Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Solene's POV

Ex mate. I reminded myself bitterly. As the throbbing from my broken mate bond increased.

Kelian just stared at me, his face first inclined towards confusion as he took in the brush on the floor, the filthy water I was kneeling in and my red hands. Then his eyes moved to my neck, where I was sure my threadbare shirt hung off my bones. And his expression shifted into sorrow.

“Sol, what are you… "He trailed off. Then almost as quickly as it had come, the sorrow hardened into twin sheets of ice. “You’re cleaning Elise’s bathroom?!”

He sounded incredulous. But not at the fact that I was made to do the job of a servant. More like—

“This is ridiculous.” He cursed under his breath before snapping. “You couldn't wait even one day before making yourself the victim again?"

His words were harsh but my eyes were still stuck on him. On the golden brown eyes I’d grown to love and the fresh pinecone cinnamon smell that’d once meant safety.

I hadn’t seen Kelian since… 

My breath caught and I felt my hands start to tremble. 

 "Kellan—"

At that exact moment, a small wooden wolf slipped from beneath his collar, and my heart stopped.

“Starlight.” I whispered, unable to help myself.

I'd carved that wolf for Kelian when I was twelve. Back then, our bond hadn’t manifested but we still loved each other so much… the carving had taken me weeks. Long nights of raw fingers and stinging eyes to make him a gift. And Kelian had cherished it just as much.

"No matter where I am," he'd vowed, pressing Starlight to his chest, "Once, you call for me, I'll come." 

For years, his promise had never changed. It only waxed stronger when we discovered we were mates.

Then Elise was found and brought home. After several well placed conflicts, she did the unimaginable.

She pushed Jamal—Kelian's younger brother—down the stairs and blamed me for the attempted murder.

Jamal’s accident had hit Kelian, but it broke whatever had been between us permanently.

Beg as I did—I'd fallen to my knees in front of the entire pack. Bowed and begged him—begged not just my mate but my best friend. My soulmate to believe he knew me well enough.

I would never try to kill his brother.

But Kelian… he rejected our bond in front of the entire pack. And that was the last day we saw each other

Now, he was standing in this hallway and looking at me like I was the monster.

There was no point proving my innocence again. So I didn’t mention Jamal, instead I stood to my feet and spoke quietly. “I was asked to clean this drain. If me cleaning Elise’s bathroom, somehow offended you, then… I’m sorry.”

“You never asked about him.” Kelian hissed accusingly. “Three years and you never wrote a letter even once to ask about Jamal’s condition.” His voice rose as he came closer. “Did you know, he’s still in a coma?! He might never walk or wake up again. But here you are; the moment you came back, you’re scrubbing floors and playing the martyr."

What could I say?

That the hundreds of letters I’d written to Adrian went unanswered? That my family had forbidden me any contact with Kelian for fear I might reveal the truth about Elise?

Or that, every single day in the death camp, I’d helped dragged the corpses of roommates and friends that couldn’t stand the harsh punishment conditions.

Kelian’s brother, in his pampered room with his hundreds of medics and overzealous family who hated me, had been the last thing on my mind, when all I knew was survival.

“I’m sorry.” I chose to whisper instead. “I have to finish my work now, please leave.”

Kelian exploded. 

"You're unbelievable." He growled as he grabbed my arm and began to pull me down the hall. "You want attention? Fine. I'll give you attention."

“Kelian stop!” I tried to hiss and struggle. Each pull was sending pain barking up my leg. But I hadn’t eaten all day and his Alpha strength was too strong for me.

In a single movement, he shoved me into a storage room and slammed the door shut.

“Kelian!!” I kept screaming, banging against the dusty wooden door as I realized the cramped space was windowless with nothing but shelves of cleaning supplies. 

“Kelian! Please!!!”

The bright ceiling light snapped on and everything in me froze.

I couldn’t even scream.

All at once, I was back in the camp. The floodlights overhead, burning even at night. Forcing our red eyes to keep open.

The guards shaking me awake whenever I started to drift off, flashing that bright light directly into my eyes and jabbing needles into my arm to keep me working.

No no.

My breath started to shake as I recalled the light made my head pound, made my eyes water and made my body scream for rest that never came.

"No," I begged lunging for the door. "No, no, no—"

My fists pounded against the wood.

"Kellan! Let me out! Please—let me out!"

I wasn’t breathing. The walls were closing in. The light was burning through my skull.

"Kellan, I'm begging you—please—"

His footsteps paused on the other side of the door.

"Think about what you've done," he said coldly. "Maybe a few hours alone will help you remember."

The footsteps faded.

I slid down the door, my hands shaking, and  my chest heaving. The light burned into my soul.

Piercing down my bones as I sobbed,

 "Please—someone—anyone—"

The panic was drowning me and my lungs were empty.

I wheezed, clawing at the door, as my nails splintered and my throat grew raw from screaming.

Then suddenly there was a pull in my chest.  Deep, strange and warm, like a thread tugging from somewhere far away.

I held on to it quickly, forcing down deep breaths.

At first, I thought it was Kellan. That the mate bond had somehow returned and that he was coming back for me.

"Kellan!" I screamed. "Kellan, please!"

The closet door opened, but it wasn’t Kelian that stood there.

It was the Alpha King.

He took one look at me—crouched against the wall, shaking,with  tears streaming down my face—and his expression shifted from cold authority to something softer. Something almost like pain.

"Girl," he said quietly. "What happened to you?"

I couldn't answer. I could barely breathe.

He stepped inside, and the pull in my chest grew stronger. Not Kellan's bond. It was not a mate bond at all..

He crouched beside me, his voice low and steady. "You're safe. Look at me. You're safe."

I tried looked at him as my lungs squeezed.

"Breathe," he said. "Slowly. In and out."

"That's it." He reached out, his hand hovering near my shoulder but not quite touching. "Can you stand?"

I nodded, though I wasn't sure if it was true. He helped me up slowly, carefully, and I grabbed his sleeve without thinking—clinging to the fabric like a lifeline.

He didn't pull away.

Slowly he helped me and as I stood, my sleeve slipped to reveal my scars.

They covered my forearm—pale and silver and twisted, crisscrossed with darker, newer marks. Under the harsh light of the storage room, something flickered beneath them. A faint, glowing mark that was almost hidden.

The King's expression changed immediately.

The scars. 

I tried to pull my wrist back and cover them. Clearly he was disturbed by the ugliness.

But his hand caught mine, gently but firm.

"Wait," he said softly. And reached for my sleeve, pulling it all the way back.