Dawn broke bloody over the mountains.
Kael stood at the eastern border, staring at the churned earth where last night's battle had raged. The scent of rogue blood still hung in the air—acrid, wrong, nothing like pack wolves. His warriors moved around him, securing the perimeter, tending wounds, counting the dead.
Three pack wolves. Eight rogues.
A victory, by most measures.
Kael felt nothing.
His shoulder throbbed where the rogue's claws had torn through flesh. Thorne's healing had closed the wound, but the memory remained—the feel of teeth, the spray of blood, the desperate need to get back.
To her.
Why?
The question had haunted him all night. He'd left his post during an active attack. He'd abandoned his warriors. He'd run—run, like some love-struck pup—toward a human omega he'd publicly rejected.
And when he'd found her, when that rogue had his hands on her, Kael had wanted to kill. Not just defend. Not just protect. Kill. Slowly. Painfully. With his bare hands.
The ferocity of it still shook him.
"Alpha."
Cassian approached, his sandy hair matted with blood that wasn't his. His amber eyes held questions he was too loyal to ask. "Perimeter's secure. The rogues retreated toward the wastelands. We could track them, finish this—"
"No."
Cassian blinked. "No?"
"Let them run." Kael's voice was flat. "They'll come again. We'll be ready."
They'll come for her again.
The thought was a knife between his ribs.
Cassian studied him for a long moment. "The human girl. She's the reason you left."
It wasn't a question.
Kael's jaw tightened. "She was in danger."
"She's always in danger. She's human in wolf territory. That's not new." Cassian stepped closer, lowering his voice. "What's new is you caring. What changed?"
Nothing. Everything. I don't know.
"I don't have an answer for you."
"Try."
Kael turned to face his Beta—his friend, the closest thing to family he had left. Cassian had earned the right to honesty. But how could Kael be honest when he didn't understand himself?
"I dreamed about her." The admission came out rough. "Before the attack. I dreamed she was in a cave, chained, and I couldn't reach her. I woke up with my heart pounding and my chest burning." He touched his sternum. "Right here. Like something was trying to tear its way out."
Cassian's expression shifted. Something flickered in his eyes—recognition? fear?—too fast to read.
"And then the attack happened, and I felt... I felt that she was in danger. Not guessed. Not assumed. Knew. Deep in my bones, the way I know when a challenge is coming or when a pack member is dying." Kael's voice dropped. "That's not normal, Cass. That's not Alpha instinct. That's something else."
Cassian was quiet for a long moment.
Then: "What did Thorne say?"
"He lied." Kael's eyes narrowed. "Said it was 'proximity echoes.' Said humans and wolves who spend time together can develop... connections. But I've spent time with humans before. I've never felt anything like this."
"Maybe she's different."
"She is." Kael thought of silver marks glowing in candlelight. Of the way his wolf screamed when he looked at her. Of the taste of her fear in the air last night, and how it had driven him to madness. "She's hiding something. And I'm going to find out what."
---
Elara spent the morning in the healing hut.
Thorne had insisted. The seal had been dangerously close to breaking during Vance's attack, and she needed rest, needed monitoring, needed to be somewhere safe while the pack dealt with the aftermath of the battle.
Safe.
She almost laughed.
Nowhere in this territory was safe for her. Not with rogues hunting. Not with a master planning. Not with an Alpha who'd started looking at her like she was a puzzle he intended to solve.
"How do I strengthen the seal?" she asked Thorne as he prepared another of his herbal concoctions. "You said I could learn. How?"
Thorne paused. "The seal is blood magic. Ancient. Powerful. It responds to intention—yours and others'. To strengthen it, you must understand it. Connect with it. Make it part of you rather than something imposed upon you."
"I don't even know what it looks like. How it works. Anything."
"Close your eyes."
Elara obeyed.
"Breathe deep. Feel the marks on your skin. Not as decoration—as part of you. Follow them with your awareness. Where do they start? Where do they end?"
Elara focused.
The marks covered her arms, her neck, now spreading across her shoulders. But as she concentrated, she realized Thorne was right—they weren't random. They had a source.
Her heart.
Every line, every curl, every delicate silver pattern traced back to the center of her chest. To the place that burned when Kael was near.
"They're connected to my heart," she whispered.
"They're connected to your soul. Your wolf lives there, child. Sealed away, yes—but present. Aware. Waiting." Thorne's voice was soft. "Can you feel her?"
Elara searched.
At first, nothing. Just her own heartbeat, her own breath, her own fear.
Then—
Warmth. Deep and ancient and familiar. Like coming home to a place she'd never been.
Hello, something whispered. I've waited so long.
Elara's eyes flew open. "I heard her. I heard—"
"The wolf." Thorne smiled, the first real smile she'd seen from him. "She's awake now. Not free—but aware. And that awareness will help strengthen the seal. You're no longer fighting alone."
Fighting. The word chilled her. "What am I fighting, exactly?"
"The seal itself, in a way. It's a cage—a necessary one, but a cage nonetheless. Your wolf wants out. The Blood Moon will help her. But until then, you must work with the cage, not against it. Accept it. Understand it. And in doing so, control it."
Elara closed her eyes again.
Reached for the warmth.
I'm here, she told it. I'm here, and I'm not leaving you.
The warmth pulsed. I know. I've always known.
Tears burned behind her eyelids.
For eighteen years, she'd been alone. Unwanted. Invisible.
But she'd never been alone.
Her wolf had been there the whole time.
---
The afternoon brought an unwelcome visitor.
Elara was dozing—Thorne had insisted on rest—when the healing hut door banged open. She jerked awake, heart pounding, marks flaring—
Dace.
The young wolf from the kitchen lounged in the doorway, hazel eyes bright with curiosity. Behind him, the afternoon sun painted the snow gold.
