Chains of Denial

Aria hadn’t slept.

Even hours after the Alpha had declared her “under his protection,” her chest still throbbed with the echo of that strange bond. She sat in her cabin on the edge of the forest, clutching a blanket around her shoulders as though it could shield her from the weight of his gaze.

She wanted to forget him. To believe last night was a fever dream. But her lungs betrayed her. Each time she thought of putting distance between herself and the pack lands, the air grew thinner, harsher, until her body demanded she stop.

It wasn’t fair. She had spent her whole life invisible, unwanted, tolerated only because Mara had claimed her as an orphan child. Now, with a single look, the Alpha had unraveled her fragile solitude.

And worse, he had claimed her.

Aria buried her face in her hands. “What are you doing to me?”

---

Kael had not slept either.

He paced the length of his chamber, bare feet whispering against the stone floor. The bond gnawed at him like a ravenous wolf, tugging at his insides whenever he strayed too far from the cabin where she hid.

Her scent lingered in his mind — wild, untamed, addictive. His wolf prowled restlessly beneath his skin, snarling at the thought of her fear, her trembling. *Claim her,* it demanded. *Protect her.*

But Kael’s jaw clenched. He had been raised on duty. Every decision weighed against the needs of the pack. And the pack had chosen Selene.

Selene, who now waited in the outer chamber, her voice drifting through the door like venom-laced silk.

“You embarrassed me,” she snapped when he finally stepped out. “Before the entire pack, you cast me aside for some—some stray girl. Do you have any idea what the elders are saying?”

Kael leveled a hard stare at her. “I did not cast you aside. You still stand as Luna.”

“Then what is she?” Selene hissed. “Why did you shield her?”

Kael’s silence was answer enough.

Selene’s eyes narrowed, fury simmering beneath her perfect exterior. “If you think you can humiliate me and still keep me as your Luna, you are mistaken. That girl will bring you nothing but ruin.”

Kael’s temper flared, but he kept it leashed. “This conversation is over.”

He turned away, leaving Selene seething in the chamber. But even as he walked, his chest ached. Because part of him feared she was right.

---

The next day, Aria tried to keep to herself. She gathered herbs by the stream, kept her hood low in the market, avoided the curious stares of villagers who had already heard whispers of the Alpha’s “mysterious girl.”

But her lungs betrayed her again. The farther she strayed from the pack’s center, the harder breathing became. By midday, she collapsed against a tree, gasping.

“Damn it,” she wheezed.

“You shouldn’t fight it.”

Aria’s head jerked up. Kael stood a few paces away, golden eyes locked on her, arms folded across his chest. He looked like he belonged to another world — tall, broad, radiating power and quiet menace.

Her stomach twisted. “Don’t follow me.”

“You’re the one suffocating without me,” he said flatly.

Her cheeks flushed hot. “Then stay away! If I can’t breathe, then so be it. I don’t need your pity, Alpha.”

Kael stepped closer, his shadow swallowing hers. “This isn’t pity. It’s fact. Whatever binds us—” His voice roughened, low and dangerous. “—you feel it too.”

Aria swallowed hard, refusing to meet his gaze. “I don’t want it.”

“Neither do I.”

That startled her. Her eyes snapped up, meeting his. For the briefest moment, she saw something raw in him — a man torn between desire and duty, between instinct and command.

They stood like that, the silence crackling, the bond thrumming like a live wire between them.

Then Kael exhaled, a growl lacing his breath. “Stay close to the pack. If you wander too far, you’ll suffocate. And I won’t always be there to pull you back.”

Aria clenched her fists, hating the truth in his words. Hating him for being right.

When he turned to leave, she whispered, “Why me?”

Kael froze. His shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t turn back. “I don’t know.”

And then he was gone, leaving her heart pounding, her lungs aching, her soul tangled in chains she could not break.

---

That night, Selene stood before the Moonstone shrine, her nails biting into her palms. The sacred stone pulsed faintly beneath the moonlight, a reminder of her divine claim.

“She cannot take this from me,” Selene whispered fiercely. “I am Luna. I was chosen.”

But in the silence of the shrine, she swore she heard laughter — faint, feminine, cruel.

Selene’s fury hardened into resolve. If the Alpha would not cast the girl out, Selene would see to it herself.

---