What Are You Hiding? - Valeria's POV

What Are You Hiding? - Valeria's POV
Kendric starts toward the door, his movements stiff, too measured, as if each step is being forced through thick resistance. Something in the air shifts with him, subtle but undeniable, like the room just lost a degree of warmth.

My eyes track him, unease crawling beneath my skin like cold fingers trailing along my spine.

Ever since I asked about the “mad dog,” his answer has lingered. It was half-formed, evasive. He gave me just enough to silence the moment, but not the truth. Not the part that matters.

He reaches the door again, his hand hovering over the knob, knuckles pale with tension. He still hasn’t looked back. Hasn’t reached for my hand. Not even a glance. Like he's already halfway gone.

Something is definitely wrong. I can feel it in my gut, in the silence pressing at my ears like static.

“Kendric,” I say, voice sharper now, edged with fear that I didn’t mean to show. “What are you hiding?”

The question hangs heavy between us, thickening the air. He freezes, but not fully, just the slightest hitch in his breath, a subtle tightening in his shoulders that tells me everything I need to know.

He's hiding something that hurts.

“I’m not hiding anything, Valeria,” he says, his tone too even, too rehearsed. “As I said, it’s all buried in my memories, and I’m sure it will come out soon enough as more dreams happen.”

But the way he avoids my gaze, the way his voice dips just slightly on the word buried, it doesn’t sit right.

Before I can respond, he turns and walks through the door, the wooden floor groaning beneath his bare feet. The sound of it echoes louder than it should in the stillness of the cabin. The door swings shut behind him with a quiet thud, and suddenly, he’s gone.

He left me behind.

But I know his wolf would never do that. This is the man. 

The silence he leaves in his wake wraps around me like a heavy blanket. The stale scent of bleach still lingers in the air, mixing with the faint metallic trace of dried blood that hasn’t quite faded. It turns my stomach, and I instinctively reach for the wall to steady myself.

But it’s not just the smells that drive me forward. It’s the gnawing feeling in my chest. Something’s off. The air between us had shifted and grown thick and distant. It’s wrong.

I move quickly, shoving open the door. Cool morning air rushes in, crisp and biting, clearing some of the fog from my mind. My eyes find him already a few paces ahead, walking away with his shoulders squared, his back straight, but there’s a stiffness in his stride, like he’s holding something in, barely containing it.

“Kendric, please,” I call out, my voice catching in my throat. “Don’t walk away.”

He doesn’t stop right away. For a breathless second, I think he’s going to keep going, disappear into the trees like a ghost trying to outrun his past. The space between us stretches, aching with all the things he won’t say.

Then he stops. I stand there for a moment, my steps faltering as I wait for him to respond.

“I’m not walking away. It feels like I can’t breathe, and I need fresh air.” He turns fully around, with his hands resting on his bare hips. “Why are you so concerned about who called me mad dog? It’s in the past and doesn’t concern this life. No one calls me that here.”

I let out a scoff. “According to your responses, it’s not as much as in the past as you are trying to lead me to believe. Your actions speak volumes. What if the person who calls you a mad dog is the one who did this? I mean, you said he should have been dead by now, but you also said our enemy should have been as well and is very old.”

He flinches. “It doesn’t mean they are the same person. We could have multiple people after us at this point.”

“What if they are? What if it’s the same person, Kendric?”

“Valeria, we don’t have time for this. We went over the dreams and now it is time for us to go. They’ll be on to us soon and I don’t want to get caught. So, please, just stop for now and let us discuss this later.” He’s pleading with me, but I don’t want to let this go.

My wolf is insistent on me getting to the bottom of this because she feels like this plays an important part in unlocking our past. “No, Kendric. You are going to tell me what you are hiding. We have no time to waste, and I understand that, but we also can’t keep running forever. They’re going to catch us one way or another.”

His desperate expression twists in an instant, sharp and volatile. The vulnerability in his eyes hardens into something darker. It appears to be fury, frustration, maybe fear. His jaw clenches, and his eyes blaze with something ancient, something primal.

“Valeria,” he growls, voice edged with power, “as your mate, I command you to come with me now before they catch up with us.”

The air itself changes. I feel it immediately. It’s a pulse of dominance rippling out from him like a shockwave. It rolls over my skin in a heated wave, thickening the space between us, pressing down on my chest like invisible hands. His alpha command carries weight, coiled with raw, undeniable authority. For a second, the wolf inside me bristles, sensing the command meant to bend me to his will.

But it doesn’t work.

I stand firm, my feet planted, spine stiffening against the force of his presence.

“Command?” I scoff, a sharp laugh escaping my lips before I can stop it. My voice is laced with defiance. “Who are you to command me?”

His eyes narrow, flickering with surprise and something else. Hurt, maybe. But I keep going.

“You may have bitten me. You may have claimed me as your mate,” I say, voice low and fierce, “but I haven’t returned the mark. I haven’t accepted you. Not completely. So you can’t command me to do anything.”

The words hang heavy between us, but I’m not done.

“Not even your alpha power, which is a heavy, suffocating force I can feel right now, is doing a single thing to me.”

His breath hitches, just barely, but I see it. A crack in the mask. His fury is still there, simmering beneath the surface, but so is uncertainty. Maybe even fear that I’m right. That he’s losing control. Not just over the situation, but over me.

His jaw falls open in surprise. “How did you do that?”

