The evening air was heavy, scented with smoke from the torches that lined the training grounds. My legs ached, my hands still shook, but I couldn't stop thinking about him. Alpha Kael. The man who had rejected me, yet whose presence throbbed inside me like a pulse I couldn't escape.
I wasn't supposed to feel anything. I was a servant. Invisible. That's how I survived. But the bond… it didn't care.
A sudden rustle behind me made me spin around. My heart jumped, and I grabbed a loose branch for balance.
"Relax," a low voice said.
Kael.
He stood there, shadowed by torchlight, his eyes unreadable. Not cold. Not cruel. Just… watching.
"What do you want?" I asked, forcing my voice to stay steady.
He tilted his head, as if considering whether I was worth the answer. "I need to understand why it won't break."
My hands tightened around the branch. "You think I can answer that?"
His gaze sharpened. "I don't know. But I will find out."
I flinched. Something in the way he said it… it wasn't a threat. Not fully. There was… tension. Regret? Confusion?
I looked away, pretending to examine the ground. My chest burned. My fingers tingled. The bond pulsed, stronger than ever.
Then it happened.
A flicker of light—soft, golden—escaped from my palm. My eyes widened. I dropped the branch. The glow lingered, dancing over the dirt, illuminating nothing but my shaking hands.
Kael's eyes widened too. His mouth opened, then closed again. He didn't speak. Didn't move. Just stared.
I swallowed hard. "I… I didn't mean—"
"You have power," he said finally, voice low, almost a whisper. "Hidden. Dangerous."
I shook my head. "I don't know what you're talking about."
But I did. Somehow, deep in my chest, I knew. I'd always felt it—something waiting, buried beneath the fear, the servitude, the constant hiding. Something that belonged to no one… not even Kael.
He stepped closer. Close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from him, close enough that the bond throbbed violently between us. "Then show me," he said. Not a command. A request.
My fingers twitched. My pulse raced. And in that moment, something inside me snapped—not control, not fear, but fire.
The bond screamed.
The glow surged. Brighter. Hotter. And for the first time, I realized… this wasn't just power. This was me.
Kael's eyes flickered with something raw—fear, respect, fascination. And I felt it too: the pull, the connection, the unspoken promise that this—whatever this was—would change both our lives.
And somewhere in the back of my mind, a whisper rose: I am not invisible anymore.