5.
1038 Words
Kael Draven had spent most of his life in control.
Control over his pack.
Control over his wolf.
Control over every emotion that could be used against him.
That was what made an Alpha strong.
Not mercy.
Not softness.
Discipline.
And yet, for the first time in years, he could feel control slipping through his fingers like blood.
The sharp pulse in his chest returned again.
Violent this time.
Kael’s hand tightened around the edge of the wooden desk in his office hard enough to crack it slightly.
The sound echoed through the room.
Beta Ronan stared at him cautiously from across the office.
“…Alpha?”
Kael ignored him.
Because he could still feel it.
That strange pressure.
The same unnatural sensation that had started the moment he rejected Lira Vale.
No.
Not rejected.
Severed.
His jaw tightened immediately at the thought.
The bond should have disappeared completely by now. Instead, every hour seemed to make it worse.
Not weaker.
Worse.
Like something broken between them refused to stay dead.
Kael straightened slowly.
“Say it again,” he ordered.
Ronan hesitated before speaking carefully.
“The eastern patrol reported unusual activity near the border.” He paused briefly. “Three rogues were found unconscious.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Unconscious?”
“They weren’t killed,” Ronan confirmed. “No major wounds either.”
That alone was strange enough.
Rogues didn’t spare each other.
And no ordinary wolf could overpower multiple rogues without bloodshed.
But that wasn’t the part that had frozen the entire patrol.
Ronan exhaled carefully.
“They said there was another scent there.”
Kael already knew what he was about to hear.
Still, something inside him went tense.
“What scent?”
“…Silver.”
Silence filled the office instantly.
Kael’s wolf stirred violently beneath his skin.
Silver.
Impossible.
There were old stories about silver wolves—stories elders told pups during winter storms—but no one believed them anymore.
Just myths.
Legends.
And yet the second the word reached him…
The pressure in his chest pulsed again.
Hard.
His breathing slowed dangerously.
“Who else knows?”
“Only the patrol.”
“Good.”
Kael moved toward the balcony without another word.
Cold night air hit his face immediately, but it did nothing to cool the irritation building beneath his skin.
No.
Not irritation.
Something else.
Something sharper.
His wolf had been restless ever since the ceremony.
Aggressive.
Unstable.
And every time Kael tried to force the bond silence into place…
He felt her again.
Not clearly.
But enough.
Enough to know she was alive.
His jaw clenched.
That should not have mattered.
Lira Vale was weak.
Human-looking even among wolves.
Too quiet. Too fragile. Too emotional.
She would have shattered beside an Alpha like him eventually.
Rejecting her had been necessary.
Logical.
So why did it suddenly feel like he had made a mistake his instincts refused to forgive?
A knock interrupted his thoughts.
Ronan stepped onto the balcony carefully.
“There’s something else.”
Kael didn’t turn around.
“Speak.”
“The patrol found claw marks near the eastern trees.” Ronan paused. “Large ones.”
Kael remained silent.
“They said it looked like…” Ronan hesitated. “…submission.”
That made Kael finally turn.
“What?”
“The rogues appeared forced down.” Ronan’s expression tightened slightly. “As if another Alpha pressured them.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No known Alpha scent was detected.”
Kael stared at him for a long moment.
Then the bond pulsed again.
Sharp enough to make his chest tighten painfully.
Images flickered briefly through his mind.
Silver eyes.
Forest shadows.
Fear.
His own wolf surged forward instantly.
Mine.
Kael’s expression darkened immediately.
“No,” he said coldly.
Ronan frowned slightly. “Alpha?”
Kael stepped back from the balcony slowly.
His wolf was reacting too strongly.
Possessively.
Dangerously.
To a bond he had already rejected.
That should not have been possible.
Unless—
A low growl escaped his throat before he could stop it.
Ronan stiffened immediately.
Kael noticed too late that the air in the room had shifted under his dominance pressure.
The windows rattled faintly.
“You need rest,” Ronan said cautiously.
Kael laughed once.
Humorless.
“Do I look tired to you?”
No.
He looked angry.
But beneath the anger was something worse.
Unease.
Real unease.
The kind that crawled beneath instinct.
Because deep down, Kael knew something was changing.
Not in her.
In him.
And he had no idea how to stop it.
Another patrol howl echoed through the territory outside.
Closer this time.
Urgent.
Ronan’s expression sharpened instantly.
“That came from the eastern border.”
Kael moved immediately.
By the time he reached the lower hall, warriors were already gathering.
Tension filled the air thickly.
One scout stepped forward the second Kael entered.
“Alpha.”
“What happened?”
The scout swallowed hard.
“We found another rogue pack near the border.”
Kael’s expression remained cold.
“And?”
The scout hesitated.
Then quietly said:
“They were running.”
Silence.
Kael’s eyes narrowed.
“Running from what?”
The scout looked genuinely shaken now.
“We don’t know,” he admitted. “But they kept repeating the same thing.”
A strange feeling settled heavily in Kael’s chest.
“What thing?”
The scout’s voice dropped lower.
“They said a silver wolf has returned.”
The room went still.
Completely still.
Even the warriors looked unsettled now.
Old myths carried power among wolves whether people admitted it or not.
Kael stepped forward slowly.
“And where is this supposed wolf now?”
The scout looked directly at him.
“…Heading toward Blackridge territory.”
The bond slammed into Kael’s chest so violently this time that his entire body locked for half a second.
Not pain.
Recognition.
His wolf surged instantly beneath his skin.
Mine.
The word echoed through him with terrifying force.
Kael’s breathing slowed.
Because suddenly—
For the first time since the rejection—
He wasn’t trying to ignore the bond anymore.
He was listening to it.
And somewhere far beyond the borders of Blackridge…
Something listened back.
- Writer
