CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I felt like I was sitting in front of two teachers.

One of them was strict and serious, every line of his posture sharp with expectation. Beta Nial stood near the table, arms folded, eyes alert and focused, the kind of gaze that missed nothing and forgave even less. He looked like the sort of man who believed answers should exist, and if they did not, someone was at fault.

The other one sat a few feet away.

Alpha Kael.

He looked… relaxed.

Too relaxed.

He had not spoken since I was seated. He had not touched me. He had barely moved at all. One arm rested along the side of the chair, his posture careless in a way that should have made him feel less threatening.

It did not.

No, in fact, he was more intense than Nial.

Because Nial was looking at the document.

Alpha Kael was looking at me.

Not openly.

Not obviously.

But I could feel it, the way you feel eyes on your skin without seeing them. A steady pressure that made my shoulders tighten and my breathing slow, like my body was trying to be quiet on its own.

I felt like I was inside a cage.

He was the predator.

And I was the thing inside it.

“Read it slowly,” Nial said, his voice snapping me back into focus. “And don’t miss a single word.”

I lowered my gaze to the document in my hands.

It was old, but well preserved. The parchment was thick and slightly yellowed, the edges worn smooth as if it had been handled carefully over a long time. At first glance, it looked ordinary. Just another record. Another text.

But the writing inside it was not.

The symbols were uneven, angular, almost careless. Some lines faded. Others overlapped, as if written in a hurry or by many hands over time. It looked like scribbles to the untrained eye.

And yet.

My chest tightened.

Not painfully.

Recognitively.

‘Why… do I understand this?’

The thought startled me enough that I paused. I shook my head slightly, as if that might dislodge it.

‘In time… will I ever know who I was? Where I came from?’

The question lingered, unanswered.

I gripped the paper a little tighter and began to read.

“When the moon disappears,” I said, my voice sounding too loud in the still room, “they will arrive.”

The words felt heavy as I spoke them.

“Wolf like creatures,” I continued slowly, “that lurk in the dark and never see the light. Those whose souls were stripped from their bodies, leaving nothing but monsters behind.”

My throat tightened.

“They wander without reason. Without restraint. A threat not only to packs, but to the world itself.”

Silence followed.

Not the polite kind.

The heavy kind.

Nial’s brow furrowed as he stared at the page, his fingers tapping once against the table as if counting possibilities. Alpha Kael did not react at all.

He studied the document briefly.

Then his eyes lifted.

And settled on me.

They were unreadable.

After a moment, Nial spoke. “Is that all.”

“Yes,” I said quietly.

Alpha Kael finally moved.

He rose from his chair and spoke the words as if tasting them.

“Were like creatures,” he said. “Destruction of the world.”

His voice was calm, but something darker threaded beneath it.

He stepped toward me.

Slowly.

I sat straighter without thinking, my back brushing the chair as I shifted away. The space between us shrank with each step, my pulse quickening in response.

“All of this is serious,” he said.

Then he stopped in front of me.

“But there is something else that interests me far more.”

His gaze sharpened.

“How were you able to read it.”

The question landed like a weight.

“This text,” he continued, “that none of my aides could decipher.”

He leaned closer.

“And the potent energy in your heart,” he added softly. “Who are you, really?"

The air changed.

It thickened, pressing in from all sides.

I recognized the sensation instantly.

His presence.

The kind that brought others to their knees.

My breath hitched.

The pressure wrapped around me, close and complete, but it did not crush. It did not suppress. It hovered, waiting, like a test.

I swallowed.

“I… really don’t know,” I said.

The words were honest.

That was all I had.

“Really?” he echoed.

“Yes,” I said, forcing myself to meet his eyes.

My heart beat so hard it felt like it might bruise my ribs.

He did not respond.

The pressure remained.

Seconds stretched.

Then, slowly, it eased.

Alpha Kael’s mouth curved.

Not warm.

Not amused.

Cold.

Controlled.

I could not tell if he believed me.

Or if belief no longer mattered.

“Really,” he said again.

He reached out and took my hand.

Firm.

Unavoidable.

The moment his fingers closed around mine, my breath broke.

Heat surged in my chest, then tore free, rushing downward in a steady pull that made my knees soften. The pressure beneath my ribs unraveled fast, no longer burning, no longer trapped.

It moved.

Down my arm.

Through my palm.

Into him.

A small, helpless sound slipped from my throat as my heart stumbled, then slowed, the frantic rhythm easing as warmth drained away. My shoulders sagged without permission, my body releasing something it had been holding too tightly for too long.

Alpha Kael went utterly still. His grip tightened slightly. For a moment his aura fluctuated until it settled. His eyes looked...addicted. 

“Then…you will stay beside me,” he said quietly. 

“Day and night. Wherever I go…”

His grip tightened slightly.

“Because you will give me…all that energy.” Something unreadable crossed his eyes.

Suddenly, a sharp knock cut through the room.

A voice followed, urgent. “My lord. The border. There’s been an attack.”

Alpha Kael’s eyes turned cold. He did not release my hand, instead gripping it even tighter.

“Perfect timing,” he said.

His fingers closed just enough to remind me I was not going anywhere.

“Come,” he said calmly.

Then, softer.

“It’s time for a walk, little cat.”