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The Beta Chose Her Son Over Mine (23eps) - Short Drama Full HD 1080p #ASR
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Short filmTranscript
00:01Serena, is this how you raise our pup?
00:04Top line, in her careful handwriting.
00:07I'm alive! And you let her write like I'm dead!
00:11And threw the bundle of wildflowers onto the stone table.
00:13I didn't teach her that. She wrote it herself.
00:17Lucian clenched his jaw, grabbed the journal like he was going to tear it apart.
00:20He stared at Nora's handwriting for a long moment, then set it back down.
00:24He had no idea.
00:25This wasn't even close to the first time Nora had written him dead.
00:29Ever since he took fallen packmates widow Lyra and her son to the honor quarter,
00:33this man had stopped existing in our pup's world.
00:35The honor quarter, the section of our pack, reserved for the families of fallen pack members.
00:40Pack law granted Lucian, as beta, the duty of overseeing her welfare.
00:44But he had gone too far.
00:45I didn't say anything. Just watched him. Cold.
00:49Nora heard the noise and came out of her room.
00:51She had on her worn sleeping furs.
00:53Stayed behind me. No running up to call him dad.
00:56No crying from his rage.
00:57She just looked at Lucian with calm.
00:59Lucian's breath caught.
01:01All that rage seemed to lodge in his throat.
01:04Pushed down his temper.
01:05And pulled a wrapped bundle from his pack.
01:09Nora, come here.
01:10Dad passed the trader's post today.
01:13Got you the shift training kit you've been asking for.
01:16Your first guided shift is next moon cycle, isn't it?
01:23That training kit Nora had pressed her face against the trader's display case to stare at it for three moons.
01:29Lucian always said next time.
01:31In pack law, a pup's first shift must be guided by her dad.
01:35Without his presence, the shift was not only incomplete, it was dangerous.
01:39Any other day Nora would have howled with joy.
01:42But now, Nora didn't move.
01:49Sighing, Lucian knelt down and held out a hand to her.
01:53His signal stone pulsed.
01:55Reflex.
01:56He grabbed the stone and pressed it.
01:59Lyra, what's wrong?
02:01Lucian, I'm so sorry to call again.
02:04But Kai's wolf sickness flared up.
02:06He's howling for you.
02:07I can't calm him alone.
02:08I stood listening to that tired, familiar routine.
02:11But Lucian's face changed.
02:13No hesitation.
02:16Serena, watch Nara.
02:17Kai's condition is critical, I have to go.
02:19The door closed.
02:20He said it like it was the most reasonable thing in the world.
02:22He didn't even look back at his daughter.
02:24Nora walked over and looked down at the training kit on the rug.
02:27Then she picked it up and dropped it into the fire pit.
02:31Mom.
02:32Dead dad can't guide a shift, right?
02:34My chest split open.
02:36The pain hit so hard I could barely breathe.
02:38Right.
02:39After Nora fell asleep, I sat alone in the study.
02:42Opened the bottom of my healer's chest.
02:45Inside lay a sealed blood oath scroll.
02:47I am a blood gifted healer.
02:49For Lucian, I had turned down three summons from the HyPax Healing Council.
02:53But I was done drowning in this.
02:55Fifteen days from now.
02:56The last day to answer the blood oath.
02:58In fifteen days, Nora and I would leave this path.
03:01As if he never existed in our lives at all.
03:06Countdown.
03:07Day ten.
03:08I had just finished a six-hour emergency healing session on a pack warrior.
03:11I dragged myself home.
03:13Our door was open.
03:14I walked in fast.
03:15My blood went cold.
03:17Two wolves were carrying something out of Nora's training room.
03:20Her blood.
03:20Anchor stone.
03:21I had spent a lot to commission that stone for Nora's fifth naming day.
03:25The pack stone carver had etched her name into it during a full moon rite.
03:29It was anchored to our territory's sacred ground.
03:31Nora polished it every morning.
03:33She pressed her palm to it before sleep.
03:35Careful.
03:36Don't chip the edges.
03:37That stone holds a blood reed.
