THE MATE THE ROGUE ALPHA WAS MEANT TO KILL

Chapter 19—Marking Territory

Elara's POV

Kael's expression did not change but his voice did, the warmth that had been in it all session pulling back into something cooler and more measured, his eyes fixed on Ravin at the far edge of the field.

"What is he doing here?" he said quietly, not loudly enough for anyone else to hear but with enough weight in it that I understood it was not a casual question.

I kept my voice even. "He wanted to observe."

Kael looked at me then, a brief searching look that lasted just long enough to make clear he was not entirely satisfied with that answer, and I held his gaze without offering anything more than what I had already said, and after a moment he turned back to the session without pushing it further, which I appreciated and also did not fully trust because Kael letting something go cleanly was not something that happened often in my experience of him.

Ravin stayed at the edge of the field with his arms crossed and his bag at his feet and said nothing, and I did not look at him directly because looking at him directly right now felt like it would give too much away, and whatever tension was already building between him and Kael across that stretch of open grass I did not particularly want to add fuel to it by making the situation obvious.

We went back to work and I tried to focus entirely on what Kael was showing me, which was easier than I expected once my wolf engaged properly, because my wolf apparently had opinions about being used and all of them were enthusiastic.

I was not expecting to find the session genuinely useful but I did, and I was not expecting to impress anyone with anything but apparently that was also happening, because Maren stopped me after a particularly fast reaction drill and said, with the matter of fact tone of someone who did not give empty compliments, "Your instincts are already better than most wolves twice your training time."

I did not know what to do with that so I said thank you and kept moving.

Kael noticed. I could tell by the way he watched me for the next portion of the session, less like an instructor and more like someone quietly recalibrating something, and when we broke for water he stood beside me and said, "You have a natural read on your wolf that most people spend months developing. That is not something you can teach."

"My bloodline," I said, because it was the simplest explanation and also the true one.

"Maybe," he said. "But bloodline gives you potential. What you are doing with it is yours."

I looked at him. He was being genuine and I knew it and I filed it away without letting it become complicated, because Kael being a decent person in this moment did not undo the other things and did not change what I had already chosen, and he seemed to understand that too because he turned back to the session without making it into anything more.

The session wrapped up just as the sky made its decision.

The first drops came lightly, the kind that made you look up unsure whether it was actually raining or just the wind moving through wet leaves, and then within minutes it had fully committed, steady and warm, and the training field cleared fast as pack members grabbed their things and ran for cover in every direction.

Kael looked at me with rain already spotting his shoulders. "Get inside," he said. "Good session, Elara come back next week."

I grabbed my bag and ran, and Ravin appeared beside me from nowhere the way he sometimes did, falling into step without announcing himself, and we moved fast across the school grounds toward the dormitory building with the rain coming down properly now and the grounds emptying out around us until it was just the two of us crossing the open stretch between the training field and the east wing.

I was laughing slightly by the time we spotted the narrow covered shelter near the dormitory entrance and ducked under it together, breathless and wet.

I pushed my wet hair back from my face and turned to look at him and he was already looking at me, rain darkening his jacket at the shoulders, and he was not laughing but there was something in his expression that was warm and close to it.

"You impressed them," he said.

"You were watching very closely for someone who came to observe," I said.

"I was watching you," he said simply, like the distinction was obvious, and I felt my face do something I could not control.

"Was that why you came?" I said. "To watch me?"

"Partly," he said.

"And the other part?"

He looked at me for a moment. "Kael had his hand on yours when I arrived."

I held his gaze. "He was guiding me across the field."

"I know what he was doing," and I could hear the control in his voice even though nothing in his face gave it away, and I decided not to point that out because some things were better left where they were.

"You were jealous," I said instead, because apparently I had decided to point it out.

He did not answer immediately, which was its own kind of answer.

"You are my girlfriend," he said finally, quiet and certain, like that was a complete sentence and also an explanation for everything that had preceded it.

"I know."

"Then you understand," he said.

I looked at him for a long moment and then said, "For someone who does not talk about his feelings you just communicated a lot of them."

The corner of his mouth moved. "Do not push it," he said, and I laughed and the rain fell around the shelter in a soft curtain and the grounds beyond us were completely empty and quiet in the way that only happened when weather pushed everyone indoors and left the space to itself.

Ravin reached out and tucked a strand of wet hair back from my face the way he always did and then his hand stayed against my cheek and he looked at me the way he had in the garden, and I felt the warmth of it even with the rain cold on my skin.

He pulled me closer and kissed me as the rain fell around us.