Chapter 28 Chapter 28

Chapter 28 Chapter 28
Kael
The forest is a shadowed maze beneath me, a sea of trunks and mist, and yet I move through it with purpose, silent, calculated, predatory. My boots barely touch the earth, leaves and broken twigs bending underfoot, unnoticed.
I should be angry. I should be furious. And I am. Every fiber of me roars with it. But beneath that, beneath the twisting coils of possessive rage, there is something far deeper. Love. Desire. Obsession. Fear. All tangled together like the roots beneath my feet.
Lyra.
Riven.
The words grind against my teeth as I run, limbs pumping, lungs screaming, every muscle screaming with a tension that cannot be released. I know where she is. I know what he has done. And yet, I am calm. I am cold. I am precise. I stalk her not out of blind rage, not entirely, but because I must.
She loves him. I know it. I have known it for months, for years, even before she came to me willingly or unwillingly. That knowledge is a knife to my pride, but it does not weaken me. It sharpens me. Focuses me. Makes every step through the forest deliberate, every breath measured, every sense alive and aware.
I pause on a ridge, the mist curling around me like smoke, and close my eyes. The scent of her is faint but unmistakable—Lyra. Human. Fragrant. Vulnerable. And yet… undeniably hers. And beneath it, something else. Life. The life she carries. My eyes narrow at the thought. The baby. Half of her, half of one of us. My fingers clench instinctively.
I climb higher, reaching the peak, the wind biting my face, cold and sharp and wild. The city is a distant blur below me, irrelevant, inconsequential. Here, there is only the forest, the moon, and the hunger in my chest.
I shift. Slowly. Methodically. Pain shoots through my shoulders, my limbs trembling as the bones of the wolf rearrange beneath my skin. Fur bursts across my back, thick and silver in the pale moonlight, my claws extending, my teeth elongating. The human part of me protests for a second, but I do not care. This is who I am. This is what I am. And if they threaten her… if anyone ever dares…
I let out a low growl that vibrates through the mountain like rolling thunder.
The forest responds, not with sound but with acknowledgment. The moonlight catches on my fur, pale silver against the darkness, and for a moment, I am not Kael the man. I am Kael the wolf. Kael the predator. Kael the Alpha.
I run.
Through the peaks and ridges, through the forests, my senses alive to every movement, every sound, every scent. The wind carries it to me, distant but clear: Riven’s presence, protective, feral, guarding her. I taste the tension in it, sharp and metallic. I do not hate him—not entirely. He saved her once. He protects her now. But he is in my way, and I will not forget it.
I reach a clearing at the top of the highest peak. The moon hangs low, enormous, crimson at the edges, like a warning, like a witness. I stop, chest heaving, fur ruffling in the cold wind. And I howl.
Not just a wolf’s howl, not a human cry, but something that slices through the night like lightning.
Lyra.
The baby.
The promise.
I howl to the moon, and I swear. I swear with every fiber of my being, every molecule of my blood, every ounce of wolf and human and Alpha inside me.
I will always watch over her.
I will always protect her.
I will never let harm come to her or to the child.
Even if I must die to do it.
The howl rises again, more desperate, more raw, carrying with it every fragment of my obsession, every piece of my love, every dark, unrelenting thought. I feel the echo bounce across the peaks, across the valleys, and I know the wolves in the surrounding forests hear it. My pack. My allies. My predators. They sense the claim, the promise.
The forest is alive. The wind carries it. The trees whisper it. And I stand there, silver fur glinting in the moonlight, eyes scanning the horizon, chest heaving, claws digging into the rock.
I am a wolf. I am an Alpha. I am the hunter.
And she is mine, no matter what the world tells me.
The moonlight shifts, bathing me in pale fire. I close my eyes and see her face. Lyra. Vulnerable, human, innocent in ways I cannot fully touch. And yet… she is strong, too. Stronger than anyone who thinks she can be contained. Her heart beats not just for me, not just for Riven, but for herself, for the life she carries inside her. I would die a thousand deaths to keep her safe. I would rip the lungs from anyone who dared hurt her.
Riven is near, I know it. I can sense the tension in the air where his scent lingers, the faint trail of his silver presence. He does not know yet what I am capable of. He will soon. And if he so much as thinks of crossing me…
I am Kael. Alpha. Hunter. Protector. And predator.
I pace along the cliff’s edge, pacing until my muscles ache, until my lungs burn, until my wolf is sated with the scent and the adrenaline and the sharp clarity of intent. And still, it is not enough. My obsession does not abate. I do not rest. I cannot rest. Not while she is alive. Not while the baby inside her is growing, unaware of the storms that rage around it.
I howl again, long and low and mournful, a promise in sound, a declaration in voice:
“I will always watch over you. I will always protect you. I will never let harm touch you. I will be here. Always.”
The wind carries my words. The moon bears witness. The mountains tremble faintly at the echo of my voice. And for a brief moment, I feel… something more than human. Something feral, immortal, eternal.
I settle onto the rock, fur brushing against the cold stone, claws digging in. My chest heaves. My senses stretch in all directions. The distant rustle of a predator. The faint scent of Riven. The lingering sweetness of Lyra’s human warmth. The life inside her, pulsing softly, defiantly.
And I know this: I am bound to her.
Not by contract, not by law, not by blood, but by something deeper, darker, truer. Love. Obsession. Duty. Desire.
Kael.
Wolf.
Alpha.
Her protector. Her shadow. Her storm.
I will die for her. I will fight for her. I will watch. Always.
The forest around me grows still. The night deepens. The moon glows brighter, as if answering me, as if acknowledging my promise. My howl fades into silence, but the vow remains, etched into the wind, into the mountains, into the very earth beneath me.
She is mine.
And I will not fail.
Not ever.