Chapter Twenty-Four: The Chains We Choose
360 Words
I try to leave the next morning.
Try.
But Kael is already waiting—on the edge of camp, arms folded, shadowed eyes locked on mine like he never slept.
"You’re not going anywhere," he says.
"I'm not yours to cage," I snap.
"No," he replies, stepping into my path. "But you're mine to fight for."
The camp watches us—guards pausing, whispers swirling like smoke.
He doesn't care.
Not anymore.
“You think I’m afraid of you?” I ask.
“No,” he says, voice low. “I think you’re afraid of how much you want to stay.”
I clench my fists.
“I’m afraid of what loving you costs me.”
“Then let me pay,” he growls. “Let me burn for what I’ve done.”
I laugh bitterly. “You’re not sorry you did it. You’re sorry I found out.”
That cuts.
He doesn’t deny it.
“I made choices to protect the pack,” he says. “But I should’ve told you the truth. All of it.”
“Too late.”
“Maybe. But I’m still here. And I’m not letting you walk into the fire alone.”
“What if I am the fire?”
He steps closer, voice like gravel and thunder. “Then let me burn with you.”
The words hit harder than they should.
I feel them deep—in the scars, in the places I still wanted him.
“You can’t just say pretty things and expect me to forget.”
“I don’t want you to forget,” he says. “I want you to make me pay. Bleed me dry if you have to—but don’t shut me out.”
I want to hate him.
I want to scream.
Instead, I whisper, “You’re suffocating me.”
His hand reaches for mine.
But I step back.
And I see it—that c***k in his control. The unraveling.
Kael, the Cold-Hearted Alpha, is breaking.
And he’s tightening his grip before he crumbles.
Because in his world?
If he can’t have you—
He’ll keep you.
No matter the cost.
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- Writer
