Chapter 3
974 Words
The First Claim of Blood
The first growl came from the trees.
Low. Deep. Close.
My entire body went rigid.
They were here.
Shadows moved between the trunks, fast and coordinated. Not wild rogues. Pack hunters.
Ronan’s pack.
My chest tightened painfully as memories hit me at once. The ceremony. The rejection. The laughter.
Now they had followed me into forbidden territory.
I stepped back instinctively.
But something stopped me.
A hand at my waist.
Firm. Unmovable.
“You stay behind me,” Kael Draven said again, his voice colder now.
“I told you I don’t take orders,” I snapped, though my voice shook.
His eyes flicked to mine for a brief second.
“You do tonight.”
Before I could argue, they came out.
Five of them.
All shifting into partial forms, claws already extended, eyes glowing with aggression.
At the front stood Ronan.
My breath caught.
Even here, even now, he looked at me like I was something he had thrown away.
“Alina,” he said slowly, smiling like I was already his again. “Come back.”
A bitter laugh almost escaped me.
“After everything?” I whispered.
“You belong to my pack,” he said firmly. “Not to him.”
His gaze shifted to Kael.
The air changed instantly.
Like pressure dropping before a storm.
Kael stepped forward slightly, placing himself fully between me and them now.
“I don’t remember inviting guests,” Kael said calmly.
Ronan’s jaw tightened.
“This is pack business. Stay out of it.”
Kael tilted his head slightly.
And smiled.
That was the moment I knew something bad was coming.
“You brought hunters into my territory,” Kael said softly. “And you are telling me to stay out of it?”
Silence.
Even the wind felt like it stopped.
Ronan’s expression darkened.
“She is ours.”
That word.
Ours.
Something inside me snapped.
Before I could stop myself, I stepped forward.
“I am not yours,” I said sharply. “Not anymore. You rejected me.”
Ronan’s eyes flickered.
“You are confused,” he said. “You will come back when you calm down.”
Kael moved.
So fast I barely saw it.
One moment he was beside me.
The next, he was in front of Ronan.
A single strike.
Ronan flew back into a tree.
The sound of impact echoed through the forest.
I froze.
The others shifted instantly, growling, circling in.
But Kael didn’t look worried.
He looked… amused.
“You came into my land,” he said quietly, “for a woman who no longer belongs to you.”
Ronan rose slowly, wiping blood from his lip.
“She is weak without her pack.”
Kael’s eyes lifted.
And something in them darkened.
“She is not weak,” he said.
A pause.
“She is just unclaimed.”
The words hit me harder than I expected.
Unclaimed.
Like I was something waiting.
Something unfinished.
My breath caught.
Ronan growled.
“Then we take her back.”
Everything exploded.
The forest erupted into movement.
Claws. Shadows. Power.
I barely had time to react before one of them lunged at me.
I froze.
But Kael was already there.
His arm shot out, grabbing the attacker mid-air and slamming him into the ground.
The impact cracked the earth.
My heart pounded violently.
This was not a normal fight.
This was dominance.
Pure, controlled destruction.
Ronan came at Kael next.
This time faster.
Stronger.
The two collided like storms.
The sound of impact shook the trees.
I stumbled back, trying to stay upright as chaos unfolded around me.
But then—
Someone grabbed my arm.
Hard.
I gasped.
A rogue.
Not Kael’s focus. Not Ronan’s.
A mistake.
His claws pressed against my skin.
“Come with me,” he hissed.
Panic hit me.
I struggled, but he was stronger.
“Let go of me!”
“Boss wants you alive—”
He didn’t finish.
A hand wrapped around his neck.
And stopped him mid-sentence.
Kael.
He didn’t even look at me.
His voice was dangerously calm.
“Take your hands off her.”
The rogue hesitated.
That was his mistake.
Kael twisted.
A sharp sound.
And the body dropped instantly.
Silence hit me like a wave.
Kael turned slowly toward me.
His eyes landed on my wrist where the rogue had touched me.
Something shifted in his expression.
Not anger.
Something deeper.
Something heavier.
“You are bleeding,” he said.
I looked down.
A small cut.
Nothing serious.
But his gaze did not soften.
It darkened.
Ronan, from across the clearing, shouted something I didn’t fully hear.
But Kael wasn’t listening anymore.
He stepped closer to me.
Slow.
Controlled.
The world around us felt distant now.
“Stay still,” he said quietly.
I should have moved away.
I should have said no.
But I didn’t.
His fingers brushed my wrist.
Warm.
Deliberate.
And something inside me reacted instantly.
My breath hitched.
His eyes lifted to mine.
And for a second, everything else disappeared.
The fight.
The forest.
Even Ronan.
Only him.
“You feel it too,” he said softly.
My throat tightened.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I whispered.
His hand tightened slightly around my wrist.
Not painful.
Possessive.
“You do.”
A pause.
Then he leaned closer.
Close enough that I could feel his breath.
“You are not just unclaimed,” he said quietly.
My heart stopped.
“You are resisting your claim.”
The words shattered something inside me.
Because deep down…
I knew I was not safe anymore.
Not from them.
Not from him.
Ronan’s roar echoed again.
But Kael didn’t turn.
His eyes stayed on mine.
And his grip tightened just slightly.
Not letting go.
Not now.
Not ever.
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