Chapter 6: The Truth Begins to Crack

(Kane's POV)

Kane couldn't stop thinking about the way Selene had looked at him at the end. That look in her eyes—love, goodbye, pain—it followed him everywhere. He saw it when he closed his eyes. He felt it in his chest like a stone.

Even after the healer at the pack medical center said Vivra and the pup were fine—just a scare, no real damage—Kane felt nothing. No relief. No joy. Just that heavy, aching stone.

Once Vivra fell asleep, he walked out of the room and stood in the hallway. He stared

at his hands for a long time.

Those were the same hands that had pushed Selene's wheelchair.

He could still hear the crash.

Wood splintering. Glass breaking. The sickening sound of her body hitting the floor.

And then silence.

Selene hadn't screamed at him.

She hadn't cursed him.

She hadn't even tried to defend herself after the fall.

She had simply looked at him.

Why?

Kane dragged a hand through his hair and started pacing.

Something about today was wrong.

Everything about Selene was wrong.

Her thin arms. The strange silver marks he had glimpsed beneath her sleeve. The wig. The wheelchair. Her mother's hatred. The way Selene had spoken about leaving somewhere far away.

And that look.

That damned look.

It hadn't been the look of a jealous woman who had just attacked his pregnant mate.

It had looked like goodbye.

Kane stopped walking.

A cold feeling crawled down his spine.

He remembered lifting Selene from the car earlier. She had weighed almost nothing.

Seven years ago, she had been small, but not fragile. She used to race him through the forest and climb trees faster than half the young wolves in the pack. She would jump onto his back without warning and order him to carry her home.

Today, holding her had felt like holding a bundle of bones.

And then he had wiped his hands.

Kane closed his eyes.

He had done it because he wanted to hurt her.

There was no point lying to himself.

He had wanted Selene to see him wiping away her touch. He had wanted her to feel even a fraction of the humiliation he had carried for seven years.

But she hadn't gotten angry.

She had just looked down.

Why hadn't she gotten angry?

"Alpha Kane?"

Kane opened his eyes.

The pack Beta stood several feet away. His expression was strange.

Kane straightened. "What?"

The Beta hesitated.

"It's about Selene."

The stone in Kane's chest suddenly became heavier.

"What about her?"

"She was taken to the healer's ward after you left the tavern."

Kane's jaw tightened. "I know she hit her head. Is she awake?"

The Beta didn't answer immediately.

That hesitation made Kane's heartbeat stumble.

"I asked if she's awake."

"No."

Kane stared at him.

"What do you mean, no?"

"She lost consciousness before the healer arrived."

Kane forced himself to breathe normally.

"Then heal her."

The Beta's face tightened.

"They're trying."

Something in the way he said it made Kane's blood run cold.

"Trying? She hit her head. Wolves recover from injuries like that overnight."

The Beta looked away.

"Most wolves do."

Kane took one step toward him.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"It's not my place."

"I'm your future Alpha. I'm making it your place."

The Beta's eyes hardened slightly.

"Then maybe you should ask her mother."

He turned away.

Kane grabbed his shoulder.

"What happened to Selene?"

The Beta slowly looked back at him.

"You really don't know, do you?"

Kane released him.

"Know what?"

For several seconds, neither man spoke.

Then the Beta shook his head.

"Seven years," he muttered. "She really kept it from you for seven years."

Kane felt as though the floor had shifted beneath his feet.

"Kept what from me?"

The Beta looked toward Vivra's room.

When he spoke again, his voice was quieter.

"Go see Selene yourself."

Kane didn't remember deciding to move.

One moment he was standing in the hallway. The next, he was striding toward the healer's ward.

He pushed through the doors so hard that they slammed against the wall.

The smell hit him first.

Blood.

Healing herbs.

And silver.

Kane froze.

Every wolf knew that smell.

Silver was poison to their kind.

At low doses, it caused burns and weakness. At higher concentrations, it could destroy a wolf's ability to heal. Prolonged exposure could kill.

Why did Selene's room smell like silver?

A healer stepped into his path.

"You can't go in."

"Move."

"Alpha heir—"

"Move."

The command in Kane's voice made the younger wolf instinctively lower his head.

Kane walked past him.

Then he saw her.

Selene lay unconscious beneath white blankets.

Without the wig and lipstick, she looked nothing like the woman who had smiled at him earlier.

Her hair was almost gone.

Her face was colorless.

Her cheeks were hollow.

And her arms—

Kane stopped breathing.

The sleeves of her dress had been cut away.

Silver-colored lines spread beneath her skin from her wrists almost to her shoulders, twisting like poisonous vines.

He had seen those marks before.

Northern warriors sometimes developed them after severe silver exposure.

