CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
I stared at him. My brother. My blood.
And suddenly… I didn’t recognize him.
I had been selfish without realizing it. She was never mine to keep.
I took a step forward, rage curling like fire in my gut. “You think you’re the only one who ever cared about her?”
Kael scoffed. “I don’t think—I know. At least I never walked away from her when she needed someone or caused her pain.”
My hands curled into fists. “You don’t know what I was dealing with. What I was trying to protect her from.”
“Oh, don’t give me that noble bullshit now,” Kael hissed, stepping closer. “You were scared. Of your position, of the Council, of her. You didn’t push her away to protect her, you did it because you were a coward.”
I saw red. “Say that again.”
He didn’t flinch. “You were. You still are. Everything you touch, you ruin.”
I slammed into him before I could stop myself, knocking us both backward into the tree line. The impact cracked against the bark as we tumbled through the underbrush. He grunted, rolling with me before flipping us both, his fist catching my jaw with a satisfying crack.
We weren’t fighting as wolves, no, this was more personal than that.
I shoved him off, scrambled up, and drove my shoulder into his gut, slamming him back against a tree so hard the bark splintered. “You think you’re better than me?” I snarled.
“I think I loved her better,” he spat, blood running from his nose.
I froze for half a heartbeat, just long enough for him to knee me in the stomach and shove me back. I stumbled, caught myself, and we collided again, fists swinging wild and raw. Not trained. Not measured. Just brothers tearing at each other because neither of us could bear the weight of what we’d lost.
“You had Anna,” I gasped between hits. “You had your chance. Don’t turn Lyra into another mistake.”
His expression darkened. That one hit my bone deeply.
“You don’t get to talk about her,” Kael growled, voice shaking. “You don’t get to mention her name like it wasn’t your fault too.”
I hesitated.
And that was his opening.
He shoved me again, this time hard enough to knock the wind from my lungs. “You don’t even know, do you? You never asked.”
“Asked what?” I rasped, leaning against a tree to catch my breath.
“I loved Anna,” he said. His voice wasn’t angry now—just hollow. “But I messed it up. I thought I could love two people at once. I thought I could carry both burdens. Her death… it wasn’t just her choice. It was because I failed her.”
I stilled. The ache behind his words broke something in me I didn’t know I still had.
“I couldn’t protect her,” Kael continued, eyes distant. “And now I see Lyra standing there… so full of fire and hope, and I want to believe I could do better this time. I need to believe that.”
“But you won’t,” I said softly, voice low and bitter. “Because we’re poison to anything we touch.”
He looked at me. Really looked. “You believe that?”
I nodded. “She’s better off without us.”
He shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. She’s better off without you.”
My eyes narrowed. “Say that again.”
“You want to play Alpha?” Kael snapped. “Go ahead. Rule your broken pack with your half-truths and cowardice. But leave her out of it. She deserves a bond that doesn’t chain her. You were just going to ruin her life like you ruined every damn thing before.”
I lunged again, this time fueled by something deeper. Not just anger. Guilt. Shame. Fear.
We collided with another tree, the bark snapping under our combined weight. He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me back with all his strength.
“I loved her before you even knew her name,” he hissed. “I saw her before you even realized she wasn’t a threat.”
“And yet she still didn’t reject me,” I fired back.
That did it.
He staggered back like I’d hit him in the gut. His eyes were glassy now. Not from pain but from something far worse.
“She won’t choose either of us,” Kael said, voice cracking. “Because neither of us are worthy of her.”
Then he turned.
And without another word, Kael shifted mid-stride, bones snapping as fur burst from his skin. His massive gray wolf took off into the trees without a backward glance, disappearing into the shadows.
I stood there, bloodied, breathless, broken.
Alone, again.