03:42Lucian.
03:43What are you doing?
03:45A flicker of guilt crossed his eyes.
03:48Gone fast, replaced with that usual righteousness.
03:50Don't make this harder than it needs to be.
03:53Lyra's moving Kai into new quarters.
03:55The pack healer said having an anchor stone would help stabilize his wolf sickness.
03:58He paused.
04:00Lyra can't commission one her own.
04:01Nora can just lend it to Kai for a while.
04:03I listened to his logic and almost laughed.
04:05Use your own pup's anchor stone to help another woman's son.
04:08I believed he never once thought to ask Nora.
04:10I pulled out my memory mirror and pressed it to the scene.
04:14What are you recording for?
04:18Evidence.
04:20This stone was Nora's.
04:22Transferring it outside our bloodline without consent gives me the right to record this.
04:33Serena, when did you become this cold?
04:35That is Zane's son.
04:36Zane died saving my life.
04:38It's just a stone.
04:40You're really gonna be this petty about it?
04:45There.
04:45That covers the commission cost.
04:48Go have the carver make Nora a smaller one.
04:56I stood in Nora's empty training room and felt the air leave my lungs.
05:00Nora came home from her lessons not long after.
05:06The place where the stone had sat for years was empty.
05:09Nora didn't cry, even didn't ask where it went.
05:12She walked back to her room, picked up her journal, and opened it to a new page.
05:16She picked up her quill and wrote carefully.
05:18Title.
05:19My dead dad took my blood anchor stone with me.
05:21I stood in the doorway watching my pup's thin shoulders, eyes burning.
05:27A projection from Lyra.
05:28In the image, Kai sat beside the blood anchor stone, grinning wide.
05:32Zane watching over us from above.
05:34Kai finally has a stone to call his own.
05:37Thank you to our dearest Beta Lucian, for giving us the strength to keep going.
05:42I stared at that image for a long time, then opened my healer's ledger.
05:45Transferred the full bond payment on the new house in the other pack's territory.
05:52Right after the transfer, Lucian sent a message.
05:57Once Kai is stable, I'll take Nora to the mid-season gathering next week to make it up to her.
06:01Stop teaching her to hold grudges.
06:03I looked at the words make it up and felt nothing but contempt.
06:06No reply.
06:07He didn't know.
06:08There was no next week.
06:13Countdown.
06:14Day 3.
06:14Today was the pack's annual pup gifting ceremony.
06:17Once a year, every pup was brought before the pack elders to have their gifts assessed,
06:21and recorded in the pack's bloodline registry.
06:24A pup whose gift was formally recognized gained standing in the pack.
06:27Their names were inscribed beside their abilities for all to see.
06:31For a pup like Nora, who carried a rare double bloodline, this was everything.
06:35I sat beside her and held her small, sweaty hand.
06:38My chest ached.
06:40I knew he wasn't coming.
06:41A pup's always hope.
06:42Nora whispered.
06:43Mom.
06:44Dad promised he would be here for my gifting.
06:46I said nothing.
06:47Just held her hand tighter.
06:49Ten minutes before the ceremony began, my signal stone pulsed.
06:53Lucian.
06:53The rogue patrol ran long.
06:55I can't get away.
06:56Tell Nora.
06:57I am sorry.
06:58Same excuse.
06:59Same broken promise.
07:00I turned the stone face down on my lap.
07:02Didn't tell Nora.
07:03Probably held up at the rogue pack.
07:05The ceremony moved along.
07:06Now, we record the gift of our most remarkable pup this season.
07:11Nora's hand tightened around my fingers.
07:13The gift to be registered.
07:15It was Nora's.
07:16She had bled for months to draw that form out of herself without Lucian.
07:19Every training session, every bruise, every night she collapsed from exhaustion.
07:23I built toward that one image.
07:25Mom.
07:26That's mine.
07:27I smiled and began to nudge her toward the elder's dais.
07:30Please welcome the gifted pup, Kai Hayes.
07:33Nora's face froze.
07:35Bottom of the projection.
07:36The name read Kai Hayes, not Nora Cole.
