The First Apology
1152 Words
Chapter 9
The First Apology
The silence on the terrace became unbearable.
Cold wind swept between the three of us while snow drifted softly across the mountains beyond the summit grounds.
Draven’s question still hung in the air like a blade.
Did he apologize?
Kael looked shaken.
Not angry.
Not defensive.
Shaken.
Because for the first time, he understood something horrifyingly simple:
He had hurt me repeatedly…
and never once truly said sorry.
The realization showed clearly on his face.
My chest tightened painfully.
Draven watched him with cold patience.
Like a predator allowing another male the opportunity to fail.
Again.
Kael swallowed hard before finally looking at me.
“Lyra…”
The roughness in his voice almost broke my resolve instantly.
Three years of loving him didn’t disappear because another Alpha suddenly saw my pain.
That was the dangerous part.
I still loved him.
Even now.
Especially now.
Kael took one hesitant step toward me.
Then another.
Slowly.
Like he feared I might retreat.
And maybe I would have.
If the bond between us didn’t still ache every time he looked wounded.
His eyes searched mine desperately.
“I’m sorry.”
The words hit me harder than I expected.
Because I had waited months to hear them.
Months.
Late nights alone.
Silent dinners.
Humiliation.
Loneliness.
All reduced to two trembling words.
Draven remained completely silent nearby.
Watching.
Evaluating.
Kael barely noticed him anymore.
His entire focus stayed fixed on me now.
“I should’ve seen what was happening sooner,” he admitted quietly. “I should’ve protected you better.”
Tears burned unexpectedly behind my eyes.
Not because the apology fixed things.
Because part of me had started believing it would never come at all.
Kael stepped closer again.
“I never meant to make you feel unwanted.”
The sincerity in his voice twisted painfully through me.
And somehow, that made everything worse.
Because intentional cruelty was easier to hate.
But Kael wasn’t cruel.
He was blind.
Emotionally careless.
Consumed by grief.
Too certain I would always remain beside him no matter how neglected I felt.
And now another Alpha’s presence had finally forced him awake.
Draven’s voice cut quietly through the moment.
“She should never have needed to ask for your attention in the first place.”
Kael’s expression darkened instantly.
“This doesn’t concern you.”
“It concerns me now.”
The terrifying calmness in Draven’s tone sent a chill through me.
Kael heard it too.
“You think because you’re interested in her, you suddenly understand our bond?”
Draven’s eyes moved slowly toward him.
“No,” he said quietly.
“I understand what happens when a male stops deserving one.”
The dominance rolling off Kael surged violently again.
My wolf flinched painfully.
“Stop,” I whispered immediately.
Neither Alpha listened.
Draven took another step forward onto the terrace.
Kael moved instantly to block him.
The atmosphere became suffocating.
I could practically feel their wolves clawing beneath the surface.
Possession.
Rivalry.
Instinct.
And at the center of it—
me.
God.
I hated this.
Hated the tension.
The attention.
The terrifying awareness growing between Draven and me.
But worst of all—
I hated that part of me no longer felt invisible.
Kael spoke first.
“You’re crossing lines even the Moon Laws recognize.”
Draven remained unmoved.
“The Moon Laws also require a mate to be honored properly.”
“You know nothing about us.”
“No,” Draven agreed softly. “But I know she’s lonely enough to cry without making noise.”
My breath stopped.
Kael froze instantly.
Slowly—
horribly—
his eyes turned toward me.
Shock spread visibly across his face.
Because he realized immediately that Draven wasn’t guessing.
The Alpha king had noticed things Kael himself had missed.
The humiliation nearly crushed me.
“Lyra…”
I looked away quickly.
Too late.
Kael had already seen the truth.
His mate cried alone at night.
And another male figured it out before he did.
The devastation that crossed his face nearly made me reach for him.
Draven noticed that instinct too.
Something dangerous darkened his expression immediately.
Not jealousy exactly.
Awareness.
Like he understood the emotional hold Kael still had on me.
The mating bond pulsed painfully again.
Kael exhaled shakily before speaking.
“I know I failed you.”
The quiet honesty in his voice silenced the terrace.
Snow continued falling softly around us.
“I thought protecting everyone else was enough,” he admitted. “I thought you understood why Selene needed us.”
“I did understand,” I whispered.
His expression tightened.
“Then why does it feel like you stopped standing beside me?”
The question hurt because he truly sounded confused.
As though he didn’t understand that emotional abandonment pushes people away eventually.
“You pushed me away first.”
Silence.
Kael’s eyes closed briefly.
The truth landed hard.
Draven watched the exchange carefully.
Then finally, the Alpha king spoke again.
“You keep speaking about grief like it excuses neglect.”
Kael’s head snapped toward him instantly.
“And you keep speaking about my mate like she belongs to you.”
Draven’s gaze flicked toward me once more.
The intensity there nearly stole my breath.
“She belongs to herself.”
The words hit all of us differently.
Kael looked furious.
I looked stunned.
And Draven—
Draven looked absolutely certain.
No one had ever spoken about me like that before.
Not as property.
Not as obligation.
Not as a Luna tied to duty.
As me.
Something shifted quietly inside my chest.
Small.
Dangerous.
Kael noticed.
The fear that crossed his face then felt heartbreakingly raw.
Because for the first time since mating me…
he realized another male was offering me something deeper than desire.
Choice.
The bond between us trembled painfully.
I suddenly couldn’t stay there anymore.
Couldn’t stand between them while my emotions tore themselves apart.
“I’m leaving.”
Kael immediately reached toward me. “Lyra—”
“I need space.”
The exhaustion in my voice stopped him.
Draven remained silent now, though his eyes followed every movement I made.
I turned quickly before either Alpha could stop me and walked toward the terrace exit.
But just before I reached the doors—
Kael’s voice stopped me.
Soft.
Broken.
“Please don’t give up on us yet.”
My chest tightened so sharply it hurt.
For one terrible moment, I nearly turned around.
Nearly ran back to him.
Nearly chose familiarity over pain.
Then I remembered sleeping alone while another woman occupied my place beside him.
I remembered servants whispering.
Pack members doubting me.
Feeling invisible in my own home.
And slowly…
I kept walking.
Leaving both Alphas standing behind me beneath the falling snow.
One realizing too late what he’d damaged.
And the other already deciding he intended to claim what remained.
- Writer
