Kael
We walked in silence until we were deep in the garden at Rhett's house.
The moonlight filtered through the trimmed trees, casting shadows across the manicured pathways as we walked. After walking for a few minutes, I found a garden bench tucked between two flowering bushes and guided Charis to sit on it.
Our hands remained clasped together. Her smaller fingers intertwined with mine, grounding me.
After a few seconds of rehearsing what I wanted to say to her in my head and gathering courage, I cleared my throat.
She turned to face me, and the moonlight caught the gentle curve of her cheek, the way her eyes searched my face with such trust that it made my chest ache.
Black, my wolf, was running in circles. He liked Charis so much that I had to exercise a great deal of control to keep him in check whenever she was around us.
"Ea—Charis," I began slowly, catching myself before I used her real name. Even now, knowing what I knew, I still wanted to keep her identity protected.
