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Maxen snorted. "Tempting, but lets get this over with first."

Blaidd huffed a weak laugh and immediately regretted it as his cracked lips split painfully at the corners.

At the basin, he splashed water over his face and looked into the mirror.

The man staring back startled him.

The scarlet was still there, but dulled, broken by pale brown beneath. These were eyes he hadn't seen in eight years.

Maxen leaned against the doorframe, arms folded. "You're a mess," he observed mildly.

"Thank you," Blaidd said hoarsely.

Back in the room, Lisna had a bowl of hot porridge waiting.

She sat beside him, scooped up a spoonful, and held it out with brisk efficiency. "Open."

He did so without protest.

After a few spoonfuls, hunger had him reaching for the spoon. He took the bowl from her and began to eat with embarrassing speed, wolfing it down as if afraid it might vanish.

Sion stood near the door now, arms crossed as he impatiently waited.

Sulien lingered just behind him, quiet as ever.

When the bowl was empty, Blaidd's hand lifted slowly, almost unconsciously, fingers brushing the underside of his arm where the rune had once been.

Gone.

Lisna watched him closely now, knitting forgotten in her lap.

"Well," she said coolly. "You're awake. You're alive. And apparently, you're not entirely mad anymore." Her gaze flicked pointedly to his eyes. "Now start talking."

Chapter 15

Maxen helped Blaidd prop himself up against the headboard.

"The one person who deserves to hear this," Blaidd finally said, "isn't here."

Lisna seemed ready to say something but stopped when Sion put a hand on her shoulder.

"But for the safety of the pack," Blaidd went on, lifting his gaze to Maxen, then Sion, then Sulien, "you all need to know the truth."

No one interrupted him.

"You all thought I lost everything when Isolde died," he said. "That I clung to life only because of the children. That the grief took my will to live and left me...diminished. It is true that moving forward with this life felt hopeless. Just not for those reasons "

His mouth twisted into a humourless smile. "I thought my lifemate was dead and I would follow her to the Undercroft," he said. "But what you didn't know is...Isolde was never mine and neither are the children."

The confession seemed to suck the air out of the room, especially since males can sense and are known to kill cubs if their lifemate has cubs not of his blood.

Lisna's knitting needles slid from her lap and hit the floor with a clank.

Sion stared at him, face slack with shock.

"They are not my blood," Blaidd continued. "Isolde was two months pregnant when the patrol brought her to the pack and my wolf imprinted on her."

He swallowed, throat working painfully as he was lost in the memory.