Chapter 2: Unsettling Revelations
POV: Kael
My fist still hurts. It’s stupid, I know, but the ache feels better than admitting what’s really wrong with me. Her scent is still inside me, like I swallowed smoke and it refuses to leave. Damp earth after a storm, sharp, wild, heavy. I keep breathing it in even though she’s nowhere near. And my wolf won’t stop saying the same damn word.
Mate.
Over and over. Like he’s taunting me. Like I didn’t hear it the first hundred times.
I tell him to shut up. I slam my fist into the tree so hard the bark breaks apart and pain shoots all the way to my shoulder. My wolf just laughs, pacing, pushing, demanding. Mate. Claim her. Touch her again. I hit the tree again until my knuckles split and I can feel the blood running down. I tell myself it’s just pain, nothing else, but it doesn’t help. She’s still there, behind my eyes, in my chest, crawling into places I don’t want her.
She’s an omega. She doesn’t matter. She’s weak. She’s beneath me. She isn’t what the Moon would give to an Alpha. And yet the more I say it, the less I believe it. Because my wolf is restless, clawing, and hungry. Because I touched her and for a moment it felt like the ground itself shifted under my feet.
If anyone saw me like this, they’d know. They’d see the Alpha heir falling apart like some boy who doesn’t know how to control himself. I lean forward, hands on my knees, breathing hard, trying to quiet the madness inside me.
Then I hear it, a voice calls out my name.
“Kael?”
I snap up so fast my neck cracks. Lila. Of course. She’s leaning on a tree with her arms crossed, painted lips curved like she thinks she’s caught me doing something shameful. Maybe she has. Her voice is smooth as silk and it makes my skin crawl because my wolf reacts instantly, not with want but with disgust.
“You’re bleeding,” she says softly, eyes flicking to the blood dripping down my hand. She tilts her head like she’s studying me, then lets her gaze slide back up with that sly smile. “Training too hard? Or maybe… something else?” Her voice dips, like she already knows the answer.
I bare my teeth. “Go away, Lila.”
She doesn’t move. She pushes off the tree, slow, deliberate, and walks toward me. “Go away? Tonight of all nights? Don’t be ridiculous. The ceremony is about to start. Don’t tell me you’re nervous, Kael. You, nervous?” She laughs, soft and mocking. “No. You’re thinking about it though, aren’t you? The bond. Who it will be. Who will the Moon gift you?”
Her perfume smothers the air, too sweet, too sharp, and my wolf snaps his teeth inside me. He hates her. I’ve never felt him this hostile toward her before and it makes me grit my teeth harder. She comes closer, slow, her eyes narrowing, calculating.
“Why are you like this?” she asks, tilting her head. Then her smile sharpens. “Unless… It's her. Isn’t it?”
My body goes still, locked. That’s all the answer she needs. Her lips curl into a vicious grin. “The little omega. I saw the way you looked at her. Don’t you dare tell me…”
I slam her back against the tree before I even think about it, one hand gripping her arm so tight she gasps. “Careful, Lila,” I snarl in her face, my voice low and dangerous. “Say one more word and you’ll regret it.”
For the first time she flinches. But then she forces herself to smile again, defiance burning in her eyes. “If it’s true,” she whispers, “you’ll destroy yourself. And I’ll be there to watch.”
I shove her away, disgust boiling in me. My wolf paces, laughing darkly. I can’t tell if he’s laughing at her or at me.
I don’t make it far before a shadow cuts me off. My father. Alpha Orion. He doesn’t need to speak for my wolf to drop low inside me, growling in submission. His presence alone is enough to silence the entire clearing if he wanted it.
“You’re late,” he says, and his voice is iron.
“I wasn’t…”
“Don’t lie to me.” His tone cracks like a whip. His gaze burns right through me. “I smelled the shift in you all the way from the packhouse. You’re losing control.”
My jaw locks tight. “I’m fine.”
He steps forward, close enough that the air between us is thick with his power. His breath is hot on my face as he lowers his voice. “You are my heir. You do not lose control. You do not falter. Whatever weakness festers inside you, crush it tonight. Or I’ll crush it for you.”
