CHAPTER NINE: THE CLAIMING
1006 Words
The courtyard was silent.
The aftermath of last night’s attack still lingered in the air—metallic, tense, alive. The moonlight reflected off the stone, bathing everything in silver, making shadows sharper, more dangerous.
Seraphina walked beside Kael, silent, her steps echoing unnaturally loud against the stone floor. Every nerve in her body screamed in awareness—the bond between them pulsing like a living thing beneath her skin.
She could feel him before she even looked.
Not just Kael—the wolf.
It prowled, low, hungry, protective. Something ancient and primal had awoken inside him. The kind of wolf that didn’t negotiate, didn’t hesitate, and didn’t forgive.
“You’ve done well to survive this long,” Kael said quietly, voice low and dangerous, a rumble beneath his words. “But you’re far from ready.”
Seraphina met his gaze, chest heaving. “I’m not weak,” she said.
His eyes flickered—dark, dangerous, impossible. “You almost died last night,” he said. “Do you know what would have happened if I hadn’t arrived in time?”
Her stomach knotted. “I don’t want to imagine it.”
“You should,” he said, stepping closer. The bond flared violently. “Because knowing what danger feels like… is the first step to controlling it.”
Something stirred inside her—not fear, not entirely. Her wolf, still quiet before, snarled in approval.
Kael’s gaze swept the courtyard. He could feel the pack’s eyes on them, judging, waiting. But he didn’t care. Not tonight.
He closed the distance between them in a single stride, and the temperature in the courtyard seemed to drop. The bond screamed in response.
“Stay close,” he ordered, voice sharp, low, as if the wind itself obeyed him. “Do not leave my side.”
Seraphina obeyed instinctively.
Something in her chest twisted—fear, adrenaline, and the undeniable pull of the bond. It demanded him, demanded recognition, demanded control.
Her pulse throbbed violently as Kael turned toward her, the pack fading into silence behind them.
“You don’t understand what’s happening inside you,” he said quietly, gaze locked on hers. “This bond… it is not just a mark. It’s a predator. And it’s hungry.”
“I feel it,” she whispered. “It’s… like fire.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “It is fire,” he said. “And fire can protect you—or it can destroy you. Right now, it’s both.”
The wolf inside him growled, low, vibrating through the bond. She could feel it in her bones. Protective. Possessive. Dangerous.
“You belong to me,” he said, voice rough, almost a whisper.
Seraphina’s eyes widened. “I—”
“Not as a mate,” he said immediately, dark and sharp. “Not yet. But as my responsibility. As something I will not allow to be taken. Understood?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
The bond roared in response. Hunger. Power. Connection.
Kael’s wolf pushed closer, his heat brushing against her like a living thing. His gaze dropped, lingering over her face, her throat, her pulse.
“You’re stronger than you think,” he said. “But you’re still fragile.”
She stepped closer instinctively. “Then teach me.”
He studied her for a long moment. The pack’s eyes lingered, dozens of wolves watching, waiting. He didn’t care.
“Yes,” he said finally. “I will teach you. And if anyone dares to touch you—”
His words stopped, replaced by a growl so low and powerful it made her blood run cold and hot all at once.
“…they die,” he finished.
The bond surged violently. Seraphina shivered. Her wolf matched his, loud, demanding, fierce.
Kael’s eyes flicked toward the shadows where Nyra had been lurking before. Gone. But he knew she had been watching.
“She’s waiting,” he said. “And she will escalate.”
Seraphina nodded. “Then I won’t be weak.”
Kael’s gaze softened, almost imperceptibly. “Good,” he said. “Because after tonight, nothing will protect you but yourself… and me.”
Her chest tightened. Not fear. Not just the bond. Something else.
A recognition. A promise.
The bond pulsed again, faster, louder.
Kael stepped closer. The heat of him, the wolf, the danger, pressed into her like a storm.
“You survived an attack,” he said. “You faced death and came through.”
Her wolf shifted beneath her, fierce and wild. “I…” she said, breathless, “I didn’t survive alone.”
He tilted his head, dangerous, curious. “No. You didn’t. And yet…”
The bond tightened violently. Both of them staggered slightly under the pull, the energy of the connection roaring in their veins.
“You’re learning,” he said quietly. “And the moment you truly embrace this… you’ll change everything.”
Her pulse thundered. “Change everything?”
“Your power, your wolf… our bond,” he said, voice low, rough, and impossible to ignore. “And I… will lose myself if I’m not careful.”
The words made her shiver. Not with fear. Not entirely.
With awareness.
Kael’s wolf surged again, and she felt it—the hunger, the obsession, the control he wanted to exert. But she also felt her own growing power, her own wolf answering in kind.
For the first time, she understood:
This was no longer just survival.
This was war.
Not against the pack, not against Nyra, not even against fate.
It was a war for control, for dominance, for life.
And neither of them would survive it unscathed.
The moonlight burned across their faces as Kael stepped closer again, and the bond flared hotter, louder, alive.
“Embrace it,” he said softly. “Or it will consume you.”
“I will,” she whispered.
And with that, the night trembled around them.
Because the wolf in him was no longer restrained.
And the wolf in her was just beginning to answer.
- Writer
