Kael’s POV
The council chamber buzzed with tension.
Three alphas bickered around me, their voices rising like a storm I had no interest in weathering. Maps lay sprawled across the long oak table. Reports, accusations, border disputes, all demanding my attention. Yet all I could focus on was the hollow ache in my chest.
“She was spotted again near the eastern ridge,” Darrek muttered. “Thorne’s men are testing our patience.”
“They’re testing yours,” I said, my voice sharp, low. “They wouldn’t dare test mine.”
The words left my mouth without heat. Without care. Because I no longer had it in me to play these political games. Not right now. Not when my thoughts were still trapped in the past, still echoing in a candlelit room where Maeve had shattered before my eyes.
The rejection had bee
