CHAPTER TWO: THE BOND THAT FELT LIKE SILENCE

The bond was supposed to feel like warmth.

That was what the elders said. What the stories promised. What every she wolf dreamed of the moment the moon chose her mate.

But when I woke the morning after the claiming, the bond felt like silence.

Cold. Heavy. Wrong.

I lay still on the narrow bed in the alpha wing, staring at the ceiling as the pale morning light crept through the tall windows. My skin still tingled where Kael’s mark burned faintly at the base of my neck, a reminder of what had happened the night before. A reminder that I was no longer just Elara of the Nightfang Pack.

I was the Alpha’s mate.

Or at least… I was supposed to be.

I waited for the pull everyone talked about. The instinctive need. The overwhelming closeness that should have wrapped around my chest and told me I belonged.

Nothing came.

The bond was there, I could feel it, faint but unmistakable, like a thread tied around my heart but it was distant. Muted. As if someone had placed a wall between us.

Kael wasn’t here.

His side of the room was untouched. Cold.

I pushed myself up slowly, my hand drifting to my neck. The mark was real. The claiming had been real. The way the pack had bowed their heads when Kael pulled me against him under the moonlight had been real too.

So why did it already feel like I’d imagined it?

I dressed quietly and stepped out into the corridor. The alpha wing was silent, the stone floors echoing beneath my bare feet. Servants avoided my gaze when they passed. Warriors nodded stiffly, their expressions unreadable.

No congratulations.

No warmth.

No smiles.

I told myself it was just nerves. That things would settle. That Kael was busy with pack duties he was the strongest alpha our territory had seen in generations. Leadership weighed on him. Responsibility always came first.

That was what I told myself.

I found him later that morning in the training grounds.

Kael stood at the center of the clearing, shirtless, his muscles tense as he moved through combat drills with ruthless precision. Sweat glistened on his skin, his expression hard and focused. Warriors circled him, watching in silence as he sparred without mercy.

I stopped at the edge of the clearing.

The bond stirred faintly at the sight of him. Not warmth. Not comfort.

Awareness.

Kael disarmed his opponent with a brutal twist and stepped back, breathing hard. He turned and our eyes met.

For a brief moment, something flickered in his gaze.

Then it vanished.

His face shut down, expression turning neutral, controlled. Alpha perfect.

He didn’t smile.

He didn’t approach me.

He looked away.

My chest tightened.

I waited. Surely he would come to me. Surely he would acknowledge me in front of the pack, as tradition demanded.

He didn’t.

Instead, he barked orders to the warriors and dismissed them. They scattered quickly, casting curious glances at me as they passed. I stayed where I was, my feet rooted to the ground, heart pounding.

When the clearing finally emptied, Kael grabbed a towel and wiped his face. He still didn’t look at me.

“Kael,” I said softly.

He paused.

Then, finally, he turned.

“What do you need?” His tone was calm. Distant. Formal.

Not the voice of a mate.

The bond tightened painfully.

“I...” I hesitated, suddenly unsure of myself. “I thought we could talk.”

Kael studied me for a long moment, his gaze sharp and assessing, like I was a problem he hadn’t yet decided how to solve.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said.

The words landed like a slap.

“I’m your mate,” I said quietly.

His jaw tightened.

“Yes,” he replied. “You are.”

That was it.

No affection. No reassurance. No warmth.

“Then why does it feel like you’re avoiding me?” I asked, my voice barely steady.

Kael’s eyes darkened.

“You’re imagining things,” he said.

I shook my head. “The bond”

“Is irrelevant,” he cut in sharply.

I froze.

Irrelevant?

“That’s not true,” I said. “The bond”

“The bond doesn’t change my responsibilities,” Kael interrupted, his voice low and controlled. “You will remain in the alpha wing. You will be treated with respect. That is all.”

“That’s all?” My throat tightened. “Is that all I am to you now?”

Silence stretched between us.

Kael looked away again, his shoulders stiff.

“You were chosen,” he said. “That is enough.”

Chosen.

Not wanted.

Not cherished.

Chosen.

My hands curled into fists at my sides.

“I didn’t ask to be chosen,” I said. “You claimed me.”

“And I did what was required,” he replied coldly.

The bond throbbed, sharp and uncomfortable, like it was warning me of something I didn’t yet understand.

“What changed?” I asked.

Kael’s gaze snapped back to mine.

“Nothing,” he said.

But his eyes betrayed him.

Something had changed.

I could feel it in the way the bond strained instead of soothed. In the way his presence felt like distance instead of closeness. In the way he looked at me like a weight instead of a gift.

“If nothing changed,” I said quietly, “then why do I feel like I’m standing alone?”

Kael didn’t answer.

His silence was louder than any rejection.

“You should return inside,” he said finally. “People are watching.”

I swallowed hard.

“I don’t care who’s watching,” I said. “I care about us.”

His expression hardened.

“There is no ‘us’ right now,” he said. “There is the pack. There is leadership. And there are expectations.”

My heart pounded painfully against my ribs.

“And where do I fit into that?” I asked.

Kael stepped back, putting physical distance between us.

“You will learn your place,” he said.

The words cut deeper than he realized.

I stared at him, searching his face for the man who had looked at me under the full moon like I was something precious.

He was gone.

In his place stood an alpha already building walls.

I nodded slowly, forcing myself not to break.

“I understand,” I lied.

Kael inclined his head once, like the conversation was finished.

As I turned away, the bond pulled weakly, stretching like a thread about to snap. I pressed a hand to my chest, my steps unsteady.

Behind me, Kael didn’t call my name.

He didn’t follow.

He didn’t stop me.

And for the first time since the claiming, a terrible thought settled into my bones:

This bond wasn’t going to save me.

It was going to destroy me.