KADE POV
She's sitting at my desk.
The moment I see her, everything stops. My breath. My heartbeat. My ability to think clearly. She's perched on my chair like she owns it, perfectly still, watching me with those pale green eyes that suddenly look ancient. Like she's aged a decade in the span of a single night.
She knows.
The realization hits me like a physical blow. My chest tightens. My hands clench into fists. She's found the journal. She's read everything. She understands exactly what I've been planning.
The betrayal cuts deep because it's not her betraying me. It's me betraying her, and now she knows it.
I force my expression to go blank. Ten years of training kicks in automatically. I become stone. I become cold. I become the Alpha who doesn't feel anything.
"What are you doing in my private study?" I ask.
My voice comes out steady but it costs me. The words feel like they're being forced through broken glass.
She stands slowly like she's got all the time in the world. Like she's not in a room with a man who's supposed to kill her. Like fear isn't something that touches her anymore.
"I heard you and Viktor last night," she says quietly. "Through the study door."
My jaw clenches. I should have known she was listening. I should have felt her presence through the bond. But I was too focused on the plan. Too focused on reminding myself why I was marrying her.
"I know exactly what you're planning," she continues. Her voice is steady. Calm. Like she's discussing the weather instead of her own death. "I know about the borders. I know about weakening my father's pack. I know about the treaty being a lie."
I don't deny it. I don't lie. I just stand there and let her finish.
"When are you going to kill me?" she asks.
The question hangs in the air between us.
I should answer with a timeline. I should give her details. I should explain the strategic value of keeping her alive longer. But instead I find my legs won't hold me anymore and I sit down in the chair across from my desk.
I'm sitting across from her now like we're equals. Like she's not the target of a ten-year vendetta. Like she's not marked for death.
She's not crying. She's not begging. She's standing there with her hands steady and her eyes clear and looking at me with an expression I can't quite read.
I admire the lie of her fearlessness.
Because that's what it has to be. A lie. She has to be terrified underneath that calm exterior. She has to be screaming inside even if her voice is steady.
Unless she's not afraid at all.
The thought is more terrifying than anything I've faced in my entire life.
"Yes," I finally say.
The word sits between us like a weapon. I just admitted it out loud. I just confirmed that I married her to destroy her family and that I plan to kill her when the time is right.
She doesn't flinch.
"Why haven't you already?" she asks.
I don't have an answer. That's the real problem. If I could explain why I haven't killed her yet, maybe I could still convince myself that I can go through with it. But the truth is that I can't explain it. I broke the bond with her too fast during the bonding ceremony. I felt her essence and something in me recognized something in her and I can't unfeel that.
I can't unknow her.
"I don't know," I admit.
She nods like that's the answer she expected. Like she already understands that I'm breaking apart from the inside.
"I'm going to learn your pack," she says. Her voice is different now. Harder. Like something inside her has crystallized into steel. "I'm going to understand every part of it. The warriors. The council. The weaknesses. The strengths. I'm going to become so essential to Northwood that killing me would cost you more than keeping me alive."
She walks toward the door. Toward me. Our eyes meet for one second and I see the girl who was terrified on her wedding day has disappeared completely.
In her place is a woman who's decided to survive by any means necessary.
She walks past me without looking back. She leaves my study and closes the door quietly behind her.
I sit alone in the darkness and I realize that I've just been defeated by the one person I was supposed to control completely.
My hands are shaking.
I pour myself a drink but I don't taste it. I sit in my chair and I try to think about the plan. I try to remember the ten years I spent preparing for this moment. I try to summon the rage that's defined me since my father's death.
But all I can think about is the way she stood in front of me with absolute certainty that she was going to survive.
All I can think about is the fact that I didn't want to kill her even before she walked into my office.
All I can think about is the realization that I can't go through with it anymore.
I can't do it.
I look at my hands and I see the hands of a man who's built his entire adult life on a lie. Viktor has been manipulating me. The plan has been corrupting me. The revenge has been consuming me.
And now Elira has walked into my office and made me understand something I've been running from since I felt her essence during the bonding ceremony.
I'm in love with her.
I'm in love with the daughter of the family I was supposed to destroy. I'm in love with the woman I was supposed to kill. I'm in love with someone who deserves so much better than a man like me.
The realization doesn't bring peace. It brings panic.
Because loving her doesn't solve anything. It makes everything worse. It means I have to choose between her and my pack. It means I have to choose between her and the man I've spent ten years becoming.
It means everything I've built is about to collapse.
I sit in the darkness and I realize something even more terrifying than the fact that I'm in love with her.
I realize that she's right.
She's going to learn this pack so well that I won't be able to touch her without destroying myself. She's going to become so integral to Northwood that killing her will be the thing that finally breaks me completely.
She's not running.
She's not hiding.
She's not begging for her life.
She's walking straight into the heart of the danger and making herself indispensable.
And the worst part is that I let her do it.
The worst part is that I want her to do it.
I want her to survive. I want her to understand this pack. I want her to become the Luna she's supposed to be because maybe then I can tell myself that marrying her wasn't the biggest mistake of my life.
Maybe then I can convince myself that there's a future where both of us get to live.
But Viktor is watching.
The council is waiting.
And the ten-year plan is about to explode into violence.
I sit alone in my office and I understand with absolute clarity that I've just made a choice that's going to destroy everything.
I've chosen her over the mission.
I've chosen her over my pack.
I've chosen her over the man I've spent a decade becoming.
And now I have to figure out how to survive the consequences of that choice.
Because somewhere in this compound, Elira is walking with her head held high, knowing that she's just turned the tables on me completely.
Knowing that she's going to survive this.
Knowing that I'm going to let her.
And that knowledge is the most dangerous thing of all.