(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 suddenly felt heavy. And hot. Like it was burning through my skin.
"M-my husband?"
The room tilted—no, I did.
My vision blurred. I grabbed the table 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 so soon.
"I'll be back for you in two days."
His gentle voice echoed in my head, the ring still held warmth from the sweet memory.
And now, just hours after—
He was dead.
A strong wave of nausea hit me—
"Hello? Mrs. Blackwood?"
I snapped back to my devastating reality. Back to that firm, 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?"
My thoughts stumbled over themselves.
"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. Then there was a faint ringing in my ears.
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. A day after our wedding.
I dropped the phone like it burned, just as loud laughter burst in to the kitchen. My siblings strolled in and 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 as she walked in. "Moon Haven will miss your cooking more than your nursing."
"I never changed sides," Al added.
"Yes, we know," Rudina scoffed. "You've always been loyal to food—"
She stopped and then hurried towards me. Her hands seized mine which were ice cold and trembling.
"What's wrong, Ari?" She asked.
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. And 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 the first 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??!!" A high pitched voice demanded.
Our heads snapped up.
Elara, my step mother filled the doorway, her oppressive presence suffocated the kitchen and drowned out the aroma of the curry sauce I had made.
"Oh mother!" Rudina cried. "Uncle Kaelen is dead. Amari just got the news about an accident. We—"
"You truly are cursed, Amari." Elara cut bitterly.
Cold silence.
Then—
"One day a bride, the next a widow?" She clicked her tongue. "Now what do we call that? Poetic? iconic? Seeing as its in your nature after all to spread death."
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 next.
"So what's the plan?" Elara's 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 step mother to remind me at least once, each conversation, that I was a sludge. Which meant that I was at the bottom of the food chain, a mixed blood who was unfortunate to lack a wolf.
Just like death, the demeaning name always hurt like the first time.
"I… I have to go," I calmly said, forcing myself to stand despite the spinning room. Al's arm remained around me. "I have to see him."
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 a lump of throat.
"He was my husband,"
But that only made her laugh harder.
She held her tummy as she grinned. "I thought someone died, why all the funny jokes?" She snorted. "Husband? You've known him for three months. I arranged everything so don't romanticize it. It wasn't a marriage—it was a transaction."
Her eyes bore into mine, grin faltering.
"And now the transaction is void."
I felt like I had been slammed in the chest with an iron board.
She was right. The marriage had been her idea—her forceful arrangement.
A truck driver from our Pack's capital willing to marry a 21 years old wolfless half-breed and pay off her family's debts too.
I had resigned my fate only for the benefit of my siblings and I expected indifference or harshness from the marriage 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 wore.
He simply accepted me.
It may have been a transaction. But Kaelen never treated it like one.
I remember when he came to see me a month before our wedding, and with a gorgeous necklace that made me feel special.
"I didn't know if you'd like it. I don't know much about you yet. But I want to learn everything, Amari,"
The memory stabbed through me.
"I'm going," I said again, stronger, harder, this time.
Elara's smile died—just for a second.
"You've never even left this damn village."
I didn't flinch.
"The police invited me," I added. "If I don't go… they might come here."
It worked.
Her expression tightened before she exhaled sharply. "Fine." She said but before I could release my breath she added, " Rudina goes with you."
I opened my mouth to speak.
"If you think this changes anything, it doesn't. So better think of the old night guard on your trip! He's your only available suitor." She spat.
I swallowed weakly while her gaze continuously tore in to me.
"I mustn't remind you to keep your veil on and make sure that thing on your head stays hidden. Rudina mustn't get mauled by association." Her eyes sized me.
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 the child of a werewolf and a human. A mixed blood (who doesn't have a wolf, have I mentioned), which is a status that called for disrespect and irritation from the world.
I didn't need any more stress. So, Elara did not need to remind me to have my hair hidden.
During the train ride and while Rudina slept on my shoulders. 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.
The mood was too sour for Rudina and I to admire River pack, the most developed pack in the realm, when we arrived.
Even at night, it felt… powerful. The station was quiet, nearly empty. And 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 him 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.
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.
What did a truck driver have to do with a place like this? Or was it the way of the city people? Did poor people gain access to places 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 though her eyes looked slightly swollen, she looked furious. My trembling hand clutched tightly to the ends of my veil.
"Which one of you is married to Kaelen Blackwood?" She demanded in a loud and steady voice as she stood before us .
"I—I am."
She froze.
Her eyes dragged over me in clear disbelief.
Then— Disgust.
Before I could react—
SLAP.
The cold night air vanished. My cheek was suddenly on fire, stinging with a heat that made my eyes water and turned the world white.
Pain exploded across my face as I staggered back.
"Ari!" Rudina cried, catching 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 ears rang and my mind struggled to catch up.
"Deceive…?" I whispered.
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
Alpha?