvercrest controls major territories and trade routes. That strength would hold for generations."

"I know."

"And that’s why your father wants you to consider it."

Ramon nodded. "This is not only about marriage. It is about position."

Dane’s fingers tapped once against the armrest. "I’m not getting married."

The room went quiet.

"I don’t even know her," Dane continued. "I’ve never met her. I don’t know what kind of person she is or whether we could stand being in the same room."

Hannah lowered her eyes, clearly fighting a smile.

Ramon did not smile. "No one is asking you to marry her tomorrow. It is a request to attend the gathering. Nothing more."

"Then why does everyone look like I’ve already agreed?"

Blane chuckled. "Because you’re an Alpha now. People start expecting decisions you haven’t even considered yet."

Sonia stepped in before the tension could sharpen further. "No one is forcing you, Dane, but you should at least meet her before deciding you don’t want her."

"And if I don’t like her?"

"Then you say no."

The answer came easily enough that Dane almost relaxed.

Ramon folded his hands on the table. "Remember that your decision will not affect only you. If their daughter chooses another Alpha, that family could become our strongest ally or our strongest rival."

Dane’s expression hardened. "So I’m supposed to smile and compete for a woman I don’t know because it might benefit Bloodmoon?"

"No," Ramon said. The room stilled again. "You’re supposed to attend because you’re the Alpha of Bloodmoon. What you do after you meet her is your decision."

Dane looked toward the dark window, he still hated the shape of it, he also could not deny the truth in his father’s words. He had inherited more than a title, he had inherited the weight that came with it.

"Fine," he said at last. "I’ll go."

Hannah’s face brightened at once.

Dane pointed at her. "Don’t."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were about to."

"I was only going to say this might be interesting."

"It won’t be."

Henrik laughed under his breath. Dane ignored him and stood.

"I’m going to Silvercrest to represent Bloodmoon. That’s all."

Ramon nodded. "For now."

Dane frowned at the last two words.

Before he could ask, an elder placed a sealed letter on the table. The silver crest pressed into dark red wax caught the lamplight.

"The invitation came with one condition," the elder said. "Every Alpha who attends must be prepared to be considered as a potential husband."

Dane stared at the letter, then he slowly shook his head.

"I really should have stayed home."

No one laughed.

Outside, thunder rolled across the distant hills, Somewhere beyond Bloodmoon’s borders, Silvercrest had already begun preparing for the men who would come to stand before their princess.

Dane had no idea that the journey he already wanted to refuse would change far more than any marriage plan.

It would change the course of his life.

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