But never this many.

"What happened to her?" Kane whispered.

No one answered.

He turned sharply toward the healer.

"What happened to her?"

The healer swallowed.

"Chronic silver poisoning."

The words made no sense.

Kane stared at him.

"From today?"

"No."

"Then when?"

The healer hesitated.

"Her records go back seven years."

Kane's entire body went still.

Seven years.

The room seemed to tilt.

"That's impossible."

The healer said nothing.

"She was healthy seven years ago."

Still nothing.

Kane stepped closer.

"I was with her every day. I would have known."

A bitter voice came from behind him.

"Would you?"

Kane turned.

Selene's mother stood in the doorway.

Her eyes were swollen, but there were no tears left in them.

Only hatred.

Kane had known this woman since childhood. She used to feed him dinner when his parents were busy. She used to laugh whenever he and Selene fought and tell him he might as well marry her daughter because he was already living at their house.

Now she looked at him like she wished he had never existed.

"Auntie..."

"Don't call me that."

Kane flinched.

She walked past him and sat beside Selene.

Her hand trembled as she touched her daughter's face.

"You don't get to call me that anymore."

Kane looked at Selene again.

"How long?"

Her mother didn't respond.

"Please."

The word tasted unfamiliar in Kane's mouth.

"How long has she been sick?"

"Seven years."

His wolf recoiled inside him.

Kane shook his head immediately.

"No."

"Seven years and four months."

"No."

"She was diagnosed before you left for the Northern Stronghold."

Kane stumbled backward.

The edge of a chair hit his leg.

He barely felt it.

Before he left.

Before the oak tree.

Before Harlan.

Before Selene told him she didn't love him anymore.

His mind began rearranging memories against his will.

Selene avoiding him.

Selene suddenly wearing long sleeves even during warm days.

Selene losing weight.

Selene refusing to let him into her bedroom.

Selene crying behind the door while telling him she didn't love him.

He had thought those tears were guilt.

What if they weren't?

"Why didn't she tell me?"

Her mother laughed.

It was the most broken sound Kane had ever heard.

"Ask your mother."

Kane's head snapped up.

"What?"

"Ask Ilsa."

His heart stopped.

Selene's mother slowly stood.

"Ask your precious mother why my eighteen-year-old daughter spent the first weeks after learning she might die pretending to cheat on the boy she loved."

Kane couldn't move.

Couldn't breathe.

"No."

"Ask her who found Harlan."

The name hit him like a fist.

"Stop."

"Ask her who paid him."

"Stop."

"Ask her why Selene stood under that oak tree and kissed a stranger while crying so hard she threw up afterward."

"STOP!"

The roar shook the windows.

Selene stirred weakly on the bed.

Every person in the room went silent.

Kane's anger vanished instantly.

He turned toward her.

Her eyes remained closed.

He took one step toward the bed.

Selene's mother moved between them.

"Don't touch her."

Kane stopped.

His hands began shaking.

"I didn't know."

"No. You didn't."

"She never told me."

"Because she loved you."

Kane stared at her.

"Your mother told her that if you knew, you would abandon your training and stay here watching Selene die. She told an eighteen-year-old dying girl that she would destroy your future if she told you the truth."

Kane's face drained of color.

"Selene believed her."

Her mother's voice cracked.

"She loved you more than she loved herself."

Kane looked at the unconscious woman on the bed.

His mind returned to the tavern.

He saw himself kicking the wheelchair.

He saw himself shoving it.

He heard Selene's head strike the table.

He remembered lifting Vivra while Selene lay bleeding among broken glass.

And suddenly he couldn't breathe.

He stumbled out of the room.

Someone called his name.

He ignored them.

He made it outside before dropping to his knees.

His stomach convulsed.

Kane vomited onto the grass.

Again.

Again.

Until there was nothing left.

He remained there afterward, one hand pressed against the ground, his entire body trembling.

Seven years.

She hadn't betrayed him.

Selene had been dying.

And he had punished her for surviving.

A memory struck him with brutal clarity.

"You're already skin and bones. Now you're on a diet? What is wrong with you?"

Then Selene's answer.

"Harlan likes me thin."

Kane squeezed his eyes shut.

She had said the name because she knew it would hurt him.

Because even after seven years, she was still protecting the lie.

Protecting his mother.

Protecting him.

Another memory.

Selene lying on the tavern floor.

"Tell my mother not to blame him. Tell her this was my choice. My fault."

Even then.

Even after what he had done.

She had protected him.

Kane rose slowly.

Something inside him had gone frighteningly quiet.

He turned toward the path leading back to the Blackwood estate.

His mother was there.

Ilsa was there.

And for the first time in seven years, Kane finally knew exactly who he needed answers from.