07:39Her shift form.
07:40Someone else's name.
07:42Nora stood there.
07:44Mouth open.
07:45No sound coming out.
07:46Why is that girl standing?
07:47They called Kai.
07:48Nora heard.
07:49She sat back down.
07:51Head dropped.
07:53I clenched my fist and walked straight to the family seating area.
07:57Lyra was standing, adjusting Kai's collar, smiling.
08:00Lyra!
08:01Stop right there!
08:02She looked up, smiled still on.
08:05Oh, Serena.
08:07You're here too.
08:08That shift form is my daughter's!
08:10Why does your son have his name on it?
08:13Serena, don't be upset.
08:15Lucian handled this himself.
08:17I didn't know anything about it.
08:19But honestly, Serena, does it matter whose gift it is?
08:23What matters is who Lucian wants to put on a pedestal.
08:27Your pup can train until she bleeds, and it doesn't change the fact that Lucian doesn't
08:31care about you two.
08:33You can be as angry as you want.
08:35Nothing changes.
08:36I looked at her face and slapped her.
08:38You have no shame.
08:40Lyra's head snapped to the side.
08:42She cried out.
08:43I grabbed her arm to drag her to the elders.
08:45Someone shoved me hard from the side.
08:48I stumbled back several steps and hit a stone bench with my lower back.
08:51I looked up.
08:52Lucian.
08:53He had Lyra and Kai behind him.
08:55Lucian, it hurts so much.
08:57Don't blame Serena.
08:58It's my fault.
09:00I shouldn't have let Kai accept this registration.
09:04Serena, what is wrong with you?
09:05You look completely unsinged right now.
09:08Lucian, Nora trained for months for that gift.
09:11You registered her shift from under Kai's name.
09:13Nora can rely on me.
09:14Kai grew up without a father.
09:16He needs this recognition to find his place in the pack.
09:19Zane died saving me.
09:20I helped his son.
09:22What's the problem?
09:24You're impossible!
09:26Impossible.
09:27My daughter's gift was stolen.
09:28Her months of blood and exhaustion were handed to another child.
09:32I went to set it right, and her own father shoved me to the ground for another woman.
09:36I closed my mouth.
09:40Kai is here today because of his wonderful godfather, Beta Lucian Cole.
09:45He has been more than family to us.
09:48Mom?
09:49A voice behind me.
09:50I turned.
09:51Nora stood a few feet away.
09:54Nora.
09:54I reached for her.
09:56Nora stepped back.
09:59Mom, let's go.
10:02Nora's face was tight.
10:03Holding back tears, she refused to let fall.
10:07No more fighting.
10:08There was no point arguing with a man who had chosen to be blind.
10:12Back home, Nora sat in her room for a long time.
10:15Then she opened her journal and wrote a new entry.
10:19Dad gave away my innate gift to someone else.
10:22I moved our departure two days earlier.
10:25I could not stay in this pack one moment longer than I had to.
10:33The day before we left, I took Nora to the pack market to gather last supplies for the journey.
10:39Nora held my hand.
10:41She stopped outside a food stall.
10:43I followed her gaze through the crowd.
10:44Lucian, he was carefully cutting a piece of roasted meat, blowing on it to cool it, feeding it to Kai.
10:51Lyra sat beside him, smiling like she had everything.
10:54One happy family.
10:55I watched it and almost wanted to laugh.
10:57This was what his emergencies always looked like.
11:00Mom, isn't Dad supposed to be on patrol?
11:02A lie caught in the open.
11:04Ridiculous and pathetic.
11:06I let out a cold laugh and turned to leave with Nora.
11:09Then a war horn split the air.
11:10A second later, the market's outer wall exploded inward, rose, a full raiding pack, pouring through the breach in the
11:17stone.
11:18People screamed and surged toward the inner gates.
11:24Nora!
11:25I shouted and grabbed for her hand on instinct, but the crowd was wild, no direction.
11:31My hand was empty.
11:32By the time I got back up, smoke from the burning stalls had spread across the market square.
11:37I searched through the crowd.
