THE WOLF WITHIN
1249 Words
Kaelen’s POV
Sleep would not come.
The weight of the night pressed against the stone walls of his chamber, but his wolf paced restlessly inside him, snarling in agitation. He had commanded silence, demanded obedience from his instincts a thousand times before, but this time the beast refused to bow.
Because of her ,Selene.
Kaelen sat at the edge of his bed, hands braced on his knees, the memory of her wide, stricken eyes burning behind his lids. She had seen Lucian. She had seen the boy she thought dead her son. The moment their gazes met, something had passed between them, something more dangerous than recognition. It was connection.
Lucian hadn’t spoken of it, but Kaelen had noticed the way the boy tilted his head, as though he’d heard a voice no one else could. His gaze had flicked between Kaelen and Selene with confusion he was too young to name. Kaelen knew better than to ignore it. The child had inherited power, dangerous power and if Selene’s presence stirred it awake, then the storm he had worked years to bury was clawing back to the surface.
His wolf growled again, not in warning this time, but in hunger. Possession.
“Silence,” Kaelen muttered under his breath, gripping his temples. But the beast did not keep still. It wanted her. Not simply as a body in his bed or a captive under his rule. No the wolf wanted her close, bound, marked. The idea made Kaelen’s stomach twist with rage. He had not fought, bled, and killed to build his dominion only to be undone by a woman whose very existence threatened his reign.
And yet… when she had stood trembling before him, every line of her body screaming fury and heartbreak, he had seen more than grief. He had seen strength. Fire banked but unbroken.
Kaelen cursed and rose, unable to remain still. If Selene’s wolf woke fully, if Lucian’s power grew under her presence… everything he’d buried about the past would come clawing free.
And Kaelen had killed to keep that past dead.
Selene’s POV
The chamber smelled of stone and iron. The heavy wooden door hummed faintly with wards she didn’t understand, but her wolf clawed at them from inside her chest, demanding freedom.
She had seen him. Lucian.
Her son’s face those storm grey eyes, that stubborn set to his jaw still seared her vision. She pressed her palms hard against her temples, as if pain could smother the memory, but it only sharpened. Her wolf howled within, louder than it had in years, louder than she could remember since the night of the fire.
The night everything was stolen.
Smoke. Screams. Blood.
Selene’s breath caught as the flash tore through her Alpha’s growl commanding retreat, the betrayal in his eyes as warriors she had trusted turned their blades inward. The nursery burning. Her infant’s cry as he was ripped from her arms.
Her wolf slammed against her ribs. Fight.
She staggered to her feet, pacing the narrow space, fingers curling into claws. The bond between her and Lucian had flared when their eyes met. She had felt it like a whisper across the bond no Alpha could sever. He hadn’t spoken, yet she had heard him. A boy’s voice, uncertain but achingly familiar.
Mother?
Tears stung her eyes. Her wolf answered with a snarl, shaking her body with its demand: Take him back. Rip apart anyone who stands in your way. Take what is ours.
But Kaelen was no ordinary Alpha. She had felt his dominance like chains pressing down on her lungs. And worse, some twisted part of her wolf wasn’t only resisting him
it was… reaching.
Selene sank onto the cot, clutching her knees, her breath ragged. No. She could not afford confusion. She had one mission: her son. Everything else Kaelen’s power, her wolf’s treacherous pull toward him, the shadows of the past had to burn away beneath it.
Kaelen’s POV
By dawn, he could not stand it any longer. He strolled through the keep, guards parting at his passage, and unlocked Selene’s chamber.
She was awake, sitting rigid against the wall, eyes glowing faintly with silver light. His wolf froze inside him, startled by the sight.
“You’re awake early,” Kaelen said, his voice like gravel.
Her gaze lifted to his. Defiant. Untamed. The air between them thickened with tension, charged like lightning before a storm.
“You kept him from me.” Her voice trembled, but not with weakness with fury. “All these years, you made me think he was dead.”
Kaelen’s jaw clenched. “He is mine.”
Selene shot to her feet, her wolf blazing in her stare. “He is mine. I carried him. I bled for him. You may have raised him under your roof, but do not dare claim what you stole.”
His wolf roared inside him, not in denial but in savage agreement. She belonged to him. So did the boy. The thought unsettled Kaelen more than her words.
“You’ll destroy him with this weakness,” Kaelen ground out, stepping closer, looming over her. “You have no idea what power runs in his veins. The blood of the man I killed flows through him. Your mate. Your Alpha.”
Selene’s chest heaved. “You killed a tyrant,” she spat. “You didn’t free us you replaced him with your own chains.”
Kaelen’s hand shot forward, gripping her chin, forcing her gaze up to meet his. Her wolf flared, clashing with his, silver against gold. The air shuddered between them.
For a heartbeat, her lips parted, breath mingling with his, the heat between them undeniable. His wolf surged, demanding he close the distance, taste her, claim her
Selene’s wolf broke free.
Silver light burst across her skin, her strength doubling as she shoved him back with a snarl that rattled the chamber walls. Kaelen stumbled, shock flaring through him not at the strength, but at the surge of familiarity. His wolf recognized her power, responded to it.
Selene’s POV
Her wolf flooded her veins, every sense sharpened to painful clarity. She saw him not only as Alpha, but as man his chest rising hard beneath his shirt, his golden eyes burning not with control but with… desire.
It shook her.
Selene bared her teeth. “I will take him back,” she whispered, every word dripping with the promise of war. “And if I must burn your world to ash to do it, I will.”
Kaelen’s stare didn’t falter. But beneath it, she saw the storm. He was shaken, just as she was. For the first time, she had pushed him back.
And then
Mother?
Her knees buckled. The voice rang inside her mind, clear as a bell. She gasped, clutching her head. Lucian.
Kaelen froze, his wolf bristling in alarm. “What did you hear?”
Selene lifted her gaze, tears shimmering, lips parting in wonder and terror. “Him,” she whispered. “I heard my son.”
Kaelen’s POV
The door creaked.
Lucian stood there, pale, his small hand gripping the frame. His eyes glowed faintly storm grey, lit with sparks of silver. He looked first at Selene, then at Kaelen, confusion flickering across his young face.
“Why…” Lucian’s voice was low, uncertain. “Why can I hear her thoughts?”
Kaelen’s blood chilled.
The past he had buried was clawing its way back with a vengeance.
- Writer