“I’m not even sure how I’m resisting, but I am. If you want to run, then go ahead. Run like a scared pup. That is all we have been doing and yet, they are following us. How long until the next dhampir shows up? How long until your old boss comes himself? The wolves hate us because you killed Micah. Well, most do. I’m tired of running, Kendric.”

He shakes his head in disbelief. I can feel his power growing stronger in the air, but it’s still not affecting me. “How are you resisting?”

“Why don’t you take that as your sign to stop and maybe talk to me, rather than question why something is happening? It is, so you might as well get used to it. I have been abused and commanded to do things all my life. Now, my own mate wants to do the same. How do you think that makes me feel? You are supposed to be the person who keeps me safe, but you are just going to command me like Jackson did. What’s the difference between the two of you?” My words are harsh, but he has made me so angry that I can’t stop myself. “Why would I choose you as my mate when you’ll do the same as my old alpha?”

He flinches again, and this time there’s no hiding it. His jaw ticks, and for a brief second, something flickers across his face. His eyes soften, the anger faltering, revealing the man beneath the alpha exterior.

“I’m only trying to keep you safe,” he says, voice quieter now but still tight, strained like he’s holding back something much heavier.

But his words strike a nerve. Something inside me snaps.

“Well, you suck at it,” I spit, each syllable laced with fire. “You’re treating me just like Jackson did. Maybe you’re not chaining me or hitting me, but the rest? The control, the commands, the way you try to move me like a piece on a board. It’s the same thing.”

His eyes widen, shock rippling across his features, followed immediately by fury.

He lets out a low, guttural growl that vibrates through the air between us, deep and threatening. More wolf than man. The sound rumbles in his chest, primal and wild, and the hairs on my arms stand on end. But I don’t back down.

“That is not what I’m doing,” he snarls, his voice roughened by the beast just beneath his skin. His fists clench at his sides, and his shoulders shake with the effort it takes to contain himself. “I’m trying to protect you and trying to stop whatever is coming for us before it’s too late.”

His eyes burn with a terrifying intensity, and for a moment, the space between us crackles with unspoken truths, past trauma, and the ache of two people who don’t quite know how to love each other without hurting.

But I’ve been controlled before. I know what it looks like, even when it comes dressed as love.

So I stand firm, even as my pulse races.

“Then stop trying to own me,” I say, voice trembling but steady. “Protecting me doesn’t mean controlling me.”

The silence that follows is heavy. Neither of us have time to say something more, though.

Right as I’m about to speak again, I pick up the faintest sound of howls in the distance. A shiver runs down my spine as I realize what it means. “They’re coming.”

“I’ve been trying to tell you for the last few minutes. We need to go. There is no time to waste, Valeria. If we don’t move now, then within five minutes we’re going to be caught and no telling what is going to happen. You may find me obnoxious right now, but I am doing my best to keep you safe. Can you please just come with me?”

I stare off into the distance, heart pounding in my chest as the howls rise again. They’re closer now. The eerie sound splits through the stillness like a blade, carried on the wind, wild and bloodthirsty. A chill crawls down my spine.

He’s right. We don’t have time.

They’re almost here.

I swallow my pride and the last bitter trace of the argument, forcing myself to nod. “Fine,” I mutter, the word tasting like surrender. “But this isn’t over.”

Without another glance, I turn and bolt down the steps, the wooden boards groaning beneath me. The cold ground meets my bare feet with a jarring thud as I land. I sprint across the clearing, breath coming in quick bursts, until I reach him at the edge of the trees, where the shadows swallow the last of the light.

He’s waiting, tension coiled through his entire frame like a loaded spring. But when I reach him, he reaches for my hand. His palm is rough and calloused, but warm. Grounding. His fingers close around mine, just for a second, and his eyes meet mine with a raw honesty I haven’t seen until now.

“I’m sorry for being a brute,” he says, voice low, breath ghosting in the chilled air between us. “But please, Valeria… don’t press for more until we’re safe.”

There’s urgency in his voice, yes, but also a kind of pleading, a desperation that doesn’t quite fit the image of the hardened alpha. It softens something in me. Just a little.

I give a tight nod.

Then my voice drops, calm but commanding this time. “Shift, Kendric.”

His eyes flicker with fire, and I feel the ripple of power roll off him like a crashing wave. The forest holds its breath.

My hand slips from his as I struggle to keep up, my bare feet skidding on the leaf-littered forest floor. The moment our fingers part, a jolt of panic shoots through me. It’s brief but sharp, like losing an anchor in a raging sea.

Branches whip against my arms and legs as I push forward, lungs burning, heart pounding in sync with the thundering paws I hear just behind us. They’re too close. The howls are no longer distant. They’re here. Surrounding us like the shadows themselves are hunting.

I grit my teeth and will the change to come. Heat floods my veins as the shift begins, starting in my spine, crackling outward like fire along my nerves. My bones contort, reshaping. Muscles ripple and stretch. My skin tightens and then tears as fur replaces flesh in a surge of raw, primal energy.

Pain lances through me, but it’s familiar, almost welcome. The agony of the shift is the price of survival, and I pay it without hesitation.

Four paws slam into the earth as I land mid-stride in my wolf form. The world sharpens instantly. Every scent, every sound magnified. I can smell Kendric just ahead of me, his musk and rage and worry, his presence like a beacon through the thickening trees.

We run.

The cold wind tears past us, carrying the stench of our pursuers. Their howls rise again, so close it makes the fur along my spine stand on end.

If we make it out of this alive, it’ll be a miracle.

But I won’t stop running. Not now.

Not until we’re safe or until we bleed fighting.