11:39Through the black smoke I spotted Nora.
11:41She had fallen behind an overturned cart, blocked by a collapsed market frame.
11:45Then a figure broke through the smoke.
11:47Lucian.
11:48He was moving fast, blade drawn, cutting a path through the fleeing crowd.
11:52He saw Nora.
11:53He saw his pup trapped behind the cart.
11:56From the other side came Lyra's scream.
12:00Lucian, help!
12:01Kai is pinned under a fallen beam!
12:06Lucian went rigid.
12:07He turned back, eyes locking on his own pup, just feet away.
12:11Nora, don't move!
12:12Daddy's getting Kai out first, then coming back for you!
12:15And I watched him, and run toward another woman and her child.
12:19He pulled Kai free, and pushed Lyra toward the inner gates.
12:23In the worst moment of my life, he left his own pup behind.
12:26I watched, bit through my lip until I tasted blood.
12:30He left her with a promise to come back.
12:32In the rolling smoke, Nora watched the direction Lucian disappeared, her small body completely still.
12:38She stopped crying, stopped calling out.
12:41Slowly she let the hand covering her nose drop.
12:43Let the smoke fill her lungs.
12:45A tear slid down her cheek.
12:47Mom, Dad went to save someone else.
12:50Pack Law says a father protects his pup above all others.
12:53But I don't have a father anymore, so the law doesn't count for me.
12:57Those words broke through my last wall.
12:59Nora!
13:04Mom's here!
13:06I grabbed a healer's kit from the rack and started on Nora myself.
13:12After a long while, I finally stepped outside and collapsed onto a bench.
13:17I pressed my hand to my chest.
13:19Found the thread of the mate bond still there.
13:21Faint and fraying, I closed my eyes.
13:24And I severed it.
13:25Pain hit like a blade through the ribs.
13:27But I didn't make a sound.
13:29Lucian, you have lost us for good.
13:34Two hours later, Lucian ran into the healing tent soaked in sweat, face smeared with ash.
13:41Serena!
13:41What happened?
13:42How is Nora?
13:44Lucian!
13:45My head hurts so much!
13:48Kai won't stop crying!
13:50He's asking for you!
13:52Please go check on him first!
13:55Let me go!
13:56My pup is in there!
13:59Every time she cried, Lucian gave in.
14:01But this time...
14:11Nora...
14:12Nora...
14:13Serena, due to smoke damage combined with severe shock to the blood bond, her wolf voice is gone.
14:18She cannot produce a howl.
14:20No!
14:20She cannot shift.
14:22No!
14:22No!
14:23No!
14:23No!
14:24No!
14:29No!
14:29Healer...
14:30What did you just say?
14:33My pup never stops howling.
14:35She sings in her sleep.
14:36Why is this happening?
14:38It's all my fault!
14:40Oh no!
14:44The healer didn't answer him.
14:46Just patted my shoulder.
14:47I walked silently into the inner chamber.
14:50No crying, no red eyes.
14:54Serena...
14:55Hit me. Scream at me. Whatever you need.
14:58I didn't know the rogues would breach so fast. I thought I had time.
15:02No accusation. No yelling.
15:06Nothing left to say. Lucian was shut out.
15:11Lucian pressed his palm flat against the window, mouthing her name over and over.
15:16Nora didn't cry. She looked at him for two seconds, turned her head.
15:20The blood bond between a pup and her father severed at last.
15:29Pack duty. He was needed back immediately to file the rogue breach report.
15:34Lucian had to leave. Lyra scrambled after him.
15:38The second he was gone, I moved fast.
15:41Cancelled every record tied to this pack.
15:44Midnight, I carried Nora out through the eastern border gate.
15:47Nora walked beside me once we cleared the tree line, watching the territory lights fade behind us.
15:53The farewell was done.
15:59Dawn, Lucian had been up all night finishing his report.
16:02He ran back to the healing tent.
16:11No US, just a healer collecting used dressings.
16:15Where are they?
16:16Where is my mate and my pup?
16:19Serena took her daughter out at midnight.
16:22You're too late, Lucian.
