Chapter 76 KAEL’S OFFER OF PEACE
KAEL'S POV
I should not be here.
Every instinct in my body warns me that stepping into the Shadow Woods is a form of suicide. Every story passed down through our pack, every whispered warning carved into our collective memory tells the same tale. These trees consume wolves. They swallow the living and the dead alike. They do not tolerate trespassers, and they never forgive intruders.
Yet the moment her light cracked the sky, everything inside me broke loose.
The moment her scream tore through the air and lodged itself in my chest like claws, my feet moved before my mind could form a thought.
Selene.
My mate.
The one I rejected.
The Luna I cast aside.
The woman I pretended I did not need.
Now she is the only thing my wolf can think about.
The only thing he aches for.
The only pulse he listens to.
Mate. Hurt. Need.
The words rumble through my bones as the forest pulses again. Silver light spills between the branches like veins glowing beneath an ancient skin. The shadows shift in strange, rhythmic movements, and the air grows hotter the deeper I walk.
She is close.
I feel her power vibrating through the roots and stones, something holy and cold enough to make my breath stutter. This is not the warm fated pull I felt before I threw our bond away. This is something jagged and immense. Something shaped by the divine.
Her power has outgrown mortality.
A branch snaps behind me.
I spin, my wolf rising with a snarl.
Instead of an enemy, I find Damien Voss standing at the edge of the clearing. His chest rises sharply with each breath. His eyes burn like a storm ready to split open, and every line of his body is drawn tight with fury and fear.
He stands there as if he owns this ground.
As if he owns the reason I am here.
“What are you doing here,” he growls.
I lift my chin. “Do not pretend you do not know.”
His jaw clenches. “This forest is killing everything that enters it.”
“Then why are you still alive.”
His eyes narrow. “Because I am not here blindly.”
He steps into the clearing.
So do I.
Two Alphas. Two storms. Two men tied to her in entirely different ways.
“Where is she,” I ask, unable to steady the tremor in my voice.
Something raw flickers across his gaze. Fear. Grief. Love. It twists inside me like a knife turning deeper into an open wound.
“You will see her soon enough,” he says.
My wolf claws at my chest.
Mate.
Yet beneath that instinct is another truth. A heavy, suffocating one.
She is not yours anymore.
I swallow hard, tasting bitterness.
“Damien,” I say softly, “I am not here to fight.”
He does not respond.
I try again. “The moon cracked. I felt her pain. That is why I came.”
This gets a reaction.
Barely.
But it is something.
“She is hurting,” I add.
Damien’s jaw twitches. “You do not get to speak about her pain.”
“I know.” My voice falters. “I know I do not. But I feel it anyway.”
His eyes shift, and for a moment I see the fear behind them. Deep, consuming fear. The kind only love breeds.
I envy him for it.
I despise him for it.
And yet I respect him for it.
He was not afraid of her strength.
He did not run from her.
He did not throw her away.
My wolf stares at Damien, then at the silver veins pulsing through the trees.
“We are both here for her,” I say. “So what will you do? Kill me.”
He holds my gaze.
And I see the truth in his eyes.
He would.
Without hesitation.
If it meant protecting her.
“Do not test me, Kael.”
A humorless laugh slips from my throat. “I am not here to fight you. Not today.”
He bristles like a wolf preparing for an attack.
I inhale slowly. “I am here to offer peace.”
Silence drops heavy between us.
Damien crosses his arms. His voice lowers, sharp as a blade. “What game are you playing.”
“No game.” I force the words out. “SilverMist will not attack Blackridge again. Not as long as Selene stays within your borders.”
His body stiffens.
“Your borders,” he repeats.
I wince. “You know what I meant.”
His eyes darken. “Selene is not territory.”
“I did not mean it like that.”
He steps closer.
The air crackles with warning.
“She is not a bargaining chip. She is not a treaty. She is not something you trade peace for. She is not—”
“I know.” The words burst out of me, loud and desperate. “I know I do not deserve to speak her name. But I am trying to fix what I broke.”
He watches me.
Not softened.
Not convinced.
But listening.
“I am offering peace,” I repeat. “A truce if needed. An alliance if she requires it. Because whatever is happening to the moon, whatever is happening to her, will destroy every pack if we remain divided.”
Damien’s wolf snarls beneath his skin. Mine answers softly.
The air between us turns thick with everything neither of us says.
Our failures.
Our love.
Our guilt.
Our helplessness.
Our fear of losing her in entirely different ways.
Damien finally exhales.
“She does not need your truce,” he says. “She needs someone who will not break her again.”
The words strike hard.
I swallow the pain.
“I will not hurt her,” I say quietly.
“You already did.”
“I know.”
“You rejected her.”
“I know.” My voice cracks. “I know.”
The forest shivers at the rawness of the sound.
Damien studies me too long, seeing far more than I want him to.
Then he says, “Fine.”
I blink. “Fine.”
He nods once. “We will discuss peace. Later. When she is safe.”
Relief sweeps through my body.
But then he steps forward and speaks in a voice that cuts like teeth.
“One wrong move. One selfish thought. One slip of your loyalty, Kael, and I will tear out your throat before you blink.”
My wolf bristles.
Protect.
Mate.
But I drop my gaze.
“I am not your enemy.”
“You are not her savior either.”
The truth stings, but I accept it.
Before I can reply, a scream rips through the woods.
Not human.
Not wolf.
Something caught between both.
Damien’s head snaps toward the sound. His face drains.
“Selene,” he breathes.
And together, enemy and ally, we run toward the woman who may yet remake or ruin our world.