Chapter 51: The Name I Buried
Fianna's pov
The firelight felt too hot, too close.
Derek’s hand still gripped my arm, steady, immovable, like iron shackles. His words hung in the night air, poisoning it, turning every whisper of wind into a blade against my skin.
“She isn’t Elena.”
The camp went silent, every wolf within earshot leaning closer, listening, waiting.
And Kael…
Kael looked at me like I had just taken a blade to his chest.
His voice cut through me, raw and desperate. “What is he talking about?”
My breath hitched. My lips parted, but nothing came out. Words strangled themselves in my throat because if I spoke them, if I gave life to the truth, there would be no going back.
Not Elena.
Not the girl who could walk unnoticed, hidden in the shadows.
Not the mask I had fought to hold for years.
No—beneath it all was Fianna.
The name that had cost blood. The name that had cost kingdoms. The name that had painted me as prey.
Kael stepped closer, his eyes wild, glowing faintly with the gold of his wolf. “Tell me he’s lying. Tell me.”
My pulse hammered so loudly I thought the world could hear it. I wanted to lie. I wanted to say anything that would keep the truth buried. But the weight of Kael’s stare crushed me. His voice wasn’t a command—it was a plea.
And it broke me.
I couldn’t look at him. Instead, I turned slightly, my shoulders hunching against Derek’s grip, every inch of me trembling. “Kael, I—”
The words snagged. My throat burned.
Derek leaned close, his voice a venomous whisper against my ear. “Say it. Or I will.”
My chest constricted. My wolf snarled inside me, torn between tearing free and collapsing under the weight of the moment.
I forced myself to meet Kael’s gaze at last. His face was hard, fury and pain carved into every line, but beneath it, his eyes begged me. Begged me not to betray him, not to shatter what fragile thread tied us together.
And still, I couldn’t give him what he wanted.
Tears burned the corners of my eyes. My voice came out ragged, barely more than a whisper. “He’s not lying.”
The silence that followed was a knife.
Kael’s chest rose sharply, like the air had been punched from his lungs. For a moment, I saw the boy behind the Alpha—the one whose eyes had softened for me, the one who had hunted me not out of duty but out of something deeper. Something dangerous.
And then it vanished, swallowed whole by rage.
“Who are you?” His voice cracked like thunder. “What else have you lied about?”
I flinched, the tears slipping free now, hot trails against my skin. “I didn’t want this—”
“Didn’t want what?” His roar shook me. “Didn’t want me to know? Didn’t want me to see who you really are?”
Every word was a lash. My wolf whimpered inside me, aching at the bond pulling taut, straining to mend itself even as Kael ripped it apart.
Derek’s hand tightened, and he stepped forward, placing himself just enough between us to remind Kael he was there. “Careful, Kael. You’ll break her before you even understand what she is.”
Kael’s lip curled, his growl low, feral. His eyes glowed brighter, gold bleeding fully into them. “Stay out of this.”
But Derek only smirked. “Why should I? I know her better than you ever will.”
The words sliced through me, cruel in their precision.
Kael’s gaze snapped back to me, burning, searching, desperate for answers. “Fianna.” He said it like a curse. Like a prayer. His voice shook as he repeated it, softer this time, raw with disbelief. “Fianna.”
The sound of my true name on his lips shattered me.
I wanted to reach for him. I wanted to explain, to tell him the truth, the whole of it—that I hadn’t meant to lie, that I hadn’t meant to weave myself into his world. That I had only wanted to survive.
But survival had a cost. And now he was paying it with me.
My knees weakened. I whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Kael’s jaw clenched, his hands trembling at his sides, his wolf fighting for control. His voice dropped low, filled with a fury so cold it burned. “You should be.”
And then he turned away.
The bond between us screamed, snapping taut, howling in protest as his back cut me off like a blade.
My heart broke, and I couldn’t
breathe.
Because for the first time since I had met him, Kael walked away from me.