16:29The mother-daughter's sleeping furs by the hearth were gone.
16:33The matching clay cups on the stone table were gone.
16:38The herbs drying on the window ledge had been cleared away, belonging to me and Nora was gone.
16:43He walked into Nora's room.
16:45Nothing left.
16:45Number one thing.
16:47On the floor where the blood anchor stone used to sit, in the middle of those four worn marks lay
16:51a small journal.
16:52Nora's journal.
16:57Lucian dropped to his knees and grabbed it.
16:59Six words scratched into the cover.
17:01Father's death log.
17:03Lucian opened to the first page.
17:05Neat.
17:05Careful handwriting.
17:06Day one.
17:07Auntie Lyra called.
17:08Dad left.
17:09No one was there when I tried on my training kit.
17:12Dad was killed in battle.
17:13Lucian's eyes went red.
17:15He remembered screaming at Serena.
17:17Throwing the training kit on the floor.
17:19Slamming the door without once looking back at his daughter.
17:23He turned to the second page.
17:25Day five.
17:26Pack family witness day.
17:28Every other father came.
17:29I waited a long time.
17:31Dad died at the widow's quarter next door.
17:34Third page.
17:36Day 925.
17:38The anchor stone in my room was taken away.
17:40Mom spent a lot to get it for me.
17:42His love went with it.
17:44Lucian's hands cramped.
17:45He turned page after page.
17:47Every page was a debt he owed.
17:49A blade he had put in his own pup's hands.
17:51And used to cut her open.
17:53He reached the last entry.
17:54The ink was blurred.
17:56Clearly hit by something wet.
17:57There was a rogue attack at the market.
17:59Dad so great.
18:00He went to save pup.
18:01I watched him carry someone else out through the swamp.
18:04Toad.
18:04Dad turned to ash completely.
18:06Ghosts don't come back to save anyone.
18:14He stayed on his knees in the empty room for a long time.
18:18Then he got up and started sending messages to everyone.
18:21My mentor.
18:22My cohort sisters.
18:24Anyone who might know where we went.
18:26First message.
18:27My fellow senior healer.
18:29Please.
18:30Where did Serena go?
18:31Lucian.
18:32Serena accepted a post in another pack.
18:35Where is confidential?
18:36She asked me not to say.
18:38Message ended.
18:39He sent word to her closest friend.
18:41The reply came fast.
18:43Get lost.
18:43A piece of filth.
18:44Nora can't howl now.
18:46Do you understand what that means?
18:48Contact me again.
18:49And I will bring this before the pack.
18:51Elders myself.
18:52Lucian rode to the eastern border gate.
18:54Hold the night watch records.
18:55My crossing log.
18:56On the memory mirrors projection.
18:58Me.
18:59Nora.
18:59On my hip.
19:00One pack on my back.
19:01Passing through the gate at midnight.
19:03Nora had her face pressed into my shoulder from the moment we entered until we disappeared
19:07into the dark.
19:08She never once looked back.
19:10No hesitation.
19:11He understood now.
19:13We were gone for good.
19:14That evening.
19:16Lucian came back to the empty house.
19:18He had barely sat down when the entry mark was pressed from outside.
19:25Lucian.
19:27I made your favorite stew.
19:29I'm here to take care of you.
19:31Lucian looked at her face.
19:32He used to see sadness and helplessness written there.
19:35Now his stomach turned.
19:39Lyra saw Lucian was quiet.
19:42Lucian.
19:43Don't be so hard on yourself.
19:45Nora made it out, didn't she?
19:48You saved Kai.
19:52Zane would be grateful.
19:57I thought I was helping.
20:00Was I?
20:00Get away from me!
20:09Lucian.
20:11Why did you push me?
20:15All he could see was Nora closing her eyes in the smoke.
20:19A few days later, he rode to the honor quarter.
20:22He had been covering Lyra's upkeep for months.
20:25He didn't announce himself.
20:28He knew the entry mark.
20:30Voices inside.
20:31A man's voice.
20:33Laughing.
20:34Lyra on the bench.
20:35With a man he didn't recognize.
