Seen

KAEL'S POV

The house feels wrong without her in it.

I sit in the chair I put between us earlier, like distance was ever going to help anything, and let myself think about what I've been avoiding since the light outside started leaning toward evening. I know exactly what happens if the rite goes wrong. I've known since the moment I said the word mate in front of my own pack at sunrise.

I know the story the way every Alpha before me was made to know it, not as a warning, but as a debt written into the law itself. A bond claimed and never proven doesn't just embarrass the pack. It breaks something in the ground we all stand on. And the law doesn't forgive the man who breaks it, whatever his reasons were.

I knew all of this in the ravine. I knew it when I said her name to Darin and Mara at sunrise. I said it anyway.

The door opens without a knock. Darin doesn't wait for permission in his own Alpha's house, not today.

"You look like a man deciding whether to walk into a fire," he says.

"Maybe I am."

He crosses the room and stands in front of me instead of sitting. "Then let's talk about it before you do. We still have a few hours before the moon's high enough for the rite."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"There's everything to talk about, Kael." His voice stays low, but there's an edge under it I haven't heard from him before, not even in the cave. "You know what happens if the rite doesn't confirm the bond. You knew before you said her name out loud. Tell me you weren't gambling with your life on a feeling you've had for less than a day."

I don't answer right away, because he's not wrong, and there's no version of the truth that makes it sound better.

"There's still time," Darin says. "Before the moon rises, you could go to the council. Say you were wrong. Say it got into your blood and you made a mistake. No one would love you for it, but they wouldn't bury you for it either." He pauses. "You're the Alpha. You understand what I'm offering you."

"I understand."

"Then take it."

I look at him, and for a second I let him see exactly how scared I am, because he's earned that much honesty after everything he's already given me since last night.

"I can't," I say.

"Why not?"

"Because even knowing what it costs, some part of me has already decided it doesn't matter." I press the heel of my hand against my chest, right where the pull sits, sharp and constant since the moment they took her out of this room. "If I back out now, I lose her either way. At least this way I lose her trying."

Darin studies me for a long time, the way he does when he's deciding whether to push harder or let something go.

"That's either the bravest thing I've ever heard you say," he says finally, "or the stupidest."

"Probably both."

Something almost like a smile crosses his face, gone as fast as it came.

"For what it's worth," he says, quieter now, "I hope it's real. Not because of the law. Because I've never seen you look at anyone the way you looked at her at sunrise."

Something in my chest tightens. Not the pull. Not fear either. Just the feeling of someone seeing more of me than I meant to show. I don't know what to say to that, so I say nothing.

He turns for the door, then stops with his hand on it, like there's one more thing he almost says and decides against. When he finally speaks, it isn't what I expect.

"They're gathering the circle early," he says. "Lorenzo wants it done the moment the moon clears the ridge. No delays."

"Why the rush?"

Darin's jaw tightens, the way it does right before he decides how much to actually tell me.

"Because Lorenzo doesn't like how long today has already dragged on," he says. "And neither, honestly, do I."

He leaves before I can answer. The door clicks shut behind him, and the house feels even emptier than before.

Outside, the light keeps leaning toward night.