Chapter 4

Ravynna’s POV

I needed a run to clear my head.

Just like Kael had found his person, I wondered what would be my fate when I found mine… would I look at him with the same hatred he had channeled at me?

I had so many questions, one I knew no one had answers to.

If I was sacrificing myself for his pack why didn’t he acknowledge it?

Why did he hate me this much?

The forest guard gave me a go ahead before I sprinted into a run, changing to my wolf mid air.

‘I had said yes,’ I whispered, trying to initiate a conversation.

She didn’t say anything but rather left me to my thoughts.

The plan was simple… convince Kael to agree to our fake marriage, save the pack, buy time but the thought of facing him made my stomach twist.

He was no longer the boy I once knew; the man he’d become looked at me as though I were his enemy.

‘Yet you said yes to marrying him?’ Lyra finally whispered, breaking through my haunting thoughts.

She didn’t stop there though, her voice still light, she teased, “I’d admit he’s quite the catch but we know he doesn’t and would never love us.”

I laughed at myself… of course I knew and I had no plans of fighting with his bond with his true mate.

“Then why did you say yes… Do you really want to play the fake Luna while he lies with his woman every night?”

The bitter truth in her worlds threw me off guard and I stumbled over a root, my paws digging into the soil as I caught myself.

Her words stung more than I wanted to admit.

I immediately shifted back into my human form, brushing dirt from my knees, while trying to calm down my ragged breath.

“This isn’t about love,” I whispered, trying to sound in control but failing miserably. “It’s for the people and this pack moreover it’s temporary.” I added, trying to convince myself everything was okay.

Lyra laughed softly in my head.

“You can fool them, Ravy, but you can’t fool me.” She whispered. “Not when your heart races at the mere thought of him.”

Heat crept up my neck. “That’s not…”

“Oh, it is, not only that but his scent of him drives you mad and you cared less that he looked at you with hate… you have always wanted him and he once loved you.” She added this time her tone amused and not mocking.

I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm the ache there.

I’d spent years training under the Alpha King’s watch, learning to fight, and to suppress weakness yet the moment Kael’s name was mentioned, all those years of training disappeared in a poof.

“The Alpha King himself said I could have been a female alpha, if I wanted to” I murmured, not bothering to add the fact that he also wanted me to be his queen.

I was such a fool.

I had turned down the King and most of his vices because I had a love waiting for me back home.

“If it was about duty, being the Alpha Queen would have made you do more so you shouldn’t punish yourself by doing this.”

What was I supposed to do? Tell Luna Elara that I was backing out and leaving them to their fate?

This was about duty.

I sprinted back, shaking the depressed feeling Lyra was rubbing on my fur before walking towards the spot I badly wanted to see.

“Visiting that spot won’t do you any good because you would end up wanting him more.”

I blocked her thoughts and padded forward.

Just as I was walking into the clearing… a faint moan caused me to stop followed by a faint rustle of leaves.

I froze.

“Someone’s here,” I muttered, crouching low as I crept toward the sound.

It was faint at first, then as I got closer the whispering voices became clearer.

I was about to take another step forward when the scent hit me.

Kael’s familiar intoxicating musk, mixed with a sweet foreign scent.

I pushed through the bush with my nose, and as eyes landed on the whispering couple, my heart lurched.

There, in a small clearing, was Kael laying in the grass staring at the stars and in his arms with her golden brown hair all over his chest was his Rose. For a moment it reminded me of how we spent the few nights we had together until I had to go.

I heard a low groan escape his throat and he held into her tightly as it seemed like she wanted to leave…

Her hair was pushed to the side and a chuckle escaped her lips as he flipped her over.

A gasp escaped my lips and instinctively, I took a step back as I realized they weren’t just resting… in as much as I was frozen, I just couldn’t look away and shamelessly, I watched as Kael’s lips were on hers… they were making out heavily I must add and I had been watching.

My cheeks were burning at the crazy thoughts beginning to fill my head, and just as I took another step back, the sound of the broken twig snapped them out of their reveries and Kael’s head jerked up, his eyes immediately meeting mine and catching me in the act.

I didn’t register the look Rose had on her face as I stood frozen, the shock of being caught mirroring the one on Kael's face.

Lyra’s voice came softly, almost sympathetic now, “Now you see it… if you can’t handle this, how would you handle him coming back from seeing Rose every night.”

I winced as Kael’s neutral face slowly morphed into a frown.

The world tilted, and once again it all hit me…I had seen Kael angry, sad, even cold but never like this… his face had contentment written all over his face made me feel like a monster.

He pulled Rose behind him as if to shield her from me, he snarled. “Ravynna?”

“I… I didn’t mean to intrude,” I stammered, turning away quickly, clutching my arms around myself as I came to the embarrassing realization that I had shifted back while in panic, “I came to…”

He didn’t even let me finish as I expected.

“To do what?” His tone was venomous.

“Ask that I leave my mate for you? I’ll abandon her for your precious alliance? Or perhaps agree to another one of my mother’s insane plans.” He mocked and I could swear I heard his Rose chuckle.

This was definitely the right time to have this conversation, I was yet to register the fact that I was caught peeping and now naked…

“I came for the pack, I’d appreciate it if you stop talking to me like I’m your enemy.” I managed, trying to keep my voice steady. “I had agreed to this only be…”

“Enough!” he barked.

I flinched, taking a step back as he took one forward.

“You think this is all about politics? If you think I care one bit then you don’t know me at all, Ravy.” He laughed bitterly.

The sound of my name on his lips made my throat tighten.

As if to prove his point he pulled Rose closer, “Maybe my parents had lied to you that I cared and Rose had charmed me but this is me telling you that I love Rose.”

“So why are you humiliating yourself like this?” he asked. “ To stand beside me knowing my heart belongs to someone else?”

A tear slipped out but before he could sense my mood, I managed to let out with a stammer, “Why is it so hard for you to understand that I’m going this for the innocent lives the Alpha king wouldn’t waste time to snatch!”

I wiped the tears about to drop… Kael didn’t deserve my tears nor does he need to see me break.

“If sacrificing my dignity is a price I should pay so I’d save a pack that once saved me, then yes and I would do it once and over again.”

He stared at me for a long moment, and for a fleeting second, something flickered in his gaze but it vanished as quickly as it came.

“You’d make yourself a clown for a childhood promise,” he said coldly. “I shouldn’t be surprised you were always too loyal for your own good.”

Behind him, Rose whispered his name softly, tugging at his arm.

“We should leave, Ravynna.” Lyra whispered over and again as though trying to shield me from the pain he intentionally wanted to cause me.

I nodded faintly, turning away.

“I don’t care about you and the love of your life… you hate me for being loyal but I would never want you to watch your parents being tortured to death.”

My words seem to have gotten to him because as I turned to leave he stopped me.“Tell my parents, I will marry you as they wish. I’d only be doing this for them,” he said with a wicked smile .

“But I promise you, Ravynna Astrid Caden, you'll regret this… I’d make sure of it.”

He called me by my full name for the first time.