Chapter 7: The Bloodroot Secret
701 Words
Sierra didn’t waste time.
She had always been the type to strike when her target was just starting to stand.
And Aria? She was finally finding her footing.
Getting stronger.
Getting close to Kael.
Too close.
So Sierra paid a visit to the pack archives the guarded library only Beta-ranked and higher wolves had access to.
But Sierra knew how to flirt with the right guards. She flashed a smile, dropped a lie about “Alpha research,” and found herself in front of the old Pack Registry logs.
She didn’t need to look hard.
Aria's name was etched there in black ink:
Aria Renna Vale
Bloodroot Pack
Omega-Born, Marked Traitor, Rejected Mate of Liam Blackfang
Sierra smiled.
And took a photo.
Kael stood at his office window when the door burst open without a knock.
Jace, pissed.
Behind him, Sierra… smug.
“What is this?” Jace demanded, slamming a printed document onto Kael’s desk.
Kael read it in silence. His eyes scanned the name.
Bloodroot.
His jaw clenched.
His wolf stirred violently in his chest.
“Where did you get this?” he asked quietly.
“I did a little digging,” Sierra said, circling the desk like a vulture. “Thought you should know who you’re letting sleep under our roof.”
“She’s not just sleeping here,” Jace snapped. “She’s healing. Training. Belonging.”
Kael ignored them both.
Bloodroot.
He knew that name.
The pack that lost their Luna in a rogue attack ten years ago.
The same pack that blamed a child for watching it happen.
And Liam Blackfang?
He wasn’t just the Luna’s son.
He was the arrogant Alpha heir who made headlines for rejecting his own fated mate publicly and sleeping with another she-wolf hours later.
Kael’s chest burned.
That mate… was Aria.
His mate.
Claimed.
Betrayed.
Thrown away.
Aria didn’t know anything had changed until Jace found her in the field.
“Hey,” he said softly. “Kael wants to see you. Now.”
Her stomach twisted. “Is something wrong?”
His silence was the answer.
When she stepped into the Alpha’s office, she knew something was off.
Kael stood behind the desk again cold, closed off. Walls rebuilt.
No warmth in his eyes.
No softness in his voice.
“Is it true?” he asked.
She blinked. “What?”
“Your old pack. Bloodroot. The Luna’s death. The rejection. Him.”
She stood frozen.
“You knew,” he said, stepping around the desk. “You knew I didn’t want a Luna, and you never told me you were already rejected. That you belonged to another Alpha.”
“I didn’t belong to anyone,” she said, voice cracking. “Not even when I was supposed to.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I thought you’d look at me like this.”
His jaw ticked. “You should’ve told me the truth.”
She turned, every breath a storm. “And what would you have done, Kael? Tossed me out? Let Sierra finish what she started?”
His eyes flared. “Don’t compare me to him.”
“Then stop punishing me for something he did.”
The room pulsed with silence.
Kael stepped closer, and this time… she didn’t move away.
He reached for her chin, tilted her face up.
“Everything I feel for you,” he said, low and rough, “I don’t want to feel. But I do. Even now. Even after this.”
“I didn’t lie to you.”
“You didn’t trust me.”
They stood like that, breathing each other in.
Then Aria whispered, “Do you still want me?”
Kael’s answer was almost a growl.
“I want to mark you so badly it hurts.”
But he didn’t.
Not yet.
Because trust had to come first.
Later that night, Sierra stood alone in the garden, furious.
Her plan had failed.
Kael didn’t cast Aria out.
If anything… they were closer.
And now she was out of options.
Except one.
Tell Bloodroot where to find her.
Let Liam see what he threw away.
And watch Kael lose what he never wanted to need.
- Writer
