OMEGA

CHAPTER NINE

AMARA'S POV|

I didn’t tell anyone about the vision.

Not Kael.

Not Liana.

Not even my wolf.

Some truths are too heavy to speak aloud. Too tangled in what they might mean. And this one—it felt like holding a storm inside my chest.

A storm with my mother’s voice at the center of it.

You’re the key.

But the key to what?

What lies beneath that seal? What happens when it breaks?

I didn’t know.

And until I did—I’d keep it to myself.

When I returned from the woods, Kael was already in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with a mug in his hand. Shirtless again, of course—his skin gold in the morning light, every inch of him carved in quiet strength.

His eyes found me the second I stepped through the door.

I froze.

The bond thrummed between us like a live wire. We hadn’t spoken since last night. Not really. But the way he looked at me now…

He knew something had shifted.

“You’re not a good liar,” he said, voice low, even. “Your scent changes when you’re hiding something.”

My heart skipped.

He always did that. Sniff the air like he could read my thoughts straight through my skin.

“What do I smell like?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

A flicker of something crossed his face—surprise, hunger, something darker.

“You smell like temptation,” he said, voice rough. “Wrapped in moonlight… and sorrow.”

I held his gaze, pulse fluttering in my neck.

“You always say that.”

“Because it’s true.”

I took a slow step forward, daring to close the space between us. “And you. You smell like—” I paused, inhaling carefully.

It hit me all over again.

That scent.

Earth and cedar. Power and pine. Like wild forests after rain… like clean smoke and whispered oaths in the dark. Like safety. And danger.

“You smell like earth and cedar,” I said finally. “Like something wild… trying to stay still. Like a storm holding its breath.”

His jaw twitched.

But he didn’t look away.

Something passed between us—raw and unspoken. If I said one more word, he would’ve closed the distance. And I wasn’t sure I would’ve stopped him.

So I backed away instead.

“You didn’t sleep much,” he said, watching me closely.

“No. I went for a walk.”

“Into the woods.”

It wasn’t a question.

I nodded, bracing for more.

But he just sipped from his mug and said, “Next time, take me with you.”

There was no command in his voice. Just quiet protectiveness.

It made something ache inside me.

“I can take care of myself.”

“I know,” he said softly. “But that doesn’t mean you have to.”

A pause.

Then—

“You’re not alone anymore, Amara.”

The words hit deeper than I expected.

I swallowed hard and looked away. My hand brushed against the edge of the counter—and that’s when I saw it.

A scroll.

Tied in deep crimson string.

Sitting at the far end of the table where it hadn’t been before.

Kael noticed my sudden stillness.

“What is it?”

“I… I don’t know,” I said, reaching for it slowly. My fingers trembled.

I broke the string.

Unrolled the parchment.

There, in bold, ancient script—written in a language I shouldn't have known but somehow did—were just three words:

“The seal cracks.”

I dropped it.

My blood turned to ice.

Kael was already beside me. He picked up the scroll and studied it, his brows furrowed.

“You know what this means?”

I looked at him, heart pounding.

Lie.

Protect the secret.

You’re the key.

“No,” I whispered. “I don’t.”

But even as I said it, the mark in the forest pulsed in my memory.

The seal wasn’t just cracking.

It was waking.

And whatever lay beneath…

Was coming.