Third Person's POV Aysel regarded Lykos with a calmness so sharp it felt like the chill before a blizzard. "I regret it," she said softly, almost gently. "If I could live it again, I wouldn't have saved you." The words landed harder than any of Celestine's raving curses ever had. Lykos panicked, his wolf's scent spiraling into disarray. "I didn't know," he stammered. "I truly thought it was Celestine-" He bit down on his tongue, the copper tang of blood sharp in the air. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Aysel only smiled faintly and squeezed the hand Magnus had taken in his own-a steady, territorial gesture from the Shadowbane Alpha whose wolf, Rafe, watched everything with predatory vigilance. She looked at Lykos with an almost peaceful clarity. "Your apology is worthless. And irrelevant. I don't care anymore, Lykos." She had cared once. She had even ached for him. That sweet, dependent boy-the one who clung to her like a lifeline, the little brother she once held as if he were the sole beam of sunlight in the collapsing Moonvale Pack. But every time she confronted Celestine, he had stood at Celestine's side, snarling, bristling, baring his fangs like Aysel was his sworn enemy rather than the sister he once adored. From him, she learned the cruelest wolf-truth of all: Blood meant nothing. Loyalty meant everything. Jenny , who had been eavesdropping on the entire spectacle, clicked her tongue and shot Lykos a disgusted look. "Oh please. If you regret things so much, why didn't you think earlier? And your method of apologizing is... what? Cause a disaster, then hope someone gives you a ladder to climb down? Even a three-year-old cub knows ‘sorry' isn't something you just toss out. You can't even spare a piece of candy."Her eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, wait-don't tell me you saw that my third sister-in-law is thriving now, while your precious reputation-chasing convict of a Luna-goddess Celestine Ward keeps humiliating your family, so you're switching sisters? That's... pathetic." The entire room-including their allies, bystanding officers of the Enforcers, and even Magnus's Shadowbane warriors-cast Lykos a strange, sympathetic-but-not-really-sympathetic glance. Lykos froze in place, cheeks burning. It felt like someone had dumped wolf dung on him, and whenever he tried to explain, everyone stepped aside as if avoiding the stench. Then he felt it-that suffocating presence. The man who was supposed to be his future brother-in-law, Magnus Sanchez, hadn't spoken a single word since entering. But his cold, predatory gaze locked onto Lykos with the precision of a hunting wolf. A single wrong move and Lykos knew Rafe-the beast inside Magnus-would tear him apart without hesitation. Just as the shame became unbearable, a familiar voice cut through the tension. "Lykos." He turned, seizing onto the voice like a drowning wolf grabbing driftwood. "Fenrir!" His elder brother was here-Alpha Fenrir of Moonvale, the pride of their bloodline. But instead of comfort, the first thing he received was a strike. A sharp, echoing slap-an Alpha's blow, backed with dominance. The air went dead still. Even the wolves breathing in the room faltered. Lykos stared at Fenrir in disbelief. His brother-who had always protected him, always smoothed his mistakes-had hit him in public. In front of pack members. In front of outsiders. In front of the wolves he usually bossed around and who now gawked at him like they'd witnessed a divine punishment.His eyes reddened. "You... you hit me? What gives you the right?!" Fenrir's gaze was ice. "What gives me the right? Our mother is in the healing ward. Our father is running from pack to pack trying to keep Moonvale afloat. I'm working myself to the bone every day. And what are you doing? Racing. Fighting. Making enemies." His voice deepened with Alpha authority. "Lykos, I'm telling you now-no one in this family is going to indulge your lawlessness anymore. You made this mess. You clean it up." His wolf snarled under the surface-fed up, disappointed, done. Fenrir's jaw clenched. "And hear this clearly: Moonvale will not spend another coin digging you out of trouble. If you can't resolve it, then you face the sentence. If it means prison, then you go to prison." "Fenrir!!" Lykos felt the world collapse under his feet. Fenrir looked at him the way an Alpha looks at a stranger trespassing on his land-cold, merciless, severed of kinship. Behind that gaze was something worse than anger: Disgust. Something Celestine Ward once said flashed in Lykos's mind: "Lykos, the one you're losing... is the only sibling who ever truly loved you." And now, in this moment, that prophecy came true. The room seemed to spin. Lykos's wolf whimpered, small and lost. Everything he had relied on-every bond, every illusion of affection-shattered like brittle bone.