Chapter 10 Kael
Kael
After I left the room, my wolf was restless, scratching inside my chest like he wanted to rip through me and take over. I didn’t fight him. I just let him. The moment I stepped out of the mansion, I shifted. My bones cracked, and fur tore through my skin until my wolf took over completely.
My paws hit the dirt hard, leaves crunching under me. The night was quiet, highlighting the sound of my growls and the wind brushing past. I ran faster, pushing my body until I felt the burn in my legs. My wolf needed it. I needed it. Running was the only way I could stop thinking. About her. About what I did. About the mess I created.
I shouldn’t have touched her. I shouldn’t have gone near her. But the bond,Moon Goddess, the bond is cruel. It pulls me in even when I try to fight it. My wolf doesn’t understand why we can’t claim her. To him, she’s ours. To me, she’s forbidden.
I tried to outrun the guilt, but it followed me. The forest couldn’t drown it out. No matter how far I ran, the truth stayed. I betrayed Elena. I betrayed my Luna.By the time I reached the stream at the edge of the forest, I was panting heavily and my body was slick with sweat. I stopped and looked into the water. My reflection stared back at me, my wolf’s eyes glowing faintly.
“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath.
I shifted back, I knelt beside the stream, scooped a handful of water, and threw it over my face. The cold stung, but it didn’t help. I sat there for a while, breathing hard, watching the moonlight ripple across the water.
“Why her?” I whispered out loud, but the forest didn’t answer.
When the ache in my chest finally calmed, I stood up and started walking back to the mansion. My legs felt heavy, but it was a different kind of tired. The kind that came from trying to bury something that refused to die.I didn’t go straight to my room. My head was too full, I needed something to take the edge off before I faced Elena.
The wine cellar was dark when I walked in. I didn’t bother with lights. I just grabbed a bottle of wine from the shelf and uncorked it. I didn’t even pour it into a glass. I drank straight from the bottle. The wine burned my throat, but I welcomed the burn. I took another sip, then another. I wanted to forget for a few minutes. Forget the bond. Forget the guilt. Forget her eyes, her scent, her voice.
But even drunk, she was there. In my head. In my heart. Everywhere.
By the time I finished half the bottle, I felt dizzy enough to move. I didn’t want to think anymore. I just needed to go to my room and pretend I still had control. When I opened the door, Elena was there. Sitting on the chair by the window, her hands folded on her lap.
“Are you alright now?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said finally. “I’m fine. I’m sorry about earlier. My mind was just… a mess.”
She looked at me, studying me for a second before nodding slowly. “You’ve been distant lately,” she said. “Barely talking to me. Barely sleeping. Is something wrong?”
“It’s nothing serious,” I said quietly. “Just stress. The pack’s been restless. There’s too much happening at once.”
She nodded again, believing me. Her trust made it worse. I didn’t deserve it.
She got up from the chair and walked over to me. Her hand rested gently on my arm. “Don’t shut me out, Kael,” she said. “You don’t have to carry everything alone.”
I nodded, even though that’s exactly what I was doing. I didn’t have a choice.
“I know,” I murmured. “Thank you.”
She smiled softly and leaned up to kiss my cheek.
“Why do I feel like you’re not being honest with me?, she said as she turned toward the bed.
“We’ve done this already.” I started and clenched my jaw when I saw her expression. That definitely wasn’t the right thing to say. But I couldn’t bring myself to properly comfort her. “What I mean is… I’m being honest, I had pressing issues to attend to. Pack matters, and because of that, I couldn’t concentrate.”
She studied me for a bit before nodding. “As long as it’s pack matters and not another woman I understand.” She laughed and waved her hands off dismissively. “I mean, there couldn’t even be another woman. You are the Alpha.”
A lump formed in my throat as she said those words. Her demeanor showed that she didn’t hear me and Lira’s discussion, but now she seemed a little different. As if she was intentionally picking her words.
“Right.” I said simply and grabbed my night robe. “I need to discuss something with Rowan before I retire for the night. You can go to bed. No need to wait up for me.”
She nodded, but she didn’t move. Her eyes watched me as I walked towards the door, and it felt weird. My hand lingered on the door knob. I turned to face her, guilt eating me up like a hyena ate decayed food. Laughing at me like one too.
“Elena,” I called out softly to which she raised a brow in acknowledgement, her eyes never leaving me. “We can do this some other time. I’m just distracted.”
A small smile graced her lips as I said that. Shy, innocent, but filled with naughtiness at the same time. Color crept up her neck and fanned her cheeks too.
“Goodnight Kael,” she said finally and lay down on the bed.
“Goodnight, Elena,” I returned and pulled turned off the lights. I took one last look at her. Her face was glowing from the lamp at the bedside table and she looked gorgeous, but not like Lira.
Lira
My thoughts drifted to her again, but this time, I pushed them aside. Making the same mistake two times in the same night wasn’t what I planned to do. But my whole body ached for her. Wanted her. Needed her.
And worse, my wolf kept howling for her. I felt my member throb due to the flashbacks playing in my head. The way her body received me, and her walls stretched around me like we were made for each other. It was all pushing me to the edge.
I got to her room, and ignored every part of me that screamed for me to go inside and see what she looked like when she was asleep. What she smelled like, and if she wore underwear.
I kept walking. I wanted to speak to Rowan, and there was no need for a detour. It was already late.
Her scent got stronger the farther away I got from her room. I was beginning to think I had lost it, but when Rowan opened the door after I knocked, I understood why.
She was there. In my son’s room, in the same nightdress, but this time, revealing a lot more. White hot jealousy flared through me. Possessive. Dangerous. Scandalous.
My blood sizzled and I put my hands behind my back to hide my clenched fists. She hid her face from me as if she was embarrassed to see me there. I didn’t know which was worse.
The fact that she was here at all, or the fact that she couldn’t even look me in the eye.
Unable to hold it in, I moved my gaze to my son, who I was doing everything in me to make sure I didn’t give him a black eye that instant.
“What is this?”