20:37On the table between them.
20:39Stacks of gold coins.
20:45Lucian's quarterly stipend.
20:47The upkeep allowance he had been sending every moon cycle.
20:52When is that idiot Beta finally going to take you as his mate?
20:57The wolf sickness act is getting old.
20:59You have to fake it every single time.
21:02Take me as his mate?
21:03Why bother?
21:04His mate left.
21:05He's drowning in guilt.
21:06If I push for a bond right now, it'll backfire.
21:09As long as Zane's name holds, I keep the tears ready.
21:11He's my permanent gold source.
21:13You're cold.
21:14The rogue attack was serious and you still made him save your pup first.
21:18Heard his actual pup lost her voice?
21:20That little brat should have choked in the smoke.
21:22She had it coming.
21:23Her mother always walking around like she's above everyone.
21:26Lucian's a fool.
21:27I said two words about Kai being scared and he left his own pup behind.
21:30A male like that deserves to lose everything.
21:36Every word shredded what was left of Lucian's dignity.
21:39The wolf sickness was fake.
21:41All the helplessness was a performance.
21:43Everything he had believed was noble and right had just been a mark getting bled dry.
21:47Lucian stood outside shaking.
21:50He thought about carrying Nora's anchor stone out for these people.
21:53About registering Nora's gift under Kai's name at the gifting ceremony.
21:56About turning his back on his pup in the smoke.
21:59About Nora's dead eyes watching him go.
22:00He could barely stand.
22:02The old hymn would have kicked the door in.
22:03Not this time.
22:04He went completely still.
22:06Stepped back from the door.
22:07Rode straight to the pack lock he brought.
22:09I want to file a formal complaint.
22:11Fraud.
22:12Falsified illness records.
22:14Someone has been collecting pack resource under false pretense.
22:16After he left the law keeper.
22:18Lucian went back to the pack records chamber.
22:21He opened the ledgers and spent all night pulling together three years of transfers.
22:25Messages.
22:25And falsified healer reports.
22:27He cut off every escape route Lyra had.
22:30And destroyed his own standing doing it.
22:32When it was done.
22:33Lucian stood alone in the dark chamber.
22:35He raised his hand.
22:36And struck himself.
22:37Ten times.
22:38Hard.
22:38His lips split.
22:39His cheeks swelled.
22:40He couldn't feel any of it.
22:43Three days later.
22:45The pack held its annual honors assembly.
22:47The great hall was full.
22:48Every elder.
22:49Every ranked member.
22:50Every family with a fallen warrior.
22:52The hall hadn't been this full in years.
22:54Lyra sat in the front row.
22:55In the seat reserved for honored widows.
22:57Today she was to speak on behalf of the fallen members' families.
23:00And receive the pack's annual condolence tribute.
23:03A large sum.
23:04Set aside from the communal stores.
23:06Her face was arranged into grief.
23:08Her eyes couldn't quite hide what was underneath.
23:10We now call Beta Lucian Cole to present the condolence tribute to Lyra Hayes.
23:15The hall gave a slow, respectful acknowledgement.
23:18Lucian walked to the front step by step.
23:20He did not pick up the tribute pouch.
23:22Lyra stood, composed, and moved toward the dais.
23:25She had her speech ready.
23:26Her tears were ready.
23:28Lucian swept the hall.
23:29I do have something for Lyra Hayes today.
23:31But it is not a gift.
23:33A projection filled the air above the ceiling.
23:35Lyra's voice, clear and cold, echoed through the great hall.
23:38Take me as his mate.
23:40Why bother?
23:41A male like that deserves to lose everything.
23:43All the vicious words Lucian heard that day became solid evidence.
23:48The moment the projection sounded, the hall went dead silent.
23:51Then erupted.
23:52Pack members turned on Lyra, where she stood.
23:55The air in the hall changed completely.
23:57No!
23:58That recording is false!
24:00Lucian, listen to me!
24:01I was threatened!
24:02That man forced me to say those things!
24:04The hall doors opened.
