Chapter

Chapter
Lynette's POV

I stared at Elara's confused face and felt something twist in my chest.

Guilt. Sharp and uncomfortable.

"Just some training stuff," I said. Kept my voice level. "Not important."

Elara's eyebrows pulled together. "But the things Alpha asked me yesterday... they seemed like they had something to do with you."

My jaw tightened. I forced it to relax.

"That's his misunderstanding," I said.

Elara looked at me for a long moment. I could see the questions in her eyes. The doubt. But then she nodded slowly.

"Okay," she said quietly. "I trust you."

The guilt got worse.

Because she shouldn't trust me. Not when I kept dragging her into my mess. Not when I'd used her body to get close to Kael and now his wolf couldn't tell us apart.

"Get some sleep," I told her. "We're leaving early tomorrow."

She blinked. "Leaving?"

"Just for a while. A few months maybe. I'll explain to Dad."

Elara opened her mouth. Closed it. Then nodded again.

She went back to her room.

I waited until I heard her door click shut. Then I let out a long breath.

Tomorrow. We'd be gone tomorrow. Away from Pinehollow. Away from Kael and his wolf and the way his teeth had felt against my throat.

Away from the urge to let him bite down.

---

I didn't sleep.

At five AM I started moving. Quiet. Efficient.

Pulled my duffel bag from the closet. Packed clothes, weapons, cash, fake IDs. Everything I'd need to disappear for a while.

Elara's bag too. She didn't need much. Just enough to make it look like we were taking a normal trip.

I carried both bags to my truck. Made two trips. The house stayed silent.

Back inside, I grabbed a notepad from the kitchen. Wrote a note for Marcus.

Taking Elara on a trip. Need some time away. Will call soon. - L

Short. Vague. He'd be confused but he wouldn't stop me.

I left the note on the kitchen table. Checked my watch.

Five forty-five.

I'd wake Elara at six. We'd be on the road by six-thirty. Out of Oregon by noon.

I did one last sweep of my room. Checked under the bed, in the closet, behind the dresser. No weapons. No documents. Nothing that could connect me to my past.

Clean.

I grabbed my jacket. Headed for the front door.

Opened it.

And froze.

Kael stood on the porch.

His hair was a mess. Dark circles under his eyes. Same clothes from yesterday. He looked like he hadn't slept either.

But his eyes were sharp. Focused. Locked on me.

"Where are you going?" His voice was rough. Low.

I kept my face blank. "That's not your business. Move."

He didn't move.

"Drake told me you quit," he said. "Sent your resignation at midnight. Wouldn't answer his calls."

I stepped forward. He shifted to block the doorway.

"Move," I said again. Put some Alpha command in it.

He didn't even flinch.

"Not until you give me answers."

My hands curled into fists. "I don't owe you anything."

"You owe me the truth."

I tried to step around him. He caught my arm.

The contact sent heat straight through my jacket. My wolf surged. I shoved it down hard.

"Let go." My voice came out colder than I meant it to.

"Where are you running to?"

"I'm not running."

"Liar."

I yanked my arm free. Glared at him. "What do you want from me? I already told you—that night wasn't me. Your wolf made a mistake. Accept it and move on."

His jaw clenched. "My wolf doesn't make mistakes."

"Then your wolf is delusional."

I shouldered past him. Made it three steps down the porch.

He grabbed my wrist. Spun me around.

Suddenly my back was against the house wall. His body caging me in. Both hands braced on either side of my head.

Too close. Way too close.

"What the hell are you doing?" I snapped.

"Getting answers." His eyes burned into mine. Amber fire. "You want to know what I think? I think something happened between us. Something you're too scared to admit."

My heart kicked hard against my ribs. "You're wrong."

"Am I?" He leaned in. His scent wrapped around me. Cedar and winter wind and pure male Alpha. "Because every time I get near you, my wolf goes insane. Every time you look at me, I see something in your eyes. Something that says you remember."

"I don't—"

"Why does Elara have zero memory of that night?" His voice dropped lower. Dangerous. "I asked her. Described everything. The car. The conversation. What I told her about my mother. She looked at me like I was crazy."

My stomach dropped.

"Maybe you scared her," I said. Tried to sound dismissive. "Showing up and interrogating—"

"She wasn't pretending." He cut me off. "She genuinely had no idea what I was talking about. But you know. Don't you?"

I didn't answer.

Couldn't answer.

Because he was right and we both knew it.

"Get away from me," I said instead. Put every ounce of ice I had into the words. "Before I make you."

His eyes flashed. "Try it."

Heat flooded my system. Not anger. Something worse.

Want.

My wolf wanted to fight him. Wanted to see if he could actually hold me down. Wanted to test his strength against mine and—

No.

I slammed my knee up toward his groin.

He blocked it. Caught my leg. Pressed his hips forward to pin me completely against the wall.

Now I really couldn't move.

"Stop running," he growled. His face was inches from mine. "Just tell me the truth."

"There's no truth to tell!"

"Then why are you shaking?"

I was shaking. Damn it. My whole body trembling with the effort of not giving in. Not tilting my head back and baring my throat and letting him—

"Kael." My voice came out rough. Desperate. "Please. Just let me go."

Something flickered in his eyes. His grip on my wrist loosened slightly.

Then a voice cut through the tension like a knife.

"Sister?!"

Elara.

She stood in the doorway. Hair messy from sleep. Eyes wide with shock.

She looked at Kael pinning me to the wall. At my face. At the way neither of us was moving.

Then she ran forward.

Shoved Kael hard in the chest.

He stumbled back. More from surprise than force.

Elara put herself between us. Her whole body shaking. But she stood her ground.

"Get away from my sister!" Her voice cracked.

Kael stared at her. His expression unreadable.

I grabbed Elara's shoulder. "It's okay—"

"It's not okay!" She spun to look at me. Tears in her eyes. "Alpha, if you want to know the truth, I'll tell you."

My blood turned to ice.

"Elara, don't—"

"Sister, I'm not stupid." She looked back at Kael. Her hands were fists at her sides. "That time in Pinehollow. When you thought you were with me. It wasn't me."

Kael went very still.

"What?"

"My sister." Elara's voice shook but she kept talking. "Her soul was in my body. We were cursed. Switched. So if she did something that made you think—made you feel—that wasn't me. That was her."

The world stopped.

I watched Kael's face. Watched the pieces click into place behind his eyes.

Shock. Then understanding. Then something that looked like relief mixed with fury.

His gaze snapped to me.

"Souls," he said slowly. "You switched souls."

I couldn't speak.

"So that night in my car." His voice was dangerously quiet. "That was you. Your soul. In her body."

Elara nodded miserably. "We just switched back. That's why I don't remember. Because I wasn't there. She was."

Kael took a step toward me.

I backed up until I hit the wall again.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Each word was carefully controlled. But I could hear the anger underneath. The hurt.

"Because it was a mistake." I forced the words out. "The drugs. The loss of control. All of it was an accident."

"An accident." He laughed. Short and bitter. "Is that what you're calling it?"

"What else would I call it?"

"The truth." Another step closer. "My wolf has been going insane for weeks because it recognized you. Because that night meant something."

"It didn't mean anything!"

"It meant everything to me!"

The words hung in the air between us.

I stared at him. At the raw emotion on his face.

"My wolf doesn't make mistakes," he said again. Softer this time. "It knew. From the moment you walked into my office. It knew you were the one from that night."

"Kael—"

"Why didn't you tell me?" He was right in front of me now. Close enough that I could feel his breath. "Why did you let me think I was losing my mind?"