Chapter 72
Elara's POV
My phone buzzed against the nightstand.
I cracked one eye open and grabbed it.
12:15 PM.
Shit.
I bolted upright. The alarm I'd set for six this morning hadn't gone off. Or maybe I'd been so exhausted I'd slept straight through it.
Either way, Kael was coming for lunch.
Today.
Now.
I threw off the blankets and stumbled to the bathroom. My reflection in the mirror looked like hell. Dark circles under my eyes. Hair sticking up in three different directions. I splashed cold water on my face and brushed my teeth as fast as I could.
Lynette would never make this kind of mistake.
The thought hit me hard as I yanked a clean t-shirt over my head. Back in the Northern Territory, my internal clock had been precise down to the minute. I could wake up at any time I chose. No alarm needed.
But this body was different. Weaker. More human.
I'd pushed it too hard last night. The rescue. The fight. Cole showing up. Kael's interrogation in the car.
My muscles still ached from climbing back through my bedroom window at four in the morning.
I pulled on jeans and ran my fingers through my hair. Good enough.
Downstairs, I could hear voices. Mom's laugh. And something lower. Deeper.
Kael.
My stomach did this weird flip thing.
I forced myself to walk down the stairs instead of running back to my room and locking the door.
At the landing, I stopped.
Through the wooden railing, I could see into the living room. Mom sat on the couch, smiling and gesturing with her hands. Kael sat across from her in the armchair. His posture was relaxed. Almost casual.
I'd never seen him look like that before.
"Really, thank you so much," Mom was saying. "I had no idea what to do about that pipe. Marcus has been so busy with work, and I didn't want to bother him with it."
"It wasn't any trouble," Kael said. His voice was quiet. Polite.
Wait.
He fixed a pipe?
Kael Harrington. Alpha heir to one of the most powerful packs in the Pacific Northwest. Fixed my mom's leaky pipe this morning?
What the hell?
I must have made some noise because Mom looked up and saw me.
"Elara! You're awake!" She jumped to her feet. "Come down, sweetie. Lunch is almost ready."
Kael stood up too. His eyes met mine.
"You look like you slept well," he said.
There was something in his tone. Not quite teasing. But close.
I came down the rest of the stairs. "Yeah. I guess I needed it."
Mom beamed at both of us. "You two sit and chat. I'll just finish setting the table."
She disappeared into the kitchen.
I walked into the living room and that's when I noticed Ethan.
He sat in the corner armchair. His arms were crossed. His jaw was tight. And he was staring at Kael like he wanted to rip his throat out.
Kael noticed too. His shoulders tensed slightly.
Great.
This was going to be fun.
---
"Where's Dad?" I asked as we moved into the dining room.
"He had an emergency meeting at work," Mom called from the kitchen. "He said he'd try to make it home early tonight."
The dining table looked like something out of a magazine.
Roast chicken. Mashed potatoes. A green salad with actual vegetables that weren't from a can. Apple pie cooling on the counter.
Mom never cooked like this.
We were a "stretch the grocery budget" kind of family. Pasta three times a week. Leftovers for lunch. Meat was a special occasion thing.
But today? Today she'd gone all out.
Because Kael Harrington was sitting at our table.
I slid into my usual seat. Kael sat across from me. Ethan took the chair at the end, as far from Kael as possible.
Mom brought out the chicken and started serving.
"Please, help yourself to anything," she said to Kael. "Don't be shy."
"Thank you, Mrs. Grey." Kael took a piece of chicken and some potatoes.
Ethan didn't say a word. He just filled his plate and started eating. But his eyes kept flicking toward Kael. Watching. Calculating.
I'd seen that look before.
It was the same look he gave Blythe whenever he thought I wasn't paying attention.
---
Kael cut into the chicken and took a bite.
His expression changed. Just slightly. But I caught it.
"This is really good," he said. He looked at Mom. "I haven't had a home-cooked meal this good in a long time."
Mom's face lit up. "Oh, you're too kind. It's nothing fancy."
I almost rolled my eyes.
Nothing fancy? She'd spent half the grocery budget on this one meal.
And Kael? He was the heir to a pack that probably had private chefs. What home-cooked meal could possibly compare to whatever five-star food he usually ate?
It was such an obvious line.
But Mom was eating it up.
"So, Kael," she said, passing him the salad bowl. "I've been curious. You're living here all by yourself? What about your family?"
Kael's hand paused. Just for a second.
Then he set down his fork.
"I'm... dealing with some family matters," he said carefully. "It's easier to handle them if I'm staying nearby. For now."
Family matters.
Right.
I knew exactly what that meant. Victoria Harrington. His mother. The art teacher at St. George who refused to acknowledge him in public.
The woman I'd seen him arguing with in the park.
But I couldn't say any of that. Not here. Not in front of Mom.
So I just nodded and took a bite of mashed potatoes.
---
Kael kept eating.
And I kept watching him.
He asked for a second helping of chicken. Mom practically glowed with pride as she served him.
Ethan's jaw got tighter.
But Kael didn't seem to notice. Or if he did, he didn't care.
He looked... relaxed.
More relaxed than I'd ever seen him. Even more than that moment in the cave when he'd held me while I slept.
His shoulders weren't tense. His expression wasn't cold and guarded.
He looked almost... content.
And then it hit me.
He wasn't lying when he said this was the best meal he'd had in a long time.
He didn't mean the food.
He meant this.
Sitting at a table. With a mother figure fussing over him. Making sure he had enough to eat. Smiling at him like he mattered.
When was the last time Victoria Harrington had cooked him a meal?
When was the last time she'd looked at him with anything other than cold rejection?
My chest tightened.
I looked at Mom. She was chatting away, asking Kael about school and whether he liked the neighborhood.
Then I looked back at Kael.
His eyes met mine. Just for a second.
And in that second, I saw something I'd never seen before.
Loneliness.
Raw. Aching. Buried so deep he probably didn't even realize it was there anymore.
I looked away first.
Because I understood now.
This wasn't just about lunch.
This was about something Kael hadn't had in a very long time.
Maybe ever.
A family.