Chapter 15: Hunted

Chapter 15: Hunted
Kael's POV

I jolted awake.

Panting. Sweating. My heart thundered in my chest like it wanted to tear its way out. My entire body was drenched, the sheets clinging to my skin as if they too had been trapped in the nightmare with me.

Beside me, Selene stirred. Her hand reached out, brushing against my damp shoulder. “Kael?” she murmured, her voice thick with sleep. “What’s wrong?”

I couldn't answer

My mouth opened, but no sound came out. My lungs were still trying to remember how to breathe, my brain still caught somewhere in that black forest, where her eyes had held me frozen and her voice had accused me without mercy.

Selene sat up, concern crinkling her perfect features. “Did you have a nightmare?”

I rubbed a shaky hand over my face, nodding mutely as I slid out of the bed.

“I just need some air,” I said hoarsely. My voice didn’t even sound like mine.

I didn’t wait for her reply.

I pulled on a shirt and left the room, closing the door behind me, needing.... craving, the cold air outside. The corridors of the pack house were silent. It was well past midnight, but I couldn’t sleep now. Not after that.

When I stepped out into the night, the cold slapped me across the face and I welcomed it.

The moon was high, bathing the Blackwood pack grounds in silver. Trees swayed gently in the distance. The wind carried a whisper through the darkness, but it wasn’t comforting.

It felt… accusing.

I walked aimlessly, hands shoved into my pockets, footsteps crunching softly on the gravel path that wound through the central clearing. My wolf stirred within me, pacing beneath my skin. Restless. Agitated. Angry.

What is this?

I clenched my jaw, pressing a hand to my chest. It wasn’t just a bad dream. I’d had those before. This was different. The fear, the paralysis, the way she looked at me...... gods, Ivy’s eyes had never burned like that before. I’d never seen such hate on her face.

Her face…

I ran a hand through my hair, trying to push the image away, but it wouldn’t go. Her hair was wild like a ghost, her skin deathly pale, her mouth curled in a smile that chilled me to the bone.

Why now?

Why the hell was I dreaming about her?

My wolf growled low, angry and uneasy.

He hadn’t growled likke that since she left.

Was she dead?

The thought punched a hole through my chest. I stopped walking, frozen on the edge of the training fields.

Was that what the dream meant?

Was that why her face haunted me now, when I had spent weeks without thinking of her once?

Ivy, silent, forgettable Ivy, who used to shuffle through the halls like she didn’t belong, who kept her eyes on the floor as if looking at us was a sin.

Was that what I had done to her?

Reduced her to nothing. And now that nothingness was coming back to haunt me?

I clenched my fists.

No. She was gone. That was all. She was never important. She wasn’t my mate. She was just…. an obligation I never asked for. A burden I was glad to be rid of.

And yet...

That dream.

Those eyes.

My wolf snarled again, louder this time, and I had to bite down on my tongue to keep myself from shifting then and there.

I looked up at the moon.

Was Ivy dead?

Had she wandered into some rogue territory and gotten herself killed?

And was that why she was clawing her way into my dreams now, dragging the weight of my guilt behind her?

I sighed as I returned back into the mansion.

Ivy had never mattered to me, that wasn't about to start changing now cause of meaningless dream.
.......

I thought by morning I'd forget about her and become clearheaded.
But the morning sun did nothing to clear the fog in my head.

I should’ve felt rested after a night of… whatever that was. But I didn’t. The forest still haunted me. Her face still haunted me.

Still, I showed up for training.

I always did.

The warriors gathered at the training grounds like they did every day, forming their usual sparring pairs. I stood off to the side, watching, arms crossed, jaw tight.

Maybe moving my body would clear this cursed feeling, burn Ivy’s ghost out of my veins

I stepped onto the field and took my stance across from my Beta, Dorian.

He raised a brow. “You sure you’re up for this Alpha?”

“Shut up and fight,” I growled.

We clashed. Fists, kicks, movements we’d trained into instinct. I fought harder than usual, faster, until I started to feel the rhythm coming back. For a few seconds, it was just that, training. Motion. Breath. Control.

And then… it hit.

Like a punch straight to the soul.

A searing pain exploded through my chest, stealing the breath right out of my lungs. My knees buckled. The world spun. I crashed to the ground.

"Alpha!" voices shouted, but they sounded far away.

I was still conscious. Barely. I could hear them, feel hands on me. But I couldn’t move. My body was stone. My limbs were frozen. My wolf, my fucking wolf, was snarling in my head, out of control.

He was furious.

And he wasn’t listening to me anymore.

He wanted her.

Ivy.

Mate.

No. No. No!

This couldn't be happening.

She was gone. Vanished. Probably dead. And now, now my wolf wanted her..... craved her like oxygen, and I was paying the price for pushing her away.

“Alpha Kael,” the doctor said later, after they'd carried me to the infirmary. “There’s no visible injury. Your vitals are stable. I think it’s stress-related. You need to rest.”

Stress, huh? If only he knew.

I nodded stiffly, waving him off. “Thank you, Doctor.”

Soon, the room emptied, except for one man, my most trusted beta.

Dorian stood in the corner, arms folded. Watching me.

“You’ve been acting different since yesterday Alpha” he said

I sat up, still sweating, still shaking. My head throbbed with the effort to keep my wolf at bay.

“She’s not dead,” I said.

Dorian frowned. “What?”

“Ivy. She’s not dead. If she was, this wouldn’t be happening.” I stared at the wall, voice quiet and lethal. “He wouldn’t be going insane.”

Dorian didn’t speak.

“She ran,” I added. “And I didn’t care. I let her go. Hell, I barely noticed. But now…”

Now I couldn’t breathe without her scent.

I couldn’t sleep without dreaming of her.

And my wolf… my wolf had chosen, it had chosen her.

I looked at Dorian, finally facing the truth I’d been running from since the moment Ivy stepped foot out of this pack.

“I have a mission for you,” I said, my voice sharper now. The Alpha rising back to the surface. “Find her.”

Dorian’s brow lifted, but he didn’t question it. He only nodded. “Alive?”

“Preferably,” I muttered. Then, after a pause, “No matter what… bring her back to me.”