Chapter41
640 Words
Kaida’s POV
It started small.
Kael had always been short-tempered, but there was a line he never crossed with me. He could bark, he could scold, he could curse when the pack messed up but with me, he always held back. Until this morning.
We were sitting in the common hall. Willow was still upstairs resting, and I stayed down with Kael, Axel, and a few others. It wasn’t anything important, just talk. My hands played over the rim of my cup, half listening.
“Kaida,” Kael called.
I looked up. His eyes were sharper than usual. “Yes?”
“Did you check the patrols this evening?”
I frowned. “No, that wasn’t mine today. I thought Leor…”
“Why not?” His voice cracked like a whip.
I blinked. “Because… it wasn’t my turn. Leor took it.”
“You should’ve checked anyway!” His voice thundered across the room, silencing the few soldiers nearby. The cup slipped in my hand, spilling water across the table.
I stared at him, stunned. “Kael… it wasn’t my duty tonight.”
“That doesn’t matter! You should know better!” His chair scraped harsh against the floor as he stood, fists clenched.
For a second, I forgot how to breathe. His eyes were glowing faintly, not the warm golden they usually held but something darker, sharper,like a storm.
The room froze. No one moved. Even Axel, who usually jumped in, stayed quiet.
I swallowed, my throat dry. “Kael… you’re scaring me.”
Something flickered in his expression…regret? pain? but it vanished so fast I wasn’t sure I saw it. He dragged a hand through his hair, muttered something under his breath, and stormed out of the hall. The door slammed so hard the walls shook.
I sat frozen, the wet cup still in my hand. My heart beat too fast, ears ringing.
No one spoke until Axel cleared his throat. “Don’t mind him. You know Kael. He’s wound up. Always has been.”
I looked at him, but my words stuck. What I saw in Kael’s eyes wasn’t just anger. It was something else. Something wrong.
“He’s never shouted at me like that before,” I finally whispered.
Axel gave a short laugh, like he wanted to shake the tension from the air. “That’s because Willow’s in his life now. She’s distracting him. He doesn’t know how to deal with it.”
I frowned. “What does Willow have to do with the way he looked at me?”
Axel leaned back, folding his arms across his chest. “Everything. Kael’s a wolf, Kaida. Wolves lose their balance when they finally let someone close. He’s mated now. It changes him. He’s carrying it badly, that’s all. Don’t read into it.”
But I did read into it.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the way his eyes glowed, the sharpness of them, the way his voice cracked through the air like something inside him snapped. It wasn’t just stress. It wasn’t just Willow.
I knew my brother.
And that..whatever that was, wasn’t him.
Later, when I climbed the stairs, I stopped outside Willow’s door. I could hear her soft breathing inside, the sound steady, peaceful. My hand lingered on the wood. I almost knocked, almost asked her if she noticed Kael acting different, if she felt something strange about him too.
But I didn’t.
I didn’t want to worry her.
So I went to my own room, lay in bed staring at the ceiling, and thought about the flash I saw in Kael’s eyes. The way it made my skin crawl.
I turned over, buried my face in the pillow, and told myself Axel was right.
It was just Willow.
It was just change.
But in my chest, I knew I was lying.
- Writer
