Lucian's POV
Then Kael collected himself and continued. "If she were his mate, he would have fought to take her back from our pack instead of letting her rot in prison, and later fall into the hands of traffickers."
"That makes sense," I said. "No top-tier Alpha would ever let their mate be used by others. They'd rather kill her."
"Or," Jason added, his voice low and tense, "one can leave their mate to suffer only if the hate is so immense that no reason matters, not even if they love her deeply." He seemed lost somewhere as he said it, but then got back to his senses and looked at us. "If that's the case, he hates her and won't take her back—he only keeps the child."