The Alpha King’s study was dark, lit only by the glow of the hearth. Shadows stretched long across the polished stone floor, and the heavy oak desk stood like a throne of its own, scattered with maps and reports.
Kaelen sat behind it, his broad shoulders tense, his storm-gray eyes fixed on the parchment before him. The words blurred, though—he hadn’t truly read a single line.
It had been weeks since Aria escaped. Weeks since the night her scent had brushed past his senses like a whisper he couldn’t grasp. The memory of it clung to him like a thorn, nagging, refusing to be ignored.
Selene lounged in the chair by the fire, her lips curved in a satisfied smile as she twirled a goblet of wine between her fingers. “You brood too much, my king. She was nothing. An Omega who didn’t know her pl
