Chapter 32: Caught

Seraphine's POV

The voice cut through the silence like a blade.

Cold. Sharp. Deadly.

Fuck.

My foot froze mid-air. Hovering over the stream. Water rushing beneath—dark and fast and suddenly impossible to cross.

I turned slow. Every muscle locked tight.

Kaelen stood ten feet back. Half-swallowed by shadows cast by ancient pines. Moonlight carved his face into something brutal—all hard angles and sharp edges. That silver-gray hair caught the light like frost. Made him look almost ethereal. Dangerous.

His eyes were pitch black in the darkness. But I could see them clearly. Those double pupils—four dark circles within the black irises. Ancient bloodline made visible. Predator eyes that belonged to something older than memory.

Right now they showed nothing. No emotion. Just cold, empty darkness.

But the bond screamed in my chest.

Rage. Pure. Concentrated. Barely contained.

Oh God. He's going to kill me.

"I—" My voice cracked. "I couldn't sleep. Just needed some air."

Pathetic lie. Even I don't believe it.

Kaelen didn't move. Didn't even blink.

Just reached into his coat. Pulled out two things with deliberate slowness.

The lavender sachet. Small. Fragile in his large hand.

And my note to Cordelia. Folded once.

No. No no no—

My stomach dropped straight through the ground.

"Walking," he said. Voice flat. Dead calm. The kind of calm that came before storms.

He unfolded the note. Held it up so moonlight illuminated the words I'd written.

"'When I'm gone,'" he read aloud. Each syllable precise. Cutting. "'You can say I ran away. That should help with the humans.'"

His eyes lifted. Fixed on mine.

Those double pupils contracted slightly. The only sign of emotion bleeding through.

"This the kind of walking you meant?"

I couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe.

The bond pulsed between us. Heavy. Accusing.

Silence stretched. Painful. Suffocating.

Wind whispered through bare branches overhead. Snow crunched somewhere in the distance—night animals moving through the forest. The stream kept rushing. Indifferent to the standoff happening on its banks.

Finally I exhaled. Let my shoulders drop.

"Okay." My voice came out small. Defeated. "You're right. I was leaving."

Might as well own it. He already knows.

Kaelen's jaw tightened. The only visible reaction.

Then he started walking. Slow. Measured. Each step deliberate as a predator stalking prey.

The bond got stronger with every footfall. Anger bleeding through like acid.

He's going to snap my neck. Right here. Right now.

"You were leaving," he said softly. Too soft. "After everything we discussed at dinner. After I specifically warned you not to go out alone."

"I need to find Lyralei—"

"Don't." The word cracked like a whip. "Don't you fucking dare make excuses."

I flinched.

His eyes burned into mine. Those four pupils boring straight through every defense. Searching. Cutting.

"She's out there alone," I said. Voice shaking. "Scared. Maybe hurt. And I just sat there at that table doing nothing—"

"You think I don't know that?" Kaelen's voice rose. "You think I haven't been searching? Haven't had scouts out every single day since you arrived?"

"But it's not enough—"

"But what?" He stepped closer. Right in my space now. "You don't trust my word? Don't believe I'm actually trying to help?"

The mark. It's all because of the mark.

"You only care because you're bound to me," I shot back. "If it wasn't for this—" I grabbed my neck. Right over the scar. "—you wouldn't give a shit what happened to either of us."

The bond exploded.

Pain. Anger. Hurt.

All of it slamming into me at once.

Kaelen's face went cold. Hard as the ice forming on the stream behind me.

His black eyes seemed to darken further. The double pupils contracting to pinpoints.

"Is that what you think?" His voice dropped to barely above a whisper. Deadly quiet.

"It's the truth."

"Fine." He leaned in. Those ancient eyes blazing. "Let's say you're right. Let's say I only care because of the mark binding us together."

His breath ghosted across my face. Warm against frozen skin.

"That still doesn't give you the right to run away. We made a deal, Seraphine. You. And. Me."

"Fuck the deal!"

"You marked me back!" he roared. The sound echoed through the trees. Sent snow falling from branches overhead. "You could've stopped! Could've pulled away! But you didn't!"

Because the bond made me. Because I wasn't thinking straight.

"You want to leave?" Kaelen continued. Voice rising with every word. "Go ahead. Walk into human's village. See how long you last before John's men find you."

"I can handle—"

"Bullshit." He grabbed my arm. Grip iron-tight. "John's men are everywhere. Patrolling. Searching for whoever started that fire. And you think you can just slip past them unnoticed?"

I tried pulling away. He held firm.

"Let go—"

"You don't know their village," he continued. Voice dropping lower. More dangerous. "Don't know the patrol routes. The traps. The hunters who'd love nothing more than to catch a lone wolf."

Those double pupils expanded again. Predator focus locked on me.

"You go out there alone, you're dead. You understand? Dead. Within hours. Maybe less."

"Better me than dragging everyone here down with me!" I screamed.

The words hung in the frozen air.

Kaelen stared. Shock flashing across his features. The double pupils dilating wide.

"Because of me, you're lying to humans," I continued. Voice breaking. "Your pack is in danger. The treaty with the village is crumbling. All because I exist."

Tears burned behind my eyes. I blinked them back hard.

"So yes. I'm leaving. To fix what I destroyed."

Kaelen's grip loosened. Just slightly.

The bond pulsed. Confused. Hurt.

Good. Feel what I feel.

"You think leaving fixes anything?" His voice was quiet now. Too quiet. "You think running away like a coward makes this better?"

"It's the only way—"

"No." He released my arm. Stepped back. Put space between us. "The only way is finishing what we started. Together."

"You don't have a choice," I said bitterly. "The mark forces you to protect me—"

"Fuck the mark!" His voice cracked. Raw emotion bleeding through. The black eyes with their double pupils suddenly vulnerable. Almost human. "You're my mate, and now my pack member, how could I stand by when you walked into human's trap?"

Lies. He's lying to make me feel better.

"You're only saying that because—"

I didn't finish.

Because my hand was moving. Acting on pure instinct.

Grabbing snow. Packing it tight. Throwing hard.

The snowball hit Kaelen square in the face.

He stumbled back. Shock replacing anger. Those four pupils contracting sharply.

Now. GO NOW.

I shifted.