My wolf snarls back at him, furious, but I shove it down hard. I bow my head just enough, even though the fire in my chest nearly chokes me. “Yes, Father.”
His smirk is cold, sharp as a blade. “Good. Now come. The ceremony begins.
---
The clearing is alive. Wolves everywhere, restless, the fire blazing in the center tall enough to lick the sky. Drums pound, voices rise, the ground itself feels like it’s humming beneath my boots. The air stinks of anticipation. Everyone waiting for fate to bind them, everyone whispering names.
“Kael will bond with Lila, just watch.” “No, the Moon wouldn’t waste him on her.” “The Alpha heir deserves more than beauty. He needs power.”
I hear every word though I don’t react. My face is stone, my arms crossed, but each word lands like a blade. I’m supposed to stand here untouched, unshaken, the heir everyone envies. But inside my wolf paces harder, teeth bared.
The elders start chanting, their voices thick and heavy, the rhythm pulling at the pack. Sparks leap into the sky, and wolves sway as the energy thickens. Then it happens. That pull. That unmistakable snap inside me, like a cord winding tight around my chest.
She’s here.
I don’t need to see her to know. Her scent slams into me like a storm, flooding me, choking me, undoing me. Rain. Earth. Fragile but fierce. My chest tightens until I can barely breathe. My wolf howls, clawing forward, demanding her.
And then I see her. Elara. She’s at the edge of the clearing, clutching a jug of water like someone sent her to serve, not to stand among us. The crowd stirs, voices mocking.
“What’s she doing here?” “An omega? At the marking?” “She probably thinks she can beg her way into someone’s bed.”
Laughter, cruel and sharp. She falters, but she doesn’t run. Her wide eyes meet mine, and in that exact moment, the bond detonates between us.
The fire roars higher, a column of sparks exploding into the sky. Elders stumble over their chant, the crowd gasps and surges. Whispers like knives: “No. It can’t be. The Alpha heir, bonded to her?”
My knees almost buckle under the weight of it. The connection sears me, dragging me toward her. I clench my fists so hard my nails cut into my palms. My wolf howls Mate! and I nearly tear myself apart holding him back.
Elara’s face crumples, shock and fear all over her. She clutches the jug like a shield. Then Lila’s scream cuts through the chaos. “NO! This is wrong! She bewitched him! She…”
“Silence!” Orion’s voice cracks across the clearing. The whole pack stills. His fury is hot, but not at her. At me. His gaze pins me like a spear.
Elara whispers something I barely hear: “I didn’t ask for this...”
It guts me. Because I believe in her. Because I feel it too.
My wolf surges, desperate. Claim her!
And I break. The words rip out before I can stop them. “I reject you.” The bond screams in protest, tearing me apart from the inside. My voice shakes but I force it harder. “You mean nothing to me.”
Gasps explode around us. Elara stumbles but she doesn’t fall. Her face hardens, her voice trembling but strong enough to reach me. “Good. Because I want nothing from you.”
The crowd roars. Wolves shifting, voices rising, some laughing, some cursing. Lila’s smirk returns, poisonous. My wolf explodes in rage. Pain rips through me, my body convulsing. Bones crack, muscles stretch, claws tear through my skin. Half-shift. I can’t stop it.
The pack panics, stumbling back. Some shift defensively, others howl in fear.
Orion’s voice thunders. “Stand down, Kael!”
“I…CAN’T!” My voice comes out twisted, broken between human and beast.
A warrior shouts, “Kill the witch before she curses the heir!” He lunges at Elara. She screams, dropping the jug, stumbling as wolves surge toward her.
And without a second thought, I move. My wolf takes control, snapping, lunging, tearing through anyone who gets in the way.
Then my father’s hand is on me, crushing my throat, slamming me into the dirt. His Alpha aura suffocates me. “Control yourself or I’ll kill you where you stand!”
The pack is frozen, staring. Some in awe. Some in terror. All waiting.
And Elara, cornered, trembling, surrounded, looks at me with wide eyes that ask one thing I can’t give her. Safety.
And in that firelit clearing, with my father’s hand choking me and my wolf ripping me apart, I know I’ve just doomed us both.