(AMARI'S POV)
"Your husband is dead," the voice said. "He was involved in a fatal accident this morning."
The small phone in my hand felt like a cinder block.
The room tilted so I grabbed the table. My first instinct was to scream, but my second, mastered over the years, was to swallow it.
My grip tightened and my gaze fell on the simple wedding band on my finger.
Kaelen had slipped it on. Yesterday. At our wedding. He had kissed it too… last night, when he apologized for leaving unexpectedly.
"I'll be back for you in two days and we can continue this honeymoon right where we left off."
His gentle voice echoed in my head and the ring on my finger still held warmth from the memory.
And now, just hours after—
He was dead.
A wave of nausea hit me—
"Hello? Mrs. Blackwood?"
I snapped back to the professional female voice on the phone.
"Y-y-yes."
"We require your presence as soon as possible. When should we send a driver to the airport?"
"I—I won't be flying," I managed. "I'll come by train."
A pause.
"Very well. Someone will be waiting for you at the River Pack Capital station holding a 'Blackwood' card."
The line went dead and silence followed.
It had been fourteen years since I last felt such deep loss. And even though this was the fourth, it felt like the first time all over again.
Mother.
Grandma.
Father.
And now... my husband. One day after our wedding.
The universe had a sick sense of humor.
Loud laughter sliced the silence as my siblings strolled in. My instincts kicked in—I bent over, wiping an already clean surface.
"Amari, I've changed my mind," Rudina, my seventeen-year-old sister announced. "Moon haven villagers will definitely miss your cooking more than your nursing."
"I remain loyal," Al added.
"Yes, we know," Rudina scoffed. "You are loyal to food—"
She dropped her used plates in the sink and then walked over to me. She stiffened and gently raised my face to hers.
"What's wrong, Ari?" Her eyes widened with concern.
I hadn't seen Al move, but his arms were around me now—steady and almost too strong for a fourteen-year-old.
"Come sit," he urged gently.
I let them lead me to a chair, like a puppet. Then I found the courage to look into their similar hazel eyes that held concern.
I swallowed.
"Kaelen is dead."
Saying it out loud made it real. Final.
"He died in an accident."
Something broke in my chest and a sob tore out of me.
Mine and Rudina's cries filled the kitchen but my ears barely processed them. My senses dulled. Everything felt distant—muted.
It felt like only seconds later when the door slammed open, hitting the wall.
"What the bloody moon is going on here??!!"
Our heads snapped up.
Elara, my stepmother, filled the doorway, her oppressive presence suffocating the kitchen and drowning out the aroma of the curry sauce I made.
"Oh mother!" Rudina wailed. "Uncle Kaelen is dead. Amari just got the news about an accident. We—"
"Unbelievable! You truly are cursed, Amari," Elara cut bitterly.
Cold silence.
Then—
"One day a bride, the next a widow?" She clicked her tongue. "What's this? Poetic? Iconic?"
Rudina flinched. "Mother—"
"Shut up!" Elara's voice turned sharp as a blade and Rudina shrank back while Al stiffened beside me.
Then her gaze settled on me again.
"So, what's the plan?" Her lips curled. "Or are we performing grief all day, Sludge?"
My stomach plunged and I could feel the bile rising in my throat at the disrespectful nickname.
It was typical of my stepmother to remind me at least once, each conversation, that I was a sludge.
A reminder that I was at the bottom of the food chain, a mixed blood who was more unfortunate to lack a wolf.
Just like death, the demeaning name always hurt like the first time. But today, I cared less about my stepmother's vile nature.
"I… I have to go to River Pack," I said calmly, forcing myself to stand. Al's arm remained around me.
Elara's laughter was sharp and cold at the same time.
"What for? He's dead!!"
The words hit harder than they should have. I fought back the lump in my throat.
"Kaelen had no family. Someone needs to ID him and I'm the only relative he—"
But that only made her laugh harder.
"Relative?" She snorted, holding her tummy. "Don't be delusional, Amari, you only met him three months ago. I arranged everything, remember?"
Her eyes bore into mine.
"It wasn't a marriage—it was a transaction. And now that transaction is void."
My stomach clenched.
Elara was right. The marriage had been her idea—her forceful arrangement.
A young truck driver, living in our pack's capital, willing to marry a 21-year-old wolfless mixed blood and pay off our family's debts too.
