Chapter 166
Kael's POV
I stared at the financial reports spread across my coffee table. The numbers blurred together into meaningless lines—revenue projections, territory maintenance costs, pack member stipends. All of it felt hollow right now.
My phone buzzed. Hansen's name lit up the screen.
I picked up. "Hansen."
"Young master." His voice carried that familiar warmth I'd grown up hearing. "How are you adjusting to living alone?"
I leaned back against the couch. "I'm fine, Hansen. This isn't my first time living on my own."
"I know." A pause stretched between us. "But humor an old man's concern."
The corner of my mouth lifted slightly. Hansen had been there since my mother left. He was more than a butler, more than a pack advisor. He'd raised me when no one else would.
I remembered being twelve years old when my first shift went wrong. I'd lost control completely. My wolf had taken over and destroyed half the training room, nearly killing two guards before Hansen stepped in.
He could have died that night. Should have died. But he'd walked straight into the chaos and grabbed my wolf by the scruff, holding on until I came back to myself.
He never mentioned it afterward. Never made me feel like the monster I was terrified of becoming.
"I'm managing," I said, softer than before.
"You don't need to manage alone." Hansen's tone shifted into something more careful. "I could move into the guest house. Help with—"
"No." I cut him off as gently as I could. "I need you at the main estate. Keeping an eye on things there."
Keeping an eye on my father. That's what I really meant. Hansen understood without me having to spell it out.
"I see." Another pause hung in the air. "Then I suppose this call isn't just to check on your wellbeing."
I almost smiled. "You always were terrible at pretending."
"Guilty." He sighed. "I wanted to ask about last night. The two young women who came to dinner."
My hand tightened on the phone. I'd known this was coming.
"What about them?"
"Is one of them your mate?"
The question hung in the air between us, heavy and complicated in ways I didn't know how to explain.
I stood up and walked to the window. Across the street, I could see the Grey house—small and modest, nothing like the Harrington estate. But somehow it looked more like a home than anywhere I'd ever lived.
"I don't know," I admitted.
Hansen stayed quiet, waiting for me to continue.
"At first I thought it was Elara." The words came slowly, like I was working through the puzzle as I spoke. "When I met her in the forest that night, my wolf went crazy. I was sure she was the one."
"But?"
"But now Lynette's back. And everything's..." I rubbed my face, trying to organize thoughts that refused to make sense. "Confused. My wolf is more interested in Lynette than Elara. The connection I felt before—it's fading."
"They're sisters," Hansen said thoughtfully. "Perhaps the blood relation creates similar scents. Your wolf might have been drawn to the family line, not a specific individual."
I shook my head even though he couldn't see me. "It's not that simple. This feeling with Lynette—it's stronger. More primal."
"You're attracted to her."
It wasn't a question. I didn't answer anyway.
"Kael." Hansen's voice gentled in that way that always made me feel like a child again. "I noticed how you looked at her during dinner. How you positioned yourself between her and your father in the courtyard. How you—"
"It's too early to talk about this." I turned from the window, needing to move. "I barely know her. We're not even friends."
"But you want to know her."
Damn Hansen and his ability to read me like an open book.
"Maybe," I said. "But that doesn't mean anything. She needs help. I'm providing resources. That's all."
"If you say so, young master."
I could hear the smile in his voice. It irritated me more than it should have.
"Was there anything else?" I asked, too sharp.
"Just one thing." The warmth returned to his tone. "I'm glad. That you have people around you now who see you as more than just an Alpha. Who care about you as a person."
My throat tightened. I didn't know what to say to that.
"Thank you, Hansen."
"I mean it." His voice grew serious in a way that made me pay attention. "You deserve happiness, Kael. Real happiness. Not just duty and responsibility."
I swallowed hard. "I know."
"Good." A rustling sound came through the phone—papers maybe. "Then I'll let you get back to your reports. But Kael—I hope I'll see you more often. Not just at official pack meetings."
"Soon," I promised. "You'll see me soon, Hansen."
"Soon?" His tone sharpened with suspicion. "What are you planning?"
I looked at the reports scattered across my coffee table again. At the territory maps. At the list of pack members who'd been questioning my leadership lately.
"Just some necessary changes."
"Changes." Hansen repeated the word slowly, testing it. "What kind of changes?"
"The kind that are long overdue."
"This is about your father, isn't it? The disagreements you've been having?"
I didn't answer directly. "Some things have been put off too long. It's time I did things my own way."
Silence stretched on the other end of the line. Long enough that I checked to make sure the call hadn't dropped.
"Hansen?"
"I'm here." His voice was quiet, thoughtful. "Just... be careful, young master. Whatever you're planning."
"I will."
"And Kael?" A pause. "I'm on your side. Always have been."
My chest felt tight. "I know. Thank you."
"Call me if you need anything. Anything at all."
"I will."
I ended the call and set the phone down on the coffee table next to the reports.
Hansen was right. I was planning something. Had been for weeks now, ever since my mother's kidnapping. Ever since I'd learned the truth about my brother's death.
My father wanted to bury the past, keep the peace, maintain the status quo he'd built his entire reign on.
But I was done playing it safe. Done following his rules.
It was time to take control—of the pack, of my life, of everything.
I thought about Lynette standing in my foyer last night. Proud. Defiant. Asking for help but refusing to beg. She'd looked me straight in the eye and told me she was going to build her own pack, fight her own battles.
She reminded me of myself. The version of myself I wanted to be.