Tasted the Alpha King

Chapter 3 What They See

I woke to the sound of rain against the window. The bed was still empty on Kael’s side. I lay there listening to the soft drumming and tried to remember the last time he had reached for me in the night. The memory felt old and distant, like something that belonged to another woman.

Downstairs the house was already moving. Lyra’s voice. The pup’s high laugh. Kael’s low answers. I got up slower than usual.

In the kitchen the scene was the same. Lyra at the stove. Kael beside the high chair. The pup reaching for him with sticky fingers. I poured tea and sat in my place. No one asked if I had slept well.

Kael looked over once. “Border meeting was moved to this afternoon. I’ll be gone most of the day.”

“All right.”

He nodded and went back to the child. Lyra set a plate in front of me without speaking. I ate what I could and left the rest.

The rain kept falling. I pulled on a coat and walked the eastern path anyway. The ground was soft under my boots. Water dripped from the trees and soaked the hem of my dress. I did not mind. The cold made the quiet inside me feel sharper, more honest.

Near the old oak I found Mira waiting under the branches. She had her hood up and her arms crossed against the rain.

“I thought you might come this way,” she said.

“You were looking for me?”

“I was walking. Then I saw you.” She paused. “Pack talk is starting, Selene.”

I kept my face still. “About what?”

“About the Luna who no longer sits beside her Alpha at the evening fire. About the woman who walks alone while another female and a child take her place at the table.” Mira’s voice stayed even. “People notice. They always do.”

I looked out at the wet trees. “Let them notice.”

“It’s not that simple. Some of them are starting to ask if the bond is failing. Others wonder if you have stepped aside on purpose.”

The words sat heavy between us. I felt the old pride rise, thin and tired.

“I have not stepped aside.”

“I know. But silence looks like agreement to people who want a clean story.” Mira shifted her weight. “I’m telling you because someone should. The rest of them will only watch.”

I nodded once. “Thank you.”

She studied me for a longer moment. “If you ever decide you are done being quiet, find me first.”

Then she left. I stayed under the oak until the rain soaked through my coat. The cold felt cleaner than the warm rooms of the house.

By the time I returned, Kael was already gone. Lyra sat in the sitting room with the pup asleep against her shoulder. She looked up when I entered and offered the same careful smile.

“You’re wet,” she said. “I’ll get you a towel.”

“I can manage.”

She stood anyway and brought one from the hall. I took it and dried my face and hands. The pup stirred and made a small sound. Lyra settled him again with a soft murmur.

“Kael said he might bring more of those cakes,” she said. “The boy asked for them this morning.”

“That’s good.”

She hesitated. “Selene… about earlier. In the kitchen. I didn’t mean to make things harder.”

“You didn’t.”

“I think I did. You’ve been different these past days. Quieter.”

I folded the towel and set it aside. “I’ve always been quiet.”

“Not like this.”

I met her eyes. For a second something real flickered there—uncertainty, maybe guilt. Then it was gone, smoothed over.

“I’m fine, Lyra. Really.”

She nodded and sat back down with the child. I went upstairs and changed into dry clothes. The wet dress hung over the chair like a reminder of the rain and Mira’s words.

Pack talk.

I had known it would come. I had just not expected it to arrive so soon, or to hurt in such a small, precise way.

Kael returned near evening. I heard him in the hall, the pup’s excited shout, Lyra’s soft greeting. I stayed in the office until the sounds moved to the dining room. Only then did I come down.

Dinner followed the usual pattern. Kael spoke about the border scouts and a possible increase in patrols near the eastern line. Lyra asked questions and listened. The pup banged his spoon and laughed when Kael made a face at him. I ate and said almost nothing.

Once Kael glanced at me across the table. “You’re quiet tonight.”

“I’m listening.”

He frowned slightly but did not push. The meal continued around me.

Afterward I cleared the dishes. Lyra took the boy upstairs. Kael lingered in the doorway again.

“Mira spoke to you today.”

I kept my hands in the water. “She did.”

“What did she say?”

“That people are talking.”

Kael was silent for a moment. “About us.”

“About me.”

He exhaled. “I’ll handle it.”

“How?”

“I’ll make it clear nothing has changed.”

I turned off the water and faced him. “Everything has changed, Kael. You just haven’t decided to look at it yet.”

His jaw tightened. “You’re making this harder than it needs to be.”

“Am I?”

“Yes. Lyra and the boy are family. I’m doing what any Alpha would do. You’re the one turning it into something else.”

The words landed clean and cold. I felt the anger rise again, slower this time, more solid.

“I’m not turning it into anything,” I said. “I’m living in it.”

Kael looked at me like he no longer recognized the woman standing in his kitchen. Then he shook his head and walked away. I listened to his footsteps on the stairs and the soft close of the bedroom door.

Later I sat on the edge of the bed and pressed my fingers to the mark on my neck. Still quiet. Still distant. I wondered if Kael could still feel me at all on the other end, or if the bond had already decided I was no longer worth answering.

Rain kept falling against the window. I lay down in the dark and stared at the ceiling until my eyes burned.

Sleep came in pieces. In one of the short dreams the trees returned, and the eyes that did not look through me. This time the presence felt closer, heavier, as if it had taken a step toward the edge of the woods and was waiting to see whether I would notice.

I woke with my heart beating hard and the rain still falling.

In the quiet that followed I understood something simple.

The pack was already watching.

And soon they would not be the only ones.