Lucian’s POVThe silence after that kiss still clung to the air, heavy, unrelenting. My wolf purred inside me, satisfied, but my human mind wrestled with terror. What had I done? What if someone had seen me slipping into his room? What if the Elders knew?Kai sat on the edge of the bed, chest rising and falling too fast, lips red from our kiss. He didn’t look at me, and the distance in his silence twisted like a blade in my gut.“I should go,” I whispered, though every part of me rebelled against the words.Kai finally looked up, eyes stormy. “Then go before you ruin us both.”The bond between us pulsed angrily at his rejection, but I forced myself to the door. My hand touched the handle, and for a heartbeat I swore I caught it, a shadow in the hall, faint, gone before I could be sure. My wolf’s ears perked, growling softly.We were not alone.I opened the door and stepped into the corridor, cold air slamming into me like a warning. Whoever had been here was gone, but their presence l
Kai’s POVI could still feel the night on my skin. Lucian was all around me, his touch still branded in places I couldn't scrub clean, and his scent like smoke on my clothes. Every time I closed my eyes I saw him hovering over me, his lips still pressed hard against mine, and his voice broken as he called my name. And I felt it too every time I opened them. The guilt. I sat on the edge of my bed, head down, fingers squeezing at the sheets so hard my knuckles turned white. I should feel stronger than this after last night, after us burning so bright it consumed everything. Instead, I felt weak. Bare. If the Council found out… if the pack ever knew…They would kill me first. Then they would tear him apart for betraying them.I pressed the heel of my hand against my chest, but the bond pulsed there, alive, furious, unrelenting. My wolf inside me whispered, Go to him. He is ours.But I couldn’t. Not yet.Footsteps sounded in the corridor outside and I froze, panic rising sharp and hot in
---Kai’s POVThe night pressed close, thick with silence, but I could still hear his heartbeat. Lucian’s chest rose against mine, steady but strained, like every breath cost him more than a fight ever could. The room smelled of cedar and smoke, and under it, him.His hands gripped my waist as though he couldn’t let go. As though the bond had shackled him, dragged him to me, unwilling and yet completely surrendered.“Lucian…” My voice cracked when I whispered his name.He bent his head lower, lips ghosting my jaw before claiming my mouth with a hunger that burned away the last of my doubts. The kiss was fire and desperation all at once. His tongue tangled with mine, rough, commanding, but beneath it was something raw. Something I had never thought I’d taste in him, fear.I clutched at his shirt, pulling him closer until our bodies fit like pieces that had always belonged. My back hit the wall with a thud, but neither of us cared. His mouth trailed down my neck, teeth scraping skin, an
Lucian POVThe night pressed heavy over the Blackclaw lands, a silence so deep it made my wolf uneasy. I stood at the balcony of my chamber, staring into the forest. Somewhere out there, rogues prowled. I could feel them, thin threads of hostility tugging at my instincts.My jaw clenched. For weeks, I had felt their eyes on us, lingering too close. Tonight, the pull in the air told me they were nearer than ever.But beneath the danger, something else gnawed at me.Kai.His scent still lingered faintly on my skin from the last time our paths crossed. My wolf growled low inside me, restless, wanting him, craving him. The more I fought it, the stronger it became. A bond that should not exist, a fire that would burn everything if exposed.And still, I could not let him go.The council’s warnings echoed in my head. Elder Corvus especially had been watching me with sharp eyes, sensing cracks in the mask I wore. If he, or anyone else, saw what was inside me, I would lose the pack. The bond t
---Lucian POVThe night hadn’t ended for me. Even after the rogues’ presence faded into the trees and the pack house grew silent, my body stayed restless, my mind sharp. I stood by my window, staring out into the dark forest as if the shadows themselves might reveal their secrets.Something was wrong.Lucian had been too tense. Not just because of danger, there was something in his eyes when I told him to stay behind me. Fear. Not of rogues. Of me.My wolf growled low, pacing inside me. He hides something. Our mate hides something.I clenched my fists against the window frame. The word mate made my throat tighten, but I couldn’t deny it anymore. Every time I saw Kai, every time I breathed him in, the bond wrapped tighter around me. I could fight it with duty, with honor, with every lie I told myself, but it always returned.And yet… he was keeping something from me.I turned away from the window and stalked to my desk, shoving aside a pile of reports. I needed answers. I needed contr
Lucian’s POVOnce more, there was silence in the packhouse, but it was no longer peaceful. It weighed heavily on my ears and pulled me further into unavoidable thoughts. My body was worn out from the battle, but my wolf refused to stop fighting. He growled and demanded as he paced inside me, his claws scraping the walls of my chest.Go to him. Ours. He could have died tonight.I dragged my hands over my face, trying to steady the storm, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw him, Kai, pinned beneath the rogue’s claws, his throat exposed, his breath caught. For a heartbeat, I thought I would lose him, and something inside me had snapped. I hadn’t fought like an Alpha defending his land. I had fought like a man protecting his mate.And I knew some of the pack had seen it.I replayed the way my claws tore deeper than they needed to, the way I shielded Kai long after the threat was gone, the way my snarl had risen the instant a rogue so much as touched him. That kind of fury wasn’t about