Alpha Kael POV:
The moonlight poured in through the tall windows, silver pooling on the floor like spilled water. I had been pacing since the moment she ran from the ritual, my bare feet tracing the same tight path across the rug. My wolf prowled inside me, restless, impatient, every muscle in my body wound tight.
The bond was alive now, thrumming under my skin with a steady, relentless beat. It had been strong under the Blood Moon, but distance was supposed to dull it. This was not dulling. If anything, the space between us only sharpened the ache.
I wanted to mark her. I wanted to sink my teeth into the soft skin of her neck and feel her shudder against me as the bond sealed. I wanted to know her taste, to hear her cry out my name.
But I also wanted to protect her from the chaos that
