Naomi POV
Kaelen is not the enemy.
He is not the bad guy.
He likes me, but he does not know it yet, and he does not know how to show it.
So he just settles for violence?
My head is about to explode from everything Mary has just told me.
Could Kaelen really just be a brainwashed and misguided child with a broken childhood?
Had I misunderstood his harshness?
I sit in the garden the next morning. The sun is bright. The birds sing. Alex plays with his wolf on the grass, running in circles, making zooming noises.
But my mind is dark.
I think about Kaelen's father. The cold eyes. The heavy hand. The way he ruled with fear instead of love.
I think about Kaelen's mother. The way she looks at him – love mixed with sorrow. Like she sees the boy he used to be underneath the man he became.
