Kaelan's POV
The night had teeth.
Cold wind bit through the corridors of the guest wing as I made my way toward the courtyard, the weight of the day pressing like armor around my shoulders. The full moon bled silver over the rooftops bright, watchful, ancient.
It should've calmed me.
It didn't.
Because every time I closed my eyes, I saw her.
Lila..
The way her pulse had raced beneath her skin when I touched her hand. The faint tremor in her voice. The scent that clung to her familiar, forbidden, and maddeningly intoxicating.
I'd spent years training my wolf to obey logic over instinct. To command armies, not chase ghosts.
But this… this was different.
My wolf hadn't stopped pacing since the moment he scented her.
"She's ours," he growled inside me now, low and dangerous.
"You felt it. You know it."
I clenched my jaw. "She's hiding something. I can feel that too."
"Maybe she hides because of you."
The words hit like a blade between the ribs.
By the time I reached the courtyard, my patience had thinned to a dangerous edge. The moonlight carved long shadows across the stone path, and there by the fountain she stood.
Alone.
Her hair caught the moonlight, silver threads glinting like wildfire. She was staring into the water, lost in thought, her reflection rippling with every breath of wind.
I almost turned back.
Almost.
But the bond pulsed once sharp, demanding and my control snapped.
"Lila."
She spun, eyes wide, body stiffening as if she'd been caught doing something forbidden. "Alpha," she said quickly, voice cool and careful. "You shouldn't be out here alone."
"Neither should you."
Her gaze flicked away. "I couldn't sleep."
"Neither could I."
Silence stretched between us, taut and electric. Only the sound of the fountain filled the space soft, relentless.
I took a step closer.
She didn't move.
"Tell me something," I said quietly. "Why do you flinch every time I speak your name?"
Her throat bobbed. "I don't."q
"You do." Another step. "And when I touch you, you tremble. Not in fear not entirely. It's like you're fighting something."
She crossed her arms. "I'm not fighting anything, Alpha."
"Stop calling me that."
Her head snapped up. "What?"
"Kaelan." My voice dropped to a growl. "Say my name."
Her lips parted, the faintest hitch in her breath betraying her calm façade. "Why?"
"Because I want to hear how it sounds when you say it."
She shook her head, turning as if to leave but I caught her wrist. Not hard, just enough to stop her. The contact lit the bond like wildfire.
Her pulse raced.
So did mine.
"Let go," she whispered, eyes shining like molten gold under the moon.
"Not until you tell me the truth."
"What truth?" Her voice cracked on the word. "You're imagining things, Alpha"
"Kaelan," I corrected again, stepping closer until there was barely an inch between us. "Don't lie to me. I can smell it when you do."
She froze.
And that was all the confirmation I needed.
"Who are you really?" I asked, softer now, almost pleading. "You move like a trained wolf. You fight your instincts like someone who's had to hide them for too long. And your scent" I inhaled deeply, almost against my will. "It reminds me of a place I can't forget."
Her lips trembled.
The mask cracked.
"I told you my name," she whispered. "That should be enough."
"It's not."
Something in my chest ached.
Because I already knew even if I couldn't prove it yet that she was more than the quiet omega she pretended to be.
"Tell me," I said, voice raw now. "Please."
For a moment, she looked at me like she wanted to. Like the truth was clawing at her throat, begging to be free.
Then she tore her hand away.
"You want the truth?" Her eyes flared gold, her wolf flickering through the cracks in her control. "The truth is that some names are better left buried."
And before I could move, she shifted not fully, but enough for her speed to take over and vanished into the trees beyond the courtyard.
I stood there, the cold wind cutting through me, the scent of her still burning in my lungs.
Buried names.
Hidden wolves.
Familiar eyes that looked too much like ghosts.
And as the moon climbed higher, I realized one thing:
Whatever she was running from…
was about to find us both.
The forest swallowed her.
One heartbeat she was there the next, gone.
Only the faint echo of her scent lingered in the night air, wild and defiant as the girl herself.