"Well, well. The mysterious human." He stepped inside without invitation, wandering around Thorne's workspace like he owned it. "Heard you had quite the night. Rogues. Attacks. The Alpha playing hero." His eyes found her. "You must be special."
"I must be tired." Elara pulled the blanket higher. "What do you want?"
"Straight to the point. I like that." Dace settled on a stool, stretching long legs in front of him. "I came to apologize, actually. For my behavior yesterday. I was rude."
"You were honest. There's a difference."
His lips curved. "Sharp too. No wonder the Alpha's obsessed."
Elara's heart stuttered. "He's not—"
"Oh, please." Dace waved a hand. "The entire pack is talking about it. Alpha Kael, who's never looked twice at anyone, who rejected you publicly three weeks ago, who left his post during an attack to rescue a human omega." He leaned forward. "You want to tell me what's really going on?"
No. I want you to leave.
But before she could speak, the door opened again.
Kael filled the doorway.
His silver eyes took in the scene—Elara in the bed, Dace on the stool, the intimate proximity—and something dangerous flickered across his face.
"Dace." His voice was ice. "Get out."
Dace rose slowly, hands raised in mock surrender. "Just being friendly, Alpha. No harm done."
"Get. Out."
Dace's eyes glittered with amusement, but he went. The door closed behind him, leaving Elara alone with Kael.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then Kael moved. Crossed to her bedside. Sat on the stool Dace had vacated, close enough to touch.
"You shouldn't be alone with pack members," he said. "Especially not males."
"Why not?"
"Because you're human. Because you're vulnerable. Because—" He stopped. Ran a hand through his dark hair. "Because Dace's family has been angling for power for years. If they think you're important to me, they'll use you."
"Am I important to you?"
The question hung between them.
Kael's silver eyes met hers. Held.
"I don't know what you are." His voice was low. Rough. "But I can't stop thinking about you. Can't stop needing to know you're safe. Last night, when I felt you were in danger—" He touched his chest. "I thought I was dying. Literally dying. The pain was that real."
Elara's marks pulsed.
"The marks," Kael said, noticing. "They're glowing again. What are they?"
Tell him, her wolf whispered. He's trying. Let him try.
But the seal—the cage—held firm.
Not yet, it seemed to say. Not worthy. Not yet.
"I don't know what they are," Elara said. It wasn't entirely a lie. She didn't know the full truth, not really. "They appeared after I arrived here. They're spreading."
Kael reached out. Stopped inches from her arm. "May I?"
She nodded.
His fingers touched the marks.
Fire.
That was Elara's first thought. Pure, electric fire, racing from the point of contact through her entire body. But not painful—alive. Like every nerve she had was suddenly awake, suddenly aware, suddenly his.
Kael's breath caught.
He felt it too. She could see it in the way his pupils dilated, the way his jaw tightened, the way his hand trembled against her skin.
"What," he breathed, "is this?"
The bond, she thought. You're feeling the bond.
But she couldn't say it. The seal wouldn't let her.
"I don't know," she whispered.
He looked at her. Really looked. Silver eyes searching her face like he might find answers in the curve of her cheek, the line of her jaw, the silver flecks in her grey eyes.
"You're not human," he said slowly. "I don't know how I know that, but I do. You're not human."
Tell him. Tell him now.
But the words wouldn't come.
Kael's hand tightened on her arm. "Whatever you are, whatever's happening—I need you to know something." He leaned closer. Close enough that she could smell pine and smoke. Close enough that their breath mingled in the space between.
"When that rogue touched you last night, I wanted to kill him. Not defend. Not protect. Kill. Slowly. With my hands." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I've never felt anything like that. I've never wanted anything like that. And I don't understand it, and it terrifies me, and I can't stop."
Elara's heart hammered.
He's there. He's so close. If he'd just—
"If you're some kind of monster," Kael continued, "if you're here to destroy my pack, to hurt my people—" He swallowed. "Then I need to know. Because I don't think I can stop myself from protecting you anyway."
The vulnerability in his voice broke something in her.
"I'm not a monster," she whispered. "I'm not here to hurt anyone. I swear it."
Kael searched her face. Whatever he found there made something shift in his expression. The tension didn't leave his body, but something else entered his eyes.
Relief.
"Then what are you?"
Royal. His mate. The last heir to a murdered line.
"I don't know yet," she said. "But I'm trying to find out."
Kael was quiet for a long moment.
Then: "Then I'll help you."
"What?"
"You heard me." He released her arm, but didn't move away. "Whatever's happening, whatever you are—you're connected to me. I feel it. My wolf feels it. And until I understand it, I'm not letting you out of my sight."
"That sounds like imprisonment."
"It sounds like protection." His eyes held hers. "The rogues want you. That makes you pack business. And pack business is Alpha business."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I'll guard you from a distance. Follow you. Watch you. Whatever it takes." A ghost of something—humor? possession?—flickered across his face. "I told you. I can't stop."
Elara should have been terrified.
Instead, she felt something else entirely.
Hope.
---
That night, alone in the omega quarters, Elara touched the spot on her arm where Kael's fingers had rested.
The marks there were brighter now. Warmer. Like they'd been activated by his touch.
He's getting closer, her wolf whispered. He felt the bond.
But he doesn't understand it.
Not yet. But soon.
Elara stared at the ceiling.
Three weeks until the Blood Moon. Three weeks until the seal could break—with or without Kael's worthiness. Three weeks until everything changed.
And an Alpha who'd just promised to guard her, watch her, protect her.
Who'd admitted he couldn't stop thinking about her.
Who'd touched her like she mattered.
Is that enough? she asked the seal. Is he worthy yet?
The seal didn't answer.
But deep in her chest, something shifted. Something that felt almost like... permission.
---
End of Chapter 6🐺