24:05Lyra Hayes, you are formally charged with fraud against the pack, falsification of illness
24:10records, and deliberate manipulation of a ranked beta to breach his sworn duty to his
24:14blood pup.
24:16Iron binding cups locked around her wrists.
24:19Every mask she had worn collapsed at once.
24:22Lucian, don't stand there playing the honorable male now!
24:24Did I force you to leave your pup behind?
24:26You left your own pup in that smoke yourself!
24:29You will never wash that off!
24:32Every word landed exactly where it was meant to.
24:35She was right.
24:36Lyra was just an outsider.
24:37A predator who found a mark.
24:39The one who handed the weapon to her.
24:40The one who used it on his own pup.
24:42That was him.
24:43Lyra was dragged out of the hall.
24:45Her pack standing was stripped on the spot.
24:47Her name removed from the honor quarter records.
24:49Kai, with his mother facing formal charges and his wolf sickness confirmed as never having
24:54existed, was taken into pack ward care.
24:56The assembly ended without ceremony.
24:58Lucian stood alone in the emptying hall.
25:00He slowly removed his beta insignia and pinned it from his chest.
25:04He walked to the senior elder, bowed deep, placed the insignia in her hands.
25:08I don't deserve to hold this rank anymore.
25:10Stripped of every title, every standing, every piece of his identity, Lucian walked out of
25:15the great hall carrying one thing only.
25:17The need to find us and face what he had done.
25:22Two years later, a pack territory near the southern coast, inside the largest gathering
25:27hall in the region, I was leading a cross-pack healing council.
25:30Good morning, everyone.
25:32Thank you for being here.
25:33He the wilderness meant straights.
25:35Senior healers from seven territories filled the hall.
25:38Four istis was Maury S. von der Gwei.
25:39The council ended to a standing acknowledgement from every healer in the room.
25:43Nobody in that hall knew that two years ago I had walked out of a territory with nothing.
25:47In the very last row, Lucian sat with a beard grown out.
25:50Two years of searching.
25:52He had crossed half the known territories.
25:55Spent everything he had.
25:56Taken labor work and supply runs to keep moving.
26:00He had aged a decade.
26:02He didn't dare approach.
26:04Turned and left before I could see him.
26:07Late afternoon.
26:08Outside, a pup training ground on the edge of the territory.
26:12Lucian's eyes burned.
26:14The shadows that used to live in her face were gone.
26:16He couldn't stop himself.
26:18Nora!
26:19Nora!
26:20Dad's here!
26:24He reached out, wanting to hold the daughter he had missed every single day.
26:28Nora stopped.
26:30Lucian reached for her through the blood bond on instinct.
26:33Nothing.
26:34No frequency.
26:35No pull.
26:36No trace of his own blood in her at all.
26:39Only pure unfamiliarity.
26:42Like looking at someone she had never seen before.
26:46There is a stranger approaching me.
26:52The tutor stepped forward immediately, placing herself between Nora and Lucian.
26:57What do you want?
26:59Our pup says she doesn't know you.
27:02Step back now or I call the law keepers.
27:05Let's go.
27:09Let's go.
27:10Lucian froze.
27:12He watched his daughter's hands as she signed.
27:17The hands that used to press against the anchorstone every morning.
27:21Those hands now only spoke in silence.
27:24And what they said was,
27:25I don't know him.
27:27The cruelest punishment wasn't hatred.
27:29It was being erased completely.
27:32But Lucian understood now what the healer had not been able to explain two years ago.
27:37Nora wasn't silent because she couldn't howl.
27:39She had found the bond thread herself.
27:42The one connecting her blood to his.
27:44And she had cut it.
27:46A pup who severs her own blood bond to her father.
27:49The healer said it was impossible.
27:51No pup had the will for it.
27:53Nora had.
28:00Can you put some distance between this male and my daughter?
28:03He's frightened her.
28:06Serena.
28:08Lyra.
28:09Lyra is gone!
28:11I know what I did.
28:13I know all of it.
28:14Let me make it right, please.
28:17Even if you just let me watch from a distance.
28:30Sometimes a missed chance meant a farewell forever.
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