Chapter 12

The walls of Kael’s packhouse felt smaller than ever.

I paced the length of the room, my body trembling with rage, my heart hammering with panic. The fire in the hearth crackled, casting long shadows against the wooden walls, but it did nothing to warm the ice crawling through my veins.

My babies were gone.

Kael had taken them.

My breath came in short, shallow bursts. How dare he? After everything, after his rejection, after forcing me back into this prison, now he thought he had the right to rip my children from my arms?

A raw, animalistic growl tore from my throat.

I launched myself at the door, slamming my fists against it, kicking with all the strength I had left. "Let me out!"

Silence.

Then, the unmistakable sound of a lock clicking into place.

They had locked me in.

I stepped back, hands shaking, my wolf thrashing inside me. The urge to shift, to tear through anyone who stood between me and my children, was overwhelming.

But I couldn't afford to act on impulse.

Not yet.

I turned toward the window, but before I could even attempt another escape, a familiar scent filled the air.

Kael.

I spun just as the door swung open, revealing the man who had stolen everything from me.

He didn’t look victorious.

No smug smirk. No commanding tone.

Kael looked exhausted.

His dark hair was disheveled, his golden eyes stormy and unreadable. In his arms, carefully balanced against his chest, was one of our children.

A sharp, painful relief crashed into me as I recognized my smallest, Liora.

"She wouldn’t stop crying," Kael said, voice tight.

I barely heard him.

I rushed forward, reaching for my baby, but Kael didn’t let go.

I froze, fury burning through my veins. "Give her to me."

Kael hesitated.

A muscle in his jaw ticked, his fingers tightening slightly around the small bundle in his arms.

"Kael," I warned, low and dangerous.

Something flickered in his gaze before he finally, reluctantly, extended Liora toward me. I snatched her from his arms, holding her against my chest, breathing her in.

Her tiny whimpers melted into soft sighs as she nestled against me.

I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, my body coiling with tension and relief all at once.

I looked back up at Kael, hatred burning in my chest.

"If you ever take them from me again," I whispered, "I will kill you."

Kael didn’t flinch.

But something in his expression shifted, like my words had cut him deeper than any blade could.

"You don’t understand," he murmured.

"I understand perfectly." I cradled Liora closer, my body vibrating with rage. "You rejected me, and now you think you can make up for it by controlling our children? By controlling me?"

Kael exhaled slowly. "It’s not about control, Ayla."

I laughed bitterly. "Then what is it about?"

Kael’s golden eyes darkened, but he didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he turned, stepping toward the fireplace, dragging a hand down his face. He looked like a man on the edge of something dangerous.

"The Council knows you’re here," he said finally.

I stiffened.

My fingers tightened around Liora. "What?"

Kael’s voice was flat. Empty. "The Council sent a message this morning. They want to negotiate."

"Negotiate what?" I demanded.

Kael turned to face me, his expression unreadable.

"Your freedom," he said.

The room tilted around me.

"They want me?" My voice came out hollow.

Kael nodded slowly.

My breath hitched.

The Council had never given a damn about me before. Not when I had been Kael’s rejected mate. Not when I had disappeared into hiding.

But now, suddenly, they wanted me back?

I shook my head. "No. This isn’t about me."

Kael’s lips pressed into a thin line. "No, it’s not."

I swallowed hard, already knowing the answer.

"It’s about the children."

Kael’s silence was all the confirmation I needed.

I felt my knees weaken, but I forced myself to stay standing.

Of course.

Of course, they didn’t care about me. They cared about what I had given birth to.

A shudder ran through me as I stared down at Liora.

She was so small, so innocent.

And now, because of Kael’s bloodline, because of what we were, my babies were nothing more than weapons in the eyes of the Council.

I forced myself to meet Kael’s gaze again, clenching my jaw.

"And what did you say?"

Kael’s expression was unreadable. "I told them no."

I let out a slow, shaky breath.

Relief warred with doubt.

Kael had denied them… but for how long?

"The Council doesn’t accept ‘no’ as an answer," I said.

"I know."

I took a slow step forward, anger rising again. "And what happens when they come here? When they threaten your pack?"

Kael’s jaw tensed. "Then we fight."

I stared at him, searching his face for any sign of hesitation.

But Kael had never been a man to hesitate.

And that terrified me.

"Do you even understand what you’re saying?" I whispered. "Do you even realize what they’ll do to us?"

Kael exhaled sharply. "You think I don’t know? You think I haven’t spent every damn day since I brought you back here planning for this?"

His voice cracked, just for a second.

A moment of weakness.

A moment of truth.

I sucked in a breath, my heartbeat thundering in my ears.

"I won’t let them take you," Kael murmured. "I won’t let them take our children."

His voice was softer now, but no less dangerous.

Something inside me shifted, but I refused to let it show.

I wouldn’t let myself believe him.

Not yet.

Not when I had spent years believing he had already abandoned me.

Kael took a step closer, his golden eyes burning into mine.

"You don’t have to trust me, Ayla," he said, voice low and controlled. "But I need you to understand one thing."

I didn’t move.

Didn’t breathe.

And then he said it.

"You are mine. And no one—not the Council, not the Clans, not even you—will take you from me again."

A shiver ran down my spine.

A warning.

A promise.

Kael turned without another word, leaving me alone with our daughter.

The door locked behind him.

And this time, I didn’t fight it.

Because for the first time since I had been dragged back here…

I realized something.

Kael wasn’t just keeping me prisoner.

He was preparing for war.