I had resigned my fate to the marriage only for the benefit of my siblings and I expected unfairness due to my status.
But Kaelen…
He had been kind. Gentle in ways I didn't understand.
He never questioned me about my wolf class. Never even eyed the veil I always wore.
He simply accepted me.
It may have been a transaction. But he never treated it like one. For that reason, I refuse to back down.
"As his wife I'm probably the only one who can permit his body to be sent to his friends and colleagues and—"
"I don't care," Elara snapped bitterly. "I won't approve your travel pass."
My stomach clenched but I kept my chin raised, my eyes steadily focused on her.
"The police invited me," I announced. "If I don't go… they might come here, to Moon Haven. Then they may be interested in what led to my marriage with Kaelen… One glance at our account and the rest is history."
It worked.
Her expression tightened before she exhaled sharply some seconds later.
"Fine," she said. But before I could release my breath she added, "Rudina goes with you or you stay! I know you can run away."
I held her gaze, knowing fully well that there was no going back.
"Fine," I agreed. I took a step forward. "But since Rudina isn't home, no men home tonight!"
Elara's eyes flashed angrily. "I wasn't going to invite anyone. You make my children think I don't care about them."
I turned to Al, ignoring her. "Take your medicine, okay?"
"I'll miss you," he said as our foreheads briefly rested against each other.
I rubbed his cheek lovingly before we stepped apart.
"And keep your veil on. My daughter mustn't get mauled by association," Elara's annoying voice warned.
I didn't flinch.
Hiding my hair was a daily mantra passed on to me by my father. And I lived religiously by it.
"Silver hair is as rare as a Moonstone. It shows lineage to the Moon goddess and it will attract attention from the wrong people."
Father's gentle words are a permanent backdrop in my mind.
It was bad enough that I was a wolfless mixed blood.
I didn't need any more stress. So, Elara did not need to remind me to have my hair hidden.
During the train ride to River Pack and while Rudina slept on my shoulder, I thought of Kaelen.
Each time I closed my eyes, he was there.
His smile. His voice. His hands. And each time—I remembered he was gone.
Hours later, we arrived at the most developed and strongest pack in the realm, the River Pack.
Even at night, it felt… powerful.
The train station was quiet, nearly empty. A bald man stood waiting, holding a card that read 'Blackwood'.
When I introduced myself to him as Mrs. Blackwood, he stared at me like I had two heads.
I feared that he had caught a glimpse of my hair but then he gave Rudina the same stare as well.
"Snob," she muttered after he signaled us to come with him. We followed anyway.
The car awaiting us was unlike anything I had ever seen. With posh leather seats and a sleek interior, it was impossibly luxurious.
"Ru," I whispered, leaning closer to her as the car started moving. "What if we're being kidnapped?"
Rudina barely opened her eyes. "Then at least we'll die comfortably."
I didn't smile. I felt… worried. But all my thoughts halted as the car passed through massive iron gates after several minutes of driving.
My breath caught.
It didn't look like a hospital. Or a police station.
It looked like—a residence. A palace.
I wondered what a truck driver had to do with a place like this.
My sister and I had our mouths agape until the car stopped. The door opened and a stern-looking suited man stood before me.
"Mrs. Blackwood?"
I nodded, stepping out slowly with Rudina. He stepped aside and then I felt it. A heavy presence.
A woman approached—dressed in combat boots and fitted gear, her gaze locked onto me like a weapon freezing me to the ground.
Even in dimness, I felt her fury. My trembling hand clutched tightly to the ends of my veil.
"Which one of you is married to Kaelen Blackwood?" She demanded, two feet away.
"I—I am."
Her eyes dragged over me in clear disbelief.
Then—disgust.
The slap came before I could blink.
My head snapped sideways. My cheek was on fire, stinging with a heat that made my eyes water and turned the world white.
"Amari!" Rudina held onto me.
"How dare you?" the woman snapped, her voice cutting through the silent night. "What filthy hole did you crawl out from? You think you can deceive us?"
My thoughts scattered.
"Deceive…?" I croaked.
Her expression hardened and she took a step closer. Her voice dropped, deadly and cold.
"To claim you're married to Kaelen Blackwood—"
Her eyes didn't leave mine.
"—the Alpha of the River Pack."
The world stopped.