CHAPTER 3: WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?

Aurora’s pulse stumbled the moment her eyes met Kael’s.

He stood near the entrance of the sitting room, one hand resting against the doorframe while moonlight stretched across the floor behind him. The shadows along the corridor sharpened the hard lines of his face, making him look even colder than he had inside the pack hall earlier.

For a few terrible seconds, no one spoke.

Aurora’s fingers instinctively tightened around the folded healer reports resting in her lap.

Had he heard everything?

The question echoed through her mind fast enough to make panic crawl beneath her skin.

Beside her, Elder Mira slowly rose to her feet.

“Alpha.”

Kael acknowledged her with a brief nod, but his attention never left Aurora.

“What exactly do you need one month for?” he repeated calmly.

That calmness was always the dangerous part.

Kael rarely raised his voice. He never needed to. Even silence became intimidating around him.

Aurora quickly folded the papers again and slipped them back into her pocket.

Too quickly.

Judging by the slight narrowing of Kael’s eyes, he noticed.

Of course he noticed.

Kael missed very little.

Mira stepped forward carefully. “I believe this conversation should happen another time.”

“Leave us.”

The words were not loud, yet the command in them settled heavily inside the room.

Aurora looked up immediately.

Mira hesitated, clearly unhappy, but after several tense seconds, she finally sighed and glanced toward Aurora.

Worry filled her expression.

Aurora forced herself to smile faintly. “It’s alright.”

It wasn’t.

They both knew that.

Still, Mira eventually nodded before moving toward the door. As she passed Kael, she paused briefly.

“Be careful with her,” she said quietly.

Something unreadable crossed Kael’s face before Mira disappeared into the corridor.

The room fell silent again.

Aurora suddenly became painfully aware of every little sound around her. The crackling fireplace. The wind brushing faintly against the windows. Her own heartbeat thudding unevenly inside her chest.

Kael remained near the doorway for several seconds before finally walking farther into the room.

His footsteps were steady and unhurried.

Aurora hated how aware she became whenever he was close.

He stopped a few feet away from her.

Not too close.

Never too close.

Even after three years as mates, Kael always maintained distance between them as though it existed naturally.

His eyes dropped briefly toward her pocket.

“What were those papers?”

Straight to the point.

Aurora looked away first. “Nothing important.”

Silence.

Kael stared at her long enough to make the air feel heavy.

“What kind of papers?”

“Private ones.”

His expression remained unreadable, but she could already tell he didn’t believe her.

Aurora stood slowly from the bench near the window, needing movement simply to stop herself from feeling cornered.

Moonlight spilled across the floor between them as she crossed toward the fireplace.

Behind her, Kael spoke again.

“You ask me for one month.”

Aurora stopped walking.

“Then I find you having secret conversations with Elder Mira in the middle of the night.” His voice remained calm. “What exactly are you planning?”

The question hurt more than it should have.

Because there it was again, suspicion, not concern, not curiosity.

Kael spoke to her as though she were hiding some scheme instead of quietly falling apart.

Aurora stared into the flames dancing inside the fireplace before answering softly, “You assume I’m planning something?”

“You clearly are.”

She laughed once beneath her breath, the sound carried little humor, three years….hree years together, and he still looked at her like this.

Aurora folded her arms loosely across herself, suddenly exhausted.

“What if I simply wanted time?”

“To do what?”

“To breathe.”

Silence.

Kael moved closer, stopping near the edge of the fireplace light. His dark eyes studied her carefully, searching for something she desperately hoped he would not find.

“You agreed too easily,” he said after a moment.

Aurora frowned faintly. “You wanted me to scream instead?”

“That isn’t what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean, Alpha?”

The title slipped from her lips intentionally.

A reminder.

A wall.

Something flickered briefly across Kael’s face at the distance in her tone.

Aurora noticed it immediately.

For some reason, that tiny reaction unsettled her more than his coldness ever had.