I could've chased her. My wolf wanted to.
But instinct said wait.
Because prey that runs in fear leaves more than footprints it leaves truth in its wake.
By dawn, I was in my office, still in the same clothes, exhaustion burning behind my eyes. The moon had set, but its pull hadn't faded. It clung to me like a fever.
My second-in-command, Darius, entered quietly, holding a report.
"You didn't sleep again," he muttered.
"Couldn't."
He hesitated, studying me with that mix of respect and worry he'd never admit out loud. "This about the summit? Or the omega?"
I didn't answer right away. My gaze was fixed on the open window on the forest that stretched beyond it, where she'd disappeared.
"Have you ever seen a wolf move like her?" I asked finally.
Darius frowned. "Like who?"
"Lila Vance".
He shifted uneasily. "She's… unusual. Stronger than she should be. Her reflexes aren't omega-level. Why?"
Because I'd trained someone like that once.
Years ago.
A little girl who used to watch me and Theo spar in the Silverfang courtyard.
The same girl who'd laugh every time she tripped over her sword, until her brother would scoop her up, telling her she'd be the fiercest Hale to ever live.
Lyra Hale.
The name echoed through me like a curse
I pulled open the old war file Silverfang's fall, the night that still haunted every council meeting, every peace treaty since.
I'd read the report a hundred times, but tonight, I saw what I'd missed before.
A body was never recovered for the young heir's sister.
Presumed dead.
My hands tightened around the parchment.
"Presumed" didn't mean gone.
"Darius," I said slowly, "I need a more background check on Lila Vance. Quietly. No pack record, no traceable lineage, no family ties before she appeared at Crescent Moon."
He raised an eyebrow. "You think she's a spy?"
I looked up sharply. "No. I think she's a ghost."
He hesitated, then nodded and left
When the door closed, I exhaled and let my wolf surface.
The beast inside me had been restless all night, prowling the edges of my mind.
"You already know who she is," he growled.
"Say it."
"Not yet."
"She's ours. The bond doesn't lie."
"Then why does it feel like it's killing me?"
The wolf didn't answer.
Hours later, I found myself standing in the healer's hall again, drawn by something I couldn't name. The chamber still smelled faintly of herbs and ash and her.
On the bed, where she'd lain wounded days ago, the blanket was wrinkled. I noticed a small tear at the edge, where something shimmered faintly beneath the fabric.
I reached down and lifted it a pendant, broken in half.
Silver.
Old.
Marked with a crest I hadn't seen in years.
A running wolf beneath a crescent moon.
Silverfang's crest.
My pulse went still.
I turned the fragment over in my palm, the metal warm from touch hers. The chain had snapped recently. Maybe when she fled.
The wolf inside me roared, finally recognizing her scent for what it was.
Not a stranger's.
Not a maid's.
It was the scent of bloodlines intertwined with memory of the girl I'd once sworn to protect.
Lyra Hale.
Alive.
The door creaked. I turned sharply but it was only Luna, her face pale beneath the morning light.
"Alpha Kaelan," she said softly. "You shouldn't be here."
"You've known all along, haven't you?
Her eyes flickered, guilt flashing through them. "It wasn't my secret to tell."
"Then tell me now."
She sighed, the kind of weary exhale only someone who'd carried too much truth could give. "She came to us broken, bleeding, half-dead in the forest. Said her name was Lila Vance. I didn't ask questions I wasn't ready to answer."
"Did you ever wonder why her eyes glowed gold when she was angry?"
Luna hesitated. "Every day."
The silence that followed was heavy. The truth between us lay bare now fragile, dangerous, irreversible.
"She's not safe here anymore," I said finally.
"From you, or from what's coming?" Luna asked quietly.
"Both."
As I left the healer's hall, the pendant still clutched in my hand, I looked toward the horizon toward the forest where she'd vanished.
The sun was rising.
So was the storm.
And for the first time since the night Silverfang burned, I wasn't sure whether fate had brought her back to heal me l or destroy me.