I didn't sleep that night.
Even after Kael left the cabin and promised he'd patrol the perimeter—like some sort of guardian I never asked for—my mind wouldn't quiet. Every creak of wood. Every rustle of leaves outside. Every faint howl in the distance sent a chill down my spine.
He said rogues were hunting women like me. Pure-blooded female wolves from noble lines. But why? We were rare, yes. But rare didn't mean valuable... unless someone knew how to use us.
Or control us.
I paced the narrow length of the cabin until the first light of dawn filtered through the window.
The morning brought a thick fog, curling around the base of the mountains like a warning. I stepped outside, boots crunching lightly over pine needles and frost. Kael stood near the tree line, his broad frame outlined by mist. He turned at my approach—his expression unreadable.
"You stayed all night?"
He shrugged, like it was nothing. "Didn't sleep."
Of course he didn't. Alphas never truly rested. Not when their instincts were on high alert. And Kael, even with the years apart, was very much still that—Alpha to his core.
I crossed my arms. "You said they're hunting women like me. What else aren't you telling me?"
Kael hesitated. That alone told me everything I needed to know.
"You don't get to protect me with half-truths," I pressed. "If I'm in danger, I deserve the full story."
He looked away, jaw clenching. "There's a new leader rising among the rogues. No one knows his name, but they call him 'The Hollow Howl.' He's building an army. Quietly. Strategically. And he's after pure-blooded she-wolves."
"To do what? Breed some twisted super-pack?" I asked, the bile rising in my throat.
Kael didn't deny it.
My stomach turned.
"Last week," he said carefully, "two females went missing from the Crimson Hollow Pack. One left claw marks on a tree—signals only we Alphas would recognize. I found it too late."
"Dead?" I asked quietly.
Kael's eyes hardened. "Worse. Turned. He's marking them against their will, Elara. Breaking their minds. Binding them with dark rituals that mimic the mating bond."
My breath caught.
The thought of being bound like that... to a monster... losing my will, my wolf—my soul—was worse than death.
"And you think he's coming for me next?"
He nodded once.
"Because I'm pure-blooded?" I spat the words, resentment boiling. "That's all I've ever been to people. A valuable bloodline. Never a person."
Kael's voice softened. "That's not all you are. You know that."
We locked eyes.
The tension between us wasn't just fear and history. It was that damn bond—growing stronger every hour. Pulling me toward him even as I tried to run.
"You said you didn't come here for me," I murmured. "But now that you've found me, what? You'll claim me?"
Kael didn't flinch.
"No," he said. "Not unless you choose me."
That stopped me cold.
I'd expected force. Dominance. An Alpha demanding what was his by fate.
But instead, Kael—warrior, protector, once a stranger now fated to me—was giving me the one thing I hadn't had in a long time.
A choice.
"And if I don't?"
"I'll still protect you," he said. "I'll still fight for you. Even if I never touch you."
That... shouldn't have meant so much.
But it did.
We stood in silence again, the mountain air crackling between us.
Finally, I said, "If we stay here, they'll find us. We need to move."
Kael nodded. "There's a safehouse halfway down the eastern ridge. Reinforced. Hidden by cloaking spells. We'll leave by midday."
"We?"
He met my gaze evenly. "Unless you'd rather face them alone."
I didn't answer.
Not because I didn't want to go with him.
But because I was starting to realize something terrifying.
I wasn't just afraid of the rogues.
I was afraid of how much I already trusted him.
And how dangerously easy it would be to fall into the bond that fate had stitched between us.