Chapter Seventeen

The sun had begun to rise—soft, pale light bleeding across the skyline and slipping in through the penthouse windows. The night had been long, merciless. Every hour dragged by with heaviness in its shadow.

Victoria sat on the edge of the couch, her leg bouncing anxiously as she stared at the floor, her thoughts spinning far too fast.

“The diner,” she whispered suddenly, sitting upright. “The diner—”

Her brother looked over from the window, brow furrowed.

“I left it,” she continued in a near-panic. “It’s still there. It’s—blood, glass, claw marks—oh god. The morning shift’s gonna show up in less than an hour. I have to go. I have to clean it before—”

“Victoria,” his voice was low, calm. Commanding. “It’s handled.”

She blinked at him.

“I already sent a team. The scene was cleaned, the building is locked up, and no one will be showing up for at least two days under the guise of emergency plumbing. You’re covered.”

She sagged with a deep breath of relief, only to tense again.

“I shouldn’t have left it like that,” she murmured. “I wasn’t thinking. I just—”

“You were attacked,” he reminded her. “Don’t punish yourself for surviving.”

Victoria didn’t answer. Her shoulders slumped, and exhaustion finally pulled at her limbs in a way that couldn’t be ignored. She hadn’t even taken off her shoes.

“Go lie down,” he said softly. “Guest room’s made. You’re not going anywhere, not after tonight.”

She hesitated, glancing once toward the hallway where Celeste was sleeping, then back at her brother. “You’ll stay with her?”

He nodded. “Go rest.”

Without another word, Victoria stood, dragging her feet toward the guest room. The moment her head hit the pillow, her breath evened, and sleep claimed her.

The Alpha King was alone again.

The quiet was louder now. Thick. Pressing.

He moved without thinking, drawn forward by something he didn’t know how to name. He stepped down the hall and into his bedroom, the soft hush of his footsteps nearly swallowed by the silence.

She lay there—still, quiet, tangled in the sheets. Celeste.

His breath caught.

Even in sleep, there was something... distant in her expression. Like she was somewhere far away, too deep in her dreams—or memories—to be reached.

But gods, she was beautiful.

Not in the soft, polished way women were trained to be. But in a wild, forgotten kind of way. Her silver hair spilled across his pillows like strands of moonlight, her skin pale against the dark sheets, marred only by the faint marks of fading wounds. Some fresh. Some old. Some clearly never healed.

She looked exhausted.

She looked like someone who had learned pain too intimately. Like someone who carried too much alone for too long.

And yet—his wolf stirred with longing.

She’s ours.

The Alpha King swallowed, forcing himself not to reach out.

His gaze traveled to her lips, parted ever so slightly in sleep. To the rise and fall of her chest. To the small twitch of her fingers as if even in dreams, she wasn’t safe.

He didn’t want to admit it.

Not to himself. Not to anyone.

**

The room was quiet—too quiet for how loud his mind had become.

He stood beside the bed, every inch of him taut with restraint. The woman lying beneath his sheets was barely breathing, her pulse soft but steady. Her presence haunted the space like a secret not yet spoken.

Celeste.

He hadn’t said her name aloud since the medic confirmed it. But even now, the syllables pulsed on his tongue like a heartbeat.

Ace stirred again. Stronger this time.

She’s ours, the wolf growled from inside, low and ragged. You felt it. The second you saw her, you knew.

“She doesn’t even know me.”

Not yet. But we know her. And that’s enough.

“She’s not ready. Neither am I.”

So, you’ll wait? Like a coward?

His jaw flexed. “Like a king,” he muttered under his breath.

Ace snapped back.

We are not just kings. We are wolves. And she is our mate. She is the howl in the silence. The storm in our blood. You ache for her just like I do. Don’t lie to yourself.

He clenched his fists at his sides, fingers twitching. His wolf had been clawing at the edges of control since the moment Celeste had landed that final blow in the diner—raw, violent, unshackled. Her wolf had burst through, just for a moment, and that was all it had taken to tear open something ancient between them.

And then she collapsed.

Now here she was. Motionless. Caught in whatever storm brewed behind her still eyelids.

The Alpha King lowered himself into the chair beside the bed, head bowed into his hands.

Look at her, Ace whispered again, more gently this time. She’s surviving. That’s what makes her powerful. Even broken, she fought for that Vic. For herself.

“She’s not broken,” he said quietly.

No, Ace agreed. But she’s been made to feel like she is.

The silence stretched between them like a scar.

The Alpha King looked up slowly, letting his gaze fall over the woman who had torn apart his instincts, shaken his reign, and awakened a longing he didn’t even recognize.

“She doesn’t want this,” he admitted. “The bond. The weight. Me.”

Maybe not now, Ace said. But we don’t give up on what’s ours.

His throat tightened. “What if I hurt her? What if I already have?”

Then you earn her trust. You wait. You protect her even if she hates you for it. But you don’t walk away.

He let out a long breath. There was no winning against Ace when he was right.

She shifted slightly in her sleep, her brow creasing for a brief moment. The king leaned forward without thinking, brushing a loose strand of silver hair from her cheek with the back of his knuckles.

The touch was feather-light.

She didn’t stir.

We were cursed to never have a fated mate, Ace said suddenly, his voice softer now, raw. But then she walked into our life.

He swallowed, throat tight.

“Maybe she’s not the gift we were promised,” he whispered. “Maybe she’s the test.”

Then we pass it. No matter what it costs.

The Alpha King leaned back again, staring at the ceiling. Time moved slowly. Hours like centuries.

But he didn’t leave her side.

He couldn't.

And in the deepest part of him, where the beast and the man shared one soul, they waited.