The Choice Made in the Dark
Kael closed the door to his bedroom quietly and leaned his forehead against the wood.
For a long moment, he didn’t move.
The pack house was settling around him — the low murmur of voices drifting through the halls, the familiar creak of beams, the muted sounds of wolves finding rest after a day thick with unease. Normally, that rhythm grounded him.
Tonight, it felt like a cage.
He straightened slowly and crossed the room, lighting the single lantern near his desk. The small flame flickered, casting shadows across the walls — trophies from hunts, maps of pack land, the symbols of a future that had always been assumed rather than chosen.
He sat on the edge of his bed and let out a breath he’d been holding since the clearing.
Ava.
Her name rose unbidden, se
