Kael didn't follow them.
That was the first mistake.
The second was thinking that silence would protect him from his own thoughts.
He stayed where he was long after the forest swallowed the sound of their footsteps—long after the air cooled and the light shifted, long after the bond pulsed faintly with a distance that felt too final.
He told himself he didn't care.
He told himself this was inevitable.
He told himself that she would come crawling back once she realized what the world did to wolves without protection.
But the bond didn't echo agreement.
It stayed quiet.
That was worse.
Kael dragged a hand through his hair, pacing in tight circles like a caged animal. His chest felt too tight. His skin felt wrong—too aware, too empty, like something essential had been stripped out and replaced with static.
Not your problem, he told himself.
She wasn't his.
She never had been.
That was the lie he repeated until it almost sounded true.
He didn't notice the shift in the forest at first.
Didn't notice the way the air stilled or how the shadows bent subtly around approaching figures. He was too busy replaying her face in his mind—the calm in her eyes, the way she hadn't begged, the way she hadn't flinched when he tried to cut her down with words.
Gods, that expression.
Like she'd already left him behind.
"Still sulking?"
Rowan's voice came from behind him, light and infuriatingly amused.
Kael turned sharply. "I didn't invite you."
Rowan stepped into view, hands raised in mock surrender. "Relax. I'm not here to fight."
Silas appeared next, silent as ever, eyes assessing, unreadable.
And then—
Her.
She stood between Alaric and Silas, posture straight, chin lifted, eyes calm. Not defiant. Not fragile.
Untouchable.
Something ugly twisted in Kael's gut.
Alaric spoke first. "We're making camp nearby. We thought it best to clear the air."
Kael laughed harshly. "Clear the air?"
"Yes," Alaric said. "Before you say something you can't take back."
Too late, Kael thought.
He looked at her—not really at her, but at the space she occupied. The way the bond reacted faintly, traitorously, reminding him of warmth and scent and nights he'd never had but still somehow resented.
"You don't belong out here," he said flatly.
She didn't respond.
That, too, infuriated him.
Rowan tilted his head. "You called us bullies earlier. Funny. From where I'm standing, you're the only one trying to wound someone."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Stay out of it."
"I would," Rowan said lightly, "but you keep making it my problem."
Silas's gaze flicked to her briefly, then back to Kael. "Speak carefully."
The warning felt like a challenge.
Kael took a step forward.
"Why?" he demanded, eyes locked on her. "Why are you acting like you're suddenly untouchable?"
She met his gaze calmly. "Because I am."
The words landed clean. Sharp. Final.
Kael laughed again, louder this time. "You think because three men looked at you with interest, that changes what you are?"
Her eyes didn't waver. "It changed what I believe."
That did it.
The restraint snapped.
"You want the truth?" Kael said, voice dropping. "You want to know why the Alpha rejected you?"
The bond shuddered.
Alaric's posture shifted subtly. "Kael."
She lifted a hand slightly. "Let him speak."
Kael's lips curled.
"Oh, you're brave now," he sneered. "Fine. I'll say it."
He took another step closer, eyes dark, voice sharpened deliberately to cut.
"You were never enough."
Silence fell like a blade.
"You were quiet," he continued. "Passive. Always waiting to be told what to do, what to feel, what to want."
Rowan's expression hardened.
Silas's jaw tightened.
Kael didn't stop.
"And in bed?" he said, tilting his head mockingly. "You wouldn't have known how to satisfy a man like him. Or me."
The bond screamed.
Not pain.
Shock.
Something inside her tightened—but she didn't flinch.
Kael mistook that for weakness.
"You think desire is just heat?" he went on cruelly. "You think lying there and hoping instinct does the work makes you a mate?"
Alaric moved sharply. "Enough."
"No," Kael snapped. "She needs to hear this."
She spoke before Alaric could.
"You're lying," she said quietly.
The calm in her voice unsettled him.
Kael scoffed. "Am I?"
"Yes," she replied. "Because you're not describing me."
She took a step forward—not toward him, but into herself, grounding.
"You're describing what scares you."
Kael's mouth opened—
And nothing came out.
Rowan let out a slow breath. "Oh. That hit."
Silas's voice was cold. "You're projecting."
Kael snarled. "You don't know anything about—"
"I know," she said softly, "that you never gave me the chance to be anything."
The bond pulsed again—faint, aching, distant.
Not his.
The Alpha's.
Watching.
Listening.
Kael felt it and hated that part of himself that still wanted to be seen through that thread.
"You talk about satisfaction," she continued. "But you've never once asked what I wanted."
Kael's fists clenched. "Because it doesn't matter."
"And that," she said, eyes steady, "is why no one chooses you."
The words gutted him.
Alaric stepped closer to her—not possessive, not claiming, just present.
"You don't get to define her worth by your inability to connect," Alaric said calmly. "That's not dominance. That's insecurity."
Kael laughed weakly. "You think you can satisfy her?"
Alaric didn't rise to the bait.
He just said, "I think she knows herself."
Rowan grinned slightly. "And honestly? That's way hotter."
Kael snapped his gaze to Rowan. "Shut up."
Rowan shrugged. "No."
The bond pulsed again.
This time, Kael felt something else layered beneath it.
Disinterest.
Not hatred.
Not longing.
Absence.
That was when fear finally sank its claws in.
She wasn't wounded by his words.
She was done with them.
"You're cruel because it's the only way you feel powerful," she said quietly. "But cruelty doesn't make you memorable."
She turned away from him then.
That was the final cut.
As they walked back toward the trees, Kael stood frozen, breath ragged, chest aching with something he didn't have the language for.
Regret didn't fit.
Loss didn't cover it.
What he felt was smaller.
Meaner.
He had tried to reduce her to feel tall.
And she had walked away without shrinking.
Through the bond—faint, fractured—he felt the Alpha stir.
Jealous.
Alarmed.
And Kael realized, too late, that he'd done the one unforgivable thing.
He hadn't just insulted her.
He had shown everyone exactly who he was.
And no amount of anger would ever make him her favorite mistake again.