Kaelen’s POV
“Mark her.”
Alex’s voice clawed through my skull time and again that morning. I gripped the edge of my desk until the wood groaned beneath my fingers.
No.
“She’s ours. You know it. I know it. Every nerve in this body knows it. Stop waiting for a piece of metal to tell you what your blood already screams.”
I slammed my palm flat against the desk. Papers scattered. A brass inkwell tipped sideways, dark liquid pooling across a supply report I hadn’t read.
I need proof.
“You need her.”
I shut him out. Or tried to. Alex prowled restlessly behind my ribs, pacing like a caged predator. He’d been relentless since yesterday. Since I’d held her wrist and felt her pulse race against my thumb. Since I’d watched her walk away with tears still wet on her pale face.
The sending ston
