Leah Carter's Point of View
Kael took a step back as if scorched by something unholy. His gaze burned into mine, not with the smoldering dominance he wore like a second skin, but with confusion, fear, even. The mate bond. That was what I’d just felt. I’d read about it in the old lore, an ancient, sacred connection, forged not by choice, but by fate. Rare. Binding. Eternal.
And yet… I was human.
“No,” Kael said again, his voice hoarse now, cracking like brittle bone under pressure. He shook his head slowly, as if the gesture could undo what had just passed between us. “This is a mistake. This can’t be right.”
I stepped back instinctively, my heart thundering in my chest. My body still pulsed with that energy, like the lingering vibration of a bell that had been struck too hard. But he w