Kael exhaled slowly before speaking again.

“You loved being Luna.”

The words surprised her.

Aurora stared at him for a moment before shaking her head quietly.

“No,” she admitted. “I loved being your mate.”

The honesty in her voice seemed to catch him off guard.

His jaw tightened slightly.

Aurora immediately regretted saying it aloud.

Silence stretched between them again.

Outside, wind rustled softly through the trees surrounding the pack house.

Aurora turned away first.

“This conversation changes nothing.”

“Maybe not,” Kael replied. “But I still want answers.”

Aurora almost asked why.

Why now?

Why did he suddenly care enough to question her after years of emotional distance?

But the answer was obvious.

Control.

Kael hated uncertainty.

And right now, she was behaving in ways he didn’t understand.

Aurora crossed toward the bookshelf near the far wall, pretending interest in the neatly arranged novels there simply to avoid his stare.

“You don’t need to worry,” she said quietly. “After one month, I’ll disappear from your life exactly the way you want.”

Behind her, silence.

Then, “That isn’t what I said.”

Aurora turned sharply.

His expression remained controlled, but there was tension in his posture now, subtle enough that most people would never notice it.

Unfortunately, Aurora had spent years memorizing the smallest details about him.

“You told me I was free to leave in front of the entire pack,” she reminded him. “I understood perfectly.”

Kael’s gaze darkened slightly.

“You’re twisting my words.”

“No,” Aurora said softly. “I’m finally listening to them.”

The room went still, for a brief moment, neither looked away then suddenly, pain stabbed sharply through Aurora’s chest.

Her breath caught instantly.

The force of it startled her badly enough that she stumbled slightly against the bookshelf.

Kael moved before she could steady herself.

“Aurora.”

His hand closed around her arm firmly.

Warmth spread through her sleeve where he touched her, sending an involuntary shiver down her spine.

Aurora froze not because of the pain, because Kael was touching her, actually touching her.

The realization hit hard enough to leave her briefly speechless.

Kael frowned immediately. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“You nearly fell.”

“I’m tired.”

“That wasn’t exhaustion.”

Aurora carefully pulled her arm from his grip and stepped back before her body betrayed her any further.

The strange ache inside her chest still lingered faintly, pulsing beneath her ribs like something alive.

Kael’s eyes remained fixed on her face.

“You’ve looked pale for weeks.”

Aurora’s heart skipped.

Weeks?

He noticed?

That single realization disturbed her far more than it should have.

Before she could respond, Kael’s gaze shifted slightly toward the pocket where she had hidden the healer reports earlier.

Then his expression changed.

Not softer.

Worse.

More focused.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Aurora looked away immediately.

Because if she stayed under that stare any longer, she might crack.

And she absolutely could not afford that.

Not now.

Not when everything depended on keeping her secret hidden a little longer.

“Aurora.”

His voice dropped lower this time.

Closer.

Dangerously close.

The sound of her name in his voice sent something painful through her chest.

She hated that it still affected her.

Slowly, Aurora lifted her eyes back to his.

“What would you do if I told you the truth?”

The question lingered quietly between them.

Kael didn’t answer immediately.

For the first time that night, uncertainty crossed his face.

Tiny.

Brief.

But real.

Aurora smiled sadly.

That hesitation told her everything she needed to know.

She stepped around him before he could stop her.

“I’m tired,” she said softly. “Goodnight, Kael.”

She had almost reached the doorway when his voice stopped her again.

“Aurora.”

This time, she paused.

“You’ll move into the Luna quarters tomorrow.”

Aurora turned slowly.

“What?”

Kael’s expression remained unreadable.

“The room beside mine should never have stayed empty this long.”

For a second, Aurora genuinely forgot how to breathe.

Because there was only one room beside Alpha Kael’s chambers.

Only one.

And everyone inside the Nightfang Pack knew exactly who that room belonged to.