Chapter 17
The Truth I Couldn’t Say
Kael waited for my answer.
The room felt suffocating suddenly.
Firelight flickered softly across the walls while the mating bond trembled weakly between us — fragile from too much pain, too much confusion, too much honesty forced into the open too quickly.
And outside…
Draven waited.
Patient.
Certain.
Terrifyingly calm.
Kael’s eyes searched mine desperately.
Will you wish he stayed?
The truth rose immediately inside me.
Yes.
Not because I wanted to betray my mate.
Not because I stopped loving Kael.
But because something inside me no longer felt empty when Draven was near.
And after months of loneliness…
that feeling had become dangerously precious.
Tears burned behind my eyes.
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
The answer devastated him.
