The air changed.
I felt it before I understood it,an invisible shift that made my skin prickle , and my heart stutter painfully in my chest. Kael was still crouched before me, his silver-gold eyes fixed on mine, unblinking.
Too close.
Too intense
I should have been afraid.
Instead, my body reacted in a way that terrified me far more.
Heat bloomed beneath my skin, spreading through my veins like wildfire. My pulse throbbed erratically, every beat echoing his presence, his scent, his power.
I sucked in a sharp breath,and froze.
Something pulled at my chest.
Not pain.
Not rejection.
This was different.
It was deep. Ancient. Insistent.
My fingers curled into the furs as a soft gasp slipped from my lips. "what is this?"
Kael's jaw tightened.
He straightened slowly, as if restraining himself required effort. The fire flared suddenly, sparks clouding, into the air reacting to the surge of energy flooding the cave.
"You feel it," he said quietly.
It wasn't a question.
I swallowed hard, my throat dry. "I don't understand it."
His gaze darkened.
My heart skipped. "At first?"
He turned away abruptly, pacing a short distance before stopping with his back to me. His hands clenched at his sides, muscles rigid beneath his skin, as though he were fighting something unseen.
"This shouldn't be happening," he said, voice low. "Not yet."
Fear curled in my stomach. "What shouldn't?"
He looked over his shoulder at me, eyes glowing faintly in the firelight,no longer just silver, but something molten beneath.
"The pull," he said.
"The bond calling to you."
My breath hitched sharply. "Bond?"
"That's not possible. I already had a mate."
"You had a bond,"
Kael corrected, turning fully to face me now. "One that was shattered by an Alpha too weak to recognize what he was given."
My chest tightened painfully. "There can't be another."
Kael took a step closer.
Then another.
With each step, the pressure intensified. My skin buzzed, my wolf, quiet and broken since the rejection, stirring uneasily inside me for the first time.
"There are bonds older than packs," he said. "Older than Alphas."
I could feel his heat. His power. His restraint.
"You are reacting to me because your blood remembers," he continued. "Even if your mind does not."
My breathing turned shallow. "That's impossible."
"Is it?" he challenged softly.
His hand lifted slowly, deliberately, as though giving me time to stop him. When his fingers brushed my wrist, the world exploded.
Heat surged through me violently, ripping a gasp from my throat. My wolf surged forward, no longer silent, howling, clawing, reaching.
I cried out, clutching at his arm as my body trembled uncontrollably.
Kael cursed under his breath and tightened his grip, steadying me. "Easy," he growled. "Don't fight it."
"I can't breathe," I whispered, overwhelmed by the sensations crashing through me.
"Yes, you can," he said firmly, his voice anchoring me. "Focus on me."
His eyes held mine, unyielding.
Slowly, painfully, the storm eased, though the heat lingered, coiling tightly in my core.
I pulled my hand back as if burned, staring at him in horror. "What did you do to me?"
His expression was unreadable,dangerous and conflicted all at once.
"I touched you," he said. "And your soul answered."
I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. "I don't want this. I can't go through another rejection."
Something raw flashed across his face.
"You will never be rejected again," he said, voice dropping into something dark and lethal. "Not by me."
The words sent a shiver down my spine.
"But you don't belong here," he continued, forcing distance between us as if it cost him something.
"And until I know exactly what you are, he gestured between us."Is dangerous."
"To me?" I asked quietly.
His gaze locked onto mine.
"To everyone," he said
.
Silence fell heavily between us, broken only by the crackle of fire.
Finally, he turned away. "You'll stay tonight. Rest."
He paused at the cave entrance, the moonlight outlining his powerful form.
"Tomorrow," he said slowly, "we find out why the Moon herself is calling you to a Lycan King."
Then he disappeared into the darknes leaving my heart racing, my body burning, and my fate more uncertain than ever.