Chapter Fifteen
1062 Words
Kael kicked open the chamber doors, startling servants.
“Healer. Now!”
His voice thundered, impossible to disobey. A healer rushed forward instantly. Kael set Lyra down on the bed, palms still clenched hard as if resisting the urge to keep holding her.
Her breathing was shallow, her skin pale.
Kael stood over her like a shadow carved from rage, his eyes burning gold, knuckles white at his sides.
He hated this feeling.
He hated that someone touched what fate bound to him.
He hated that his wolf was howling — wild and restless.
And he hated more than anything… the fear coiled low in his gut.
Fear of losing her.
He didn’t understand it.
He didn’t want it.
But he stood there anyway — unmoving — watching every breath she took while the healer worked.
And deep in the forest, a wolf cried — not in victory, but in warning.
The first blood had been drawn.
War had begun.
The palace courtyard was silent—until Kael’s roar shattered it.
“Guards!”
His voice cracked through the night like thunder. The soldiers posted near his wing startled, scrambling into formation. His eyes burned gold, teeth gritted, chest rising and falling with barely leashed rage. The scent of blood—her blood—still clung to his clothes.
Lyra’s blood.
His mate.
His wolf clawed beneath his skin, pacing, furious, demanding violence.
They dared touch what was his.
Kael stood in front of the palace steps, jaw clenched so hard a muscle in his cheek twitched. The guards knelt, heads lowered. None dared breathe too loud.
“Where were you?” His voice dripped quiet fury. “Where—exactly—were you when my mate was attacked?”
Silence.
A few swallowed. One trembled.
None answered.
He stepped forward and one guard instinctively leaned back. Kael noticed—it only enraged him more. “You stand here guarding stone walls while my mate bleeds outside?” His eyes sharpened. “Useless.”
“My Alpha—” one brave guard began.
Kael snapped. He seized the front of the man’s armor and slammed him against the pillar. The marble cracked. Gasps echoed. “Useless!” Kael snarled again, voice shaking with fury. “I could have lost her.”
The word slipped before he could stop it.
Lost.
His wolf snarled inside him.
Mine. She is ours. Protect. Kill.
Kael shoved the guard back. The soldier collapsed to his knees.
“Strengthen the patrols around my wing. No one enters those grounds without my order. If anyone touches her again—” his voice turned deadly low—“you will beg me for mercy before you die.”
The courtyard air froze.
A slow clap echoed.
The king descended the stone stairs, surrounded by elite guards. Regal, composed, expression carved from ice. “Such… noise,” he drawled. “All this chaos for a human?”
Kael’s head snapped toward him, eyes flaring. “She was attacked. Under your roof.”
“And yet,” the king mused, unconcerned, “you make the kingdom tremble for a mere—”
CRACK
A marble vase shattered at Kael’s feet as he flung it aside with explosive rage. Stone splintered; shards scattered like glittering ice. The guards flinched. Even the king’s men reached for their weapons.
Kael didn’t notice. Didn’t care.
His voice thundered through the hall.
“She is my mate.”
A beat.
Strong. Dangerous. Final.
“She’s mine.” His eyes burned gold. “She is not just a mere human.”
Whispers rippled around them — shock, disbelief, fear.
The king’s gaze hardened. “Kael,” he said, voice cold, “lower your tone. I am still the king. You do not speak to me as if you rule this land.”
Kael inhaled long and slow — a king on a leash he hated. He forced his jaw to unclench. His fists loosened, but power still radiated from him like heat from a forge.
He bowed his head — just barely. “My king,” he said stiffly, “I apologize.”
His voice turned sharp, blade-thin. “But you, too, should choose your words carefully.”
Guards stiffened. The statement was bold — dangerous. But Kael did not waver.
No hesitation.
No fear.
A low whistle of wind rolled across the courtyard. From the shadows, Selene watched, eyes wide. She had expected anger—but this? This was something else. She had seen Kael furious before. But tonight, he looked unhinged. War-ready.
That girl… that lowborn little nobody… actually shook him this much?
Selene swallowed, stepping deeper into the shadows. She remembered the flash she saw earlier — the unnatural spark beneath Lyra’s skin when she struck. Not human. Not normal.
And now Kael? He would tear the kingdom apart for her if pushed.
If he finds out I touched her…
Her heart kicked.
He might really kill me.
The king waved a hand, dismissive. “Strong wolves do not cry over broken toys.”
Kael’s head lifted.
Slowly.
Deadly.
The air darkened around him.
“She is mine,” he repeated, voice low, vibrating with something primal. “So understand this…”
His gaze locked onto the king’s. Cold. Warning.
“No one dares come close to her or else.... Everyone must understand that only I have the right to hurt her.”
Gasps. A ripple of shock.
Selene’s blood ran cold.
That wasn’t protection.
That was something darker.
Possession. Territory. Rage. Obsession.
The king narrowed his eyes, studying Kael as if seeing him anew.
Kael didn’t blink.
Didn’t drop his stare.
He had just drawn a line in front of the entire palace.
Lyra might be human.
Weak.
Insignificant in the eyes of others.
But she belonged to him.
And anyone who forgot it would bleed.
The night wind whispered through the courtyard, heavy with tension. Kael turned sharply, cloak whipping behind him, heading back toward his chambers without another word.
Guards parted like water.
The king watched him go—expression unreadable.
Selene remained hidden, chest tight, mind spinning.
Who are you really, Lyra?
And what are you doing to the cursed Alpha?
As Kael disappeared into the palace shadows, one truth settled like storm clouds over the kingdom:
Whatever was coming…
It would be bloody.
And it would begin with her.
- Writer
