KAEL'S POV
At first, I thought it was my curse acting up again.
That strange twinge in my chest—it had happened before. Sharp, sudden pulses that felt like a warning or an omen. I'd grown used to them over the years, dismissing them like I did every reminder of the darkness in my bloodline. But this… this wasn't the same.
This sensation wasn't painful. It was—warm.
It bloomed across my ribs like sunlight breaking through winter clouds. It wrapped around my bones and whispered to something buried deep inside me. A fleeting comfort, gone in seconds, but still echoing in my core like a ghost of something I couldn't name.
And then, I heard him.
'Did you feel that, Kael?'
The voice came not from the room, but from within me—raw and powerful. My wolf. The creature that had been silent for so long I'd thought I'd lost him forever.
My heart jerked. 'Yes', I replied, my thoughts laced with unease. 'I felt it. But it can't be what I'm thinking.'
There was a pause, a growl echoing across the edges of my consciousness like thunder rumbling through distant mountains.
'That felt like… mate.'
My breath caught.
'You're wrong'. My reply came fast, harsher than I intended. 'We don't have a mate. We can't. Not with the curse. Not with my bloodline.'
But my wolf didn't back down.
'I don't give a fuck what you think, Kael'. His voice was suddenly a snarl, thick with emotion. 'I've waited. Waited in silence while you buried me under cold control and lies. But tonight—tonight I felt her.'
My throat tightened.
'She's here. In this castle. I don't care about any curse, or what the Elders prophesied, or what our ancestors condemned us to. I. Felt. Her.'
He was pacing now, wild energy clawing beneath my skin. I could feel his excitement pulsing through me—his need, his longing, his rage.
'We will find her, Kael. If I have to tear through every fucking stone in this place, I'll find her.' His voice was low, deadly serious now. 'This is the one we've waited for. Don't you dare try to deny me again.'
And just like that, he went quiet. Pulled away.
The severing left a hollow, gaping silence in my chest.
He was furious. Furious and... hurt. And even though I had no proof, no face, no scent to follow—deep down, I knew he was right.
The warmth I'd felt…
The sudden awareness in my bones…
It could only mean one thing.
Mate.
"Kael?" A soft voice broke the tension, dragging me back into the room.
I blinked, pulling myself from the fog of thought.
Virelle was still straddling me, her hand now resting on my stomach. She tilted her head, watching me with concern.
"You're scowling," she said, brushing hair from her face. "What's wrong?"
I stared at her for a moment, words caught in my throat. I could still feel the lingering heat of that moment in my chest… but it wasn't for her.
It never had been.
"Leave," was all I said, my voice sharper and colder than it had ever been with her.
The single word landed like a dagger.
Virelle froze, lips parted in stunned disbelief as she stared at me from the edge of the bed. Her robe had fallen further open, but neither of us paid it any attention now.
"What?" she whispered, her voice hitching slightly as she searched my face, trying to decide if I was serious or just cruel.
I didn't repeat myself. Instead, I met her eyes—dead on, no emotion.
"Virelle. Get. Off. Me."
The command cracked through the room like a whip.
Her eyes widened. She blinked rapidly, like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Still, she slowly, reluctantly, climbed off me, pulling her robe tighter around herself with trembling fingers.
"What happened?" she asked, voice barely above a breath. "Why the sudden switch, Kael?" Her hand reached for me, tentative, trying to find the warmth we shared just minutes ago.
I stepped back. The contact felt like a violation now. I tied my robe tightly around my waist, the knot aggressive beneath my fists, and turned my back to her.
Crossing the room, I made my way to the stand near the arched window and poured myself a cup of dark red wine. The liquid rippled slightly from the tremble in my hand. My knuckles were white around the goblet as I stared blankly into the swirling crimson.
Behind me, I could feel her eyes digging into my spine.
"You're always like this," she said quietly, her voice cracking at the edges. "Cold. Distant. Dismissive." She took a shaky breath. "Is it because this was arranged?"
I didn't answer.
She took a step closer. "Is it because you still secretly wish for a mate?"
Still nothing.
The only sound was the gentle clink of me placing the goblet down onto the marble tray—soft, but deafening in the thick silence that stretched between us.
"I know what this is, Kael," she hissed suddenly, bitterness sharpening her tongue. "I know I'm not what you wanted. But let me remind you of something."
Her voice rose now, each word cutting deeper than the last. "You'll be tied to me by blood. By magic. By need. You lose me, you lose your life. That's the fucking truth, Kael. And we both know it."
My fist slammed the wooden table.
The impact shook the wine goblet and echoed through the stone chamber.
I turned slowly, the rage in my chest coiling like smoke ready to ignite. My eyes—still glowing faintly from the wolf's earlier awakening—burned into her. The room dropped into a suffocating stillness.
"You will not speak to me like that," I growled, my voice thick with fury and something darker. "I am your Alpha."
She flinched, a tear slipping down her cheek, but she didn't look away.
Her next words weren't shouted—they were calm. Too calm. The kind of calm that felt more dangerous than screaming.
"Oh, but you aren't Alpha yet, Kael." Her lips curled into something between a smirk and a sneer. "And you do need me. Without me, you can't take the throne. Without me, your claim means nothing."
Her fists clenched around the silk of her robe. Her chest rose and fell with the strain of holding herself together.
"So why keep pushing this marriage aside? Why keep playing this game, pretending you can outrun what's already sealed?"
I took a slow breath, keeping my voice cold. Final. "I won't ask you to leave again."
That was it. My warning.
She stared at me for a long moment, and then something in her eyes hardened. Whatever soft part of her still held onto hope—it died in that second.
She gave a quiet, bitter scoff. A sound that held no joy, no pain—just understanding.
Wordlessly, she adjusted her robe, tying the sash tightly around her waist like armor. Her shoulders squared. Her chin lifted with the pride of someone who had lost but refused to beg.
She didn't say goodbye.
She didn't cry.
She walked to the door in silence, the soft brush of her silken slippers on stone was the only sound in the room, haunting and deliberate. Then she left, the door closing with a gentle click that sounded far too final.
And for a moment, I stood alone, drowning in the silence she left behind.
But it wasn't her absence that unsettled me.
It was the sensation still lingering in my chest—the feeling that something, somewhere in this castle, had just changed everything.