Kael's POV
I cannot sleep.
The bed is too soft. The darkness is too thick. Every time I close my eyes, I see her standing over those dead rogues with gold burning in her gaze.
I get up around three in the morning and give up on rest. Sleep feels like a luxury I do not deserve tonight. I move through the fortress in silence, checking on guards and reviewing the battle reports from the southern border. Everything is normal except for the one thing that is not.
Someone coordinated an attack on my territory and simultaneously sent rogues to target my wife.
My wife.
The girl I have barely spoken to in three weeks. The forgettable omega I agreed to marry because the Council demanded it. The one person in Shadowpeak I thought did not matter and somehow keeps mattering more.
I pour whiskey in my office and stand at the window watching the fortress sleep. Outside, guards rotate through their positions. Everything is secure. Everything is locked down.
But someone got close to her.
I keep replaying the moment I found her in the Luna's wing. The way she stood over those bodies. The strength in her stance before she collapsed into fear. The gold in her eyes that should not have been there.
A girl does not fight like that by accident. A girl does not move with that kind of trained precision unless she has spent years preparing. Unless she has something to prove. Unless she is more than what she appears to be.
My protective instinct should be making strategic calculations about vulnerability and security. But instead, I am thinking about her hands shaking after the fight. About the way her eyes filled with tears. About how small she looked when the servants came to tend to her.
Moonvale crashes into my thoughts like it always does late at night.
The Alpha's daughter would be twenty-three now if she survived. If she escaped. If she is alive somewhere, probably hating me with every breath. Probably planning revenge. Probably remembering things I need to apologize for.
I have been searching for her for five years because she is the only person who can tell me the truth about that night. The evidence against Moonvale felt solid but something was always wrong. The timeline did not match. The witness statements contradicted each other. The reports showed signs of manipulation.
By the time I questioned what I was doing, the pack was already dead.
I can still smell the smoke from that night. Can still hear the screams. Can still feel the moment I realized I had destroyed an entire pack based on lies.
The worst part is knowing that someone orchestrated it. Someone wanted Moonvale dead badly enough to manipulate me into being their weapon. Someone benefited from that slaughter.
And I have spent five years hunting for the daughter because finding her is the only way to find the truth. Finding her is the only way to maybe, somehow, make this right. Which is impossible because the dead do not come back. Because apologies cannot resurrect families. Because no matter what I do, I cannot undo what I destroyed.
But I have to try.
I pull out the Moonvale Investigation file and spread the documents across my desk. The inconsistencies are glaring now that I know what to look for. The evidence was too perfect. The reports were too convenient. Someone wanted me to attack Moonvale and they made damn sure I would.
I have investigators searching every territory for any sign of the Alpha's daughter. They have found nothing. Five years and nothing. She is either dead or extremely well hidden.
A knock interrupts my spiraling thoughts.
Owen enters without ceremony and his expression is grim. He has been awake as long as I have. My Beta does not look tired though. He looks like he has found something important.
"The rogues were funded," he says immediately. "The weapons they carried, the armor, the coordination. Someone with serious money backed this attack. This was not desperate rogues looking for supplies. This was organized warfare."
I lean back in my chair. "Who?"
"I do not know yet. But whoever it is, they knew about your marriage. They knew exactly when you would be at the southern border. They planned this carefully."
"They wanted to hurt her." I say it flatly but Owen hears the edge underneath.
"They wanted to hurt you through her," he corrects. "They know she matters now."
But I barely knew her until tonight. I have been ignoring her for three weeks. I have not spoken to her beyond basic politeness. So why would someone target her unless they think she will matter to me eventually?
Unless they know something I do not.
Owen shifts his weight and I see him struggling with something. My Beta is deliberate and careful with his words. When he hesitates, it means he is weighing how much to say.
"What?" I push.
"The rogues were specifically trying to reach the Luna's wing. Not the main fortress. Not the armory. They wanted your wife."
I already knew that but hearing Owen say it out loud makes something tighten in my chest.
"And when I found you with her," Owen continues carefully, "there was blood on her dress. Rogue blood. She had killed at least three of them before you arrived."
I remember. I remember her standing there covered in blood with a knife in her hand and gold blazing in her eyes.
"She said she was terrified," Owen says slowly. "She said she grabbed a knife and got lucky. But Kael, I have seen warriors train for years and they could not have done what she did against three trained rogues. She moved like she knew exactly what she was doing."
I wait for him to continue because I can feel the real revelation coming.
Owen takes a breath. "And Kael, about your wife. Something about her does not add up."
The words hang in the air between us.
I have been thinking the same thing since the moment I saw her standing over those bodies. I have been wondering who she really is. I have been questioning everything about the forgettable omega bride who turned out to be a fighter.
But having Owen confirm it makes it real. Makes it something I cannot ignore anymore.
"What do you mean something does not add up?" I ask and my voice is dangerous.
Owen meets my eyes steadily. "I am not sure yet. But I know her from somewhere. I know her face from before she came to Shadowpeak. And when I remember where from, I think it is going to change everything."
My entire body goes still.
Owen is one of the most observant wolves I know. If he thinks he recognizes her, then there is something to recognize. There is a past that my bride is hiding. A history that she has buried beneath suppressants and submission and a forgettable face.
"Find out," I order. "I want to know everything about her. Where she came from. Who her family is. Why someone would specifically target her. Everything."
Owen nods and leaves without another word.
I sit alone in my office with the Moonvale file spread across my desk and my mind racing. I keep seeing two images overlapping. The forgettable bride from the wedding ceremony. The fierce warrior who stood over three dead rogues with gold in her eyes.
They cannot be the same person.
But they are.
And I have absolutely no idea what that means.
I pull out the photograph of the Moonvale Alpha's daughter again. The girl who would be twenty-three now. The girl I have been searching for. The girl who could tell me the truth about that terrible night.
I look at her fierce young face and try to imagine what she looks like now. Where she is hiding. How she survived.
Then I think about my wife.
No. It is impossible. The chances are astronomical. My bride came from a neutral territory. She has a cover story that is boring and unimportant. She has spent three weeks being invisible in my fortress.
She cannot be the girl I am looking for.
But my wolf is howling something different. My wolf is screaming that something about her is wrong in a way that matters. That she is hiding something massive. That I am missing something obvious.
I pour more whiskey and watch the sun start to rise over Shadowpeak territory. Somewhere in this fortress, my wife is sleeping under guard. A woman I barely know. A woman who can fight like a warrior. A woman who is not what she seems.
And I have never wanted to know the truth about anyone more in my life.