That night, the room felt tighter. Hotter.
The walls didn't move, but the air pressed against her chest like a hand.
Kael hadn't touched her. Not once. But his wolf had.
She could feel it—Drekken pacing behind Kael's storm-grey eyes, clawing to the surface every time her heartbeat shifted. The pull between them wasn't fading.
It was sharpening.
Dull ache became need. Need became fire.
She curled up on her side of the bed, arms around her knees, facing the wall. Trying to ignore the way Kael's breathing synced with hers.
Trying not to feel the bond.
But it was everywhere.
In the bed. In the air. In the way her skin prickled every time he moved.
And when her eyes finally closed
The dream came, like it had her entire life. But this wasn't just a dream It was a place.
A forest. Dense. Old. Moonlight carved through the branches like silver blades, lighting the mist that curled around her bare ankles. The air smelled like damp stone and something... familiar.
Not imagined.
Remembered.
She stood barefoot on soft earth, trees pressing in from all sides. Everything was quiet, too quiet, like the world itself was holding its breath.
She thought she was alone. She always was when this dream came to her.... But her senses were on high alert. Something was different this time.
Then she saw them.
Eyes.
Green. Glowing. Watching her through the dark.
Not Kael.
Her.
The wolf.
Not fully formed. Just shadow and shape and breath. But still she knew they belonged to each other.
She didn't speak. Neither did the wolf.
But something in the clearing pulsed it knew her.
Claimed her.
Then pain flared, sharp and blinding, racing up her spine and blooming across her back like fire tied to her blood.
She gasped awake, heart slamming, breath sharp.
Kael was already upright beside her, his eyes locked on hers, glowing faint in the low light like a God. With the sheets tangled against his waste.
"You felt it again," he said.
She nodded, still trembling but definitely noticing his figure. At some point he had taken his shirt off and damn... She was trying not to enjoy the view.
"She's close," she whispered.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
.
Kael said nothing.
Didn't touch her.
But his voice dropped, deep and dangerous. "Next time... let her out."
"I'll get right on that" She said rolling her eyes and huffing rolling back over.
Kael shook his head and tried to sleep.
Gods, he tried.
He laid down on his half of the bed, muscles tense, Drekken snarling under his skin.
She's here, his wolf hissed. She's ours. Let me near her.
"You're near," Kael muttered.
Not enough. She's resisting. I want her wolf. I want to see her. I have waited year Kael she is ours. I need to claim her, claim what is ours.
Across the bed, Vireya's breathing changed. Soft. Unsteady. Her body twitched, and something primal pulsed through the bond.
And then—the sound that broke him:
A soft whimper. Not pain.
Her wolf.
Kael didn't remember moving.
One second he was holding the edge of the mattress like it might keep him tethered. But Drekken was a force to be reckoned with.
The next thing he knew, he was wrapped around her.
Arms locked around her waist. Nose buried in her hair. Chest to her back.
Their bodies aligned. Perfect. Like they were meant to fit this way.
And Vireya?
She sighed in her sleep. Like the tension had melted from her spine.
She didn't wake.
But she didn't pull away, either.
And Drekken?
Purring.
She's close, he growled. But I want her wolf. Call her. Wake her. Or I will. Drekken insisted.
Kael didn't sleep. For fear Drekken would take over him entirely.
So, he held her.
And waited for the storm inside her to rise and see what was so powerful her mom had to hide it away.
The castle felt different in the morning. It seemed like it's energy was always changing.. but it wasn't louder. Just off. Like the air had shifted or a storm was brewing..
The guards stationed outside Kael's chamber door were whispering now—not just about the King's moods or the rumors of war, but about the woman inside his chambers. The one no one had seen. The one whose scent didn't match anything they'd ever smelled before.
Vireya.
She didn't know that, of course.
She was too busy trying not to implode.
She stood at the window, arms folded, staring out at the snow-dusted cliffs. Her breath fogged the glass. She hadn't slept. Not really. Not since waking up wrapped in Kael's arms.
She hadn't mentioned it. Neither had he.
But the tension? It was still thick in the room.
And Kael hadn't left. Not once.
He was seated by the fire again, reading but not really. His eyes kept lifting. Flicking to her. Watching. Measuring.
Like he knew something was coming.
She did too.
Because every time she closed her eyes, she could see it.
That forest. That mist. Those eyes.
And now? Now her back ached like something inside her was splitting open.
"Do you ever plan on letting me out of this room?" she snapped suddenly, breaking the silence like glass.
Kael looked up, slow. Calm. Dangerous.
"No."
Vireya's hands balled into fists. "You can't just keep me locked up like some—"
"I can," he said, standing now. "And I will. It is my job to protect my mate."
"Because I'm yours?" she spat. "Because your wolf wants to keep me like some pretty little prisoner with a bloodline no one understands?"
Kael was in front of her before she realized she'd moved. Inches from her face. His jaw tight.
"I'm keeping you here because if anyone else catches even a whiff of what's inside you, they will want to control it. Or kill it. Or both."
"I can handle myself."
"No. You can't."
She shoved him.
The power that shot through her hand wasn't normal.
Kael stumbled back a full step. His boots actually slid.
The stone wall behind her cracked.
Both of them froze.
Vireya looked down at her fingers.
A faint glow.
Red. Gold. Feral.
"What the fuck," she whispered.
Kael didn't move.
But his voice was low. Reverent. Terrified.
"She's waking up."
Across the castle, Iska dropped the bone she was carving.
The hair on her arms stood up.
"Ohhhhhh fuck," she whispered, a slow grin spreading across her face.
Then louder—
"KAEL! You better not be letting her tantrum unsupervised!" she said out loud in her cottage.
Vireya stared at her hand, still tingling.
The wall behind her was cracked.
The air around them charged like lightning in a storm.
Kael took a slow step toward her.
"Don't."
Her voice wavered.
But her body didn't move.
Kael's jaw clenched. "You think I want this?"
"You wanted to bite me in front of a room full of wolves," she shot back. "Don't act like you're some victim of fate."
"I bit you," he growled, "because I couldn't fucking breathe without doing it."
Another step.
She backed into the window frame.
"You're not in control," she whispered.
His hand slammed into the stone beside her head.
"I'm more in control than you think," he said, voice low. Deadly. "Because if I wasn't" his eyes dropped to her mouth "I'd already be inside you."
Her breath hitched.
The bond flared between them. Heat. Hunger. Need.
"You want this," he said, barely audible now. "Don't lie to me."
"I want a lot of things," she rasped. "Doesn't mean I should have them."
"Then stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you're ready to burn for it."
She didn't answer.
Didn't need to.