Between Two Wolves
1389 Words
Chapter 12: Between Two Wolves
Adira pressed the blade against the whetstone again and again, even though the edge had long since been honed to perfection. Her hands moved automatically, but her thoughts were fractured, wild. Images flickered through her mind: Kael’s voice slicing through the council chamber, defending her. His scent curled around her when he passed too close. The sound of his voice low and steady when he stood between her and the accusation that could’ve ended everything.
She clenched her jaw.
She didn’t want to think about him. She didn’t want to remember how his voice had once been the only thing that made her feel safe. Or how his betrayal had taught her never to trust safety again.
He was not the boy she remembered.
He was the enemy.
And yet... her wolf stirred whenever he was near. No matter how many times she buried the instinct, it clawed its way back up, wild and relentless.
“Still pretending nothing’s changed?”
Adira flinched.
Ronan’s voice came from behind her low, rough with emotion. She hadn’t even heard him approach, which meant her defenses were slipping. That was dangerous.
She didn’t turn around. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve been distracted for days.” His tone wasn’t angry. It was worse. It was quiet. Hurt. “You hesitate in drills. You flinch when I touch you. And you’re sharpening a blade that doesn’t need sharpening.”
She looked down at the dagger in her hand. The stone had scratched it. She cursed softly and finally turned to face him.
“I’m fine,” she said, too quickly.
Ronan stepped closer. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not”
“You are.” He cut her off, voice rising now. “You’re lying to yourself. I can smell it, Adira. You think I don’t notice? You think I can’t feel it? Your wolf is shifting when he’s near.”
Adira’s spine went stiff. “This has nothing to do with him.”
“Then why do you go still when he walks into a room? Why do your eyes follow him even when you pretend they don’t?” His voice cracked on the last word. “Is it the bond?”
“I don’t want it,” she snapped.
“But it’s there.” His voice was barely a whisper.
Silence stretched between them. Thick. Suffocating.
Finally, she spoke, eyes glittering with unshed fury. “I came here to kill him, Ronan. I haven’t forgotten that. I won’t forget it. Whatever my wolf wants, whatever ancient thread of magic ties us together it doesn’t matter. I make the decisions. Not instinct. Not fate.”
Ronan stared at her like she’d just gutted him. “And what about me?” he asked.
That stopped her cold.
“What we’ve been through. What we’ve survived. You think that was just survival for me? You think I stayed by your side all these years because of guilt? I love you, Adira.”
She looked away.
“I have always loved you Adira,” he continued, stepping closer. “I love the pain and the rage and the way you still get up every time the world tries to crush you. I’ve loved you since the day I saved you.”
“Don’t,” she said hoarsely.
“Why not?”
“Because if you make me feel that now, I might lose focus. And I can’t lose focus.”
Ronan’s jaw clenched. “And Kael?”
“He is the focus. He is the reason I’m here.”
But her voice shook. Just enough for Ronan to catch it.
“You don’t get to have it both ways,” he said, backing away. “If you’re going to destroy him, do it. But don’t lie to me while you fall for him all over again.”
She didn’t stop him as he left. Didn’t call after him. Couldn’t.
Her hands were trembling.
And her wolf was howling inside her.
Kael’s POV
The room was dark, lit only by the flickering embers in the hearth. Kael’s shirt was torn open at the chest, claws half-extended, skin shimmering with the threat of a shift he could no longer hold at bay.
His breaths came short and ragged.
She was close. He could smell her. Not just the surface scent she carried sweat, blood, earth but the deeper thread. The one no magic could mask. The one his wolf remembered.
“Enough,” Kael growled at his reflection. His voice was gravel and fire. “Control yourself.”
His bones cracked, reforming slightly before snapping back. His wolf was clawing for the surface. It wasn’t just restless anymore it was ravenous.
This was dangerous.
He paced the floor, bare feet slamming against the stone. His skin burned. His head ached.
She was alive.
Not just alive here. Right under his nose. Right in his pack. And the longer she stayed, the more his guilt twisted like a knife in his gut.
He had ordered that raid and capture.
He had watched her parents burn.
And now she stood before him as if fate was testing whether he could undo the past or pay for it.
A growl tore from his throat, guttural and raw. His claws sank into the stone wall, chipping it as he gritted his teeth against the shift.
He saw her eyes when she fought. Saw the flicker of memory there. The ghost of someone he should’ve protected. Someone he thought he’d lost.
She was haunting him. And he was unraveling.
The door creaked behind him.
His Beta entered, paused, then exhaled. “You’re losing it.”
Kael didn’t look at him. “I’m fine.”
“Like hell you are.”
“I said I’m fine.”
The Beta stepped forward, folding his arms. “You growled at a council member today.”
“He insulted a warrior who won the Alpha Trials.”
“He mentioned her. You nearly shifted in the war room.”
Kael turned, baring his teeth. “You think I don’t know how bad this is?”
“I think you need to face it. If she’s who you think she is...”
Kael's voice dropped to a whisper. “She is.”
“Then you need to decide. Because your wolf doesn’t care about politics. And soon, neither will the council.”
Kael nodded slowly, breathing through the fire in his chest. “I won’t lose control.”
His Beta looked unconvinced. “Then start acting like it. Before she costs you everything.”
Later that night – Adira’s POV
The wind carried Kael’s scent again.
Adira stood at the edge of the cliffs behind the barracks, alone, the moonlight silvering her skin. She’d come out here to run — to clear her head but her wolf wouldn’t let her shift. It was too stirred, too tangled in longing and warning.
She hated how close she’d come to breaking down in front of Ronan.
She hated the flash of guilt in Kael’s eyes every time he looked at her.
Most of all, she hated how some part of her remembered him before he was Alpha, before the bloodshed still ached for the boy who had once made her laugh.
But that boy was dead.
And she had to make sure the man didn’t destroy everything all over again.
A sound behind her made her spin, knife raised but it was just a whisper of leaves. No threat. Just the wind.
Still, her heart wouldn’t slow.
Because something was coming.
And she wasn’t sure which scared her more, Kael, Ronan, or herself.
Kael collapsed in the forest clearing behind the Alpha Hall, breath heaving, body slick with sweat. His wolf had taken him halfway through the shift before he’d managed to pull back.
He roared at the moon, low and guttural.
His claws were out.
His eyes were gold.
And in his mind, all he could see was her. That moment she looked at him like she wanted to hate him but couldn’t. Like she was drowning in the same madness.
“I’m losing her again,” he whispered, trembling.
His wolf snarled in reply.
Not again.
Not this time.
This time, they would claim her.
- Writer
