Chapter 27 Concentration - Aleksandr’s POV
I settled onto one of the stone benches across from where Amelia sat with Elder Nora, careful to keep my movements slow and measured. Even after three days of cautious progress, I was acutely aware of how my presence affected Amelia—how she still sometimes flinched when I moved too quickly, how her pulse quickened when I drew near. Not entirely from fear anymore, but the wariness remained, a constant reminder of what she'd endured. Before me, her eyes were closed in concentration, dark lashes fanned against pale cheeks, her face more relaxed than I'd yet seen it. Watching her like this, engaged in Nora's meditation exercise, I felt Skoll's protective instincts surge alongside my own.
'Beautiful,' my wolf murmured in my mind, his usual ferocity gentled. 'Both of them. Strong.'
The late afternoon light played across Amelia's features, highlighting the subtle changes three days of proper care had wrought. Her skin held more color, the shadows beneath her eyes had lightened, and she'd gained perhaps a pound or two—nowhere near enough, but a start. Nora sat beside her, eyes half-closed, one weathered hand resting lightly over Amelia's as they both breathed in the rhythm of experienced meditators.
"How is she?" I asked quietly, keeping my voice low to avoid disrupting their concentration.
Nora opened her eyes fully, though Amelia remained in her meditative state. "She is strong," the elder replied, her ancient accent more pronounced in her whisper. "Kaela is too. Their connection is formidable, far beyond what I'd expect for a wolf that's never manifested physically." She frowned slightly. "But I still cannot sense the wolf myself. It's as if she's... hidden behind a veil I cannot penetrate."
I nodded, unsurprised but still troubled by this confirmation. "So only I can?" I clarified. "Only I can sense her presence?"
"Apparently so, my king." Nora's sharp eyes studied me with the academic interest that made her both valuable and occasionally unsettling. "It's unprecedented in all my centuries of research. A wolf that only the Alpha King can detect." Her gaze shifted to Amelia's serene face. "The implications are... significant."
I knew what she was suggesting—the same possibility that had occurred to me the moment I'd first sensed Kaela three days ago. That there was something special about this connection, something that might relate to the curse hanging over me like a guillotine blade. But I wasn't ready to discuss that, not with Nora's clinical curiosity, not with Amelia's fragile trust still new between us.
"We'll explore those implications later," I said, my tone making it clear the subject was closed for now.
Nora inclined her head respectfully, then turned back to Amelia. "We'll stop there for the day, child," she said, her voice gentle but firm. "You can carry on practicing the meditation techniques I showed you in the meantime if you wish, to try to further strengthen your bond with Kaela."
Amelia's eyes fluttered open, disorientation briefly clouding her unusual gaze before she focused on Nora. She nodded, offering the elder a small smile. "Thank you for your help," she said softly, and I noted the genuine gratitude in her voice—something I suspected she'd had little opportunity to express in recent years.
Within my mind, Skoll was unusually still, attentive in a way he rarely was around anyone but me. Through our shared connection, I could feel his awareness extending to Kaela, sensing her frustration as it built like a gathering storm.
Nora gathered her small vial of moonflower essence and the worn leather notebook she'd been making notations in. "I'll research some alternative approaches," she promised, rising from the bench. "The answers are out there, child. We simply need to find the right question."
With a respectful nod to me, she departed along the stone path, her figure gradually disappearing among the flowering shrubs that bordered the meditation garden. As soon as she was out of earshot, Amelia's composed expression gave way to a flash of frustration.
"Kaela thinks Nora is going about this all wrong," she said, her voice low but intense. Through our strange connection, I could feel Kaela's actual reaction—far less politely phrased, a stream of wolfish profanity that would have made a lesser man blush.
"That's the polite way to describe what Kaela is saying," I observed dryly, earning a surprised look from Amelia that quickly transformed into a shy smile.
"It's still weird that someone else can talk to her," she admitted, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "After years of everyone thinking I was crazy for claiming she existed at all."
We sat in companionable silence for a while, the gentle music of the streams the only sound between us. Within our shared mental space, Skoll had moved to sit beside Kaela in Amelia's mind, his massive form dwarfing her substantial size, though she was far larger than any female wolf I'd ever encountered. Even as Kaela growled and paced in frustration, Skoll simply watched, his ancient patience a counterbalance to her youthful rage.
'We'll help you find the key,' he finally rumbled to her, his mental voice gentler than I'd ever heard it. 'We'll make one if we have to, little wolf.'
To both Amelia's and my surprise, Kaela growled at him and then nipped his ear—a bold move considering his status. 'I'm not little,' she snapped, though there was something playful beneath her irritation.
Instead of the dominance display I half-expected from my often-fierce wolf, Skoll merely growled playfully and licked her face, a gesture of affection I'd never seen him offer any other wolf. The two of them settled together then, Skoll's massive form curled protectively around Kaela's smaller but still impressive one—the wolf equivalent of an embrace.
I felt something tighten in my chest at their interaction—an emotion I hadn't allowed myself to feel in decades. Hope, dangerous and fragile as a butterfly's wing.
"Why are you helping me?" Amelia asked suddenly, those mismatched eyes searching my face with unexpected directness.
The question caught me off guard. I could have told her the truth—that Skoll had chosen Kaela in a way that suggested she might be the key to breaking my curse, that my hundredth birthday loomed with its promise of disaster, that my council was already planning contingencies for my failure. I could have explained how her trapped wolf and my trapped humanity might somehow be mirror images of the same problem.
But those truths felt too heavy to place on shoulders still bent from years of mistreatment. Instead, I chose the simpler truth, no less real for being incomplete.
"Because you deserve it," I said quietly, holding her gaze. "Because no one should be trapped, especially not someone who's already endured what you have."
The smile that bloomed across her face then—small but genuine, touched with a vulnerability she rarely allowed herself to show—told me I'd made the right choice. For now, at least, this was enough.