CHAPTER FOUR

I didn’t sleep.

Kael’s words haunted me, threading through the dark like a spell I couldn’t break.

“Some truths are too dangerous to speak in daylight.”

He was hiding something. Not just from me—but from himself. And now I was caught in the middle of it, torn between the prophecy I never asked for and the power I never wanted.

I sat curled on the edge of the bed, the old sweatshirt swallowing me whole. His scent lingered on the fabric—pine, smoke, and something else I couldn’t name. It clung to my skin, stirred my wolf, made me feel things I didn’t understand.

Trust. Longing. Rage.

I rose before dawn, pacing the room like a caged animal. My wolf was restless, pacing with me, ears pricked and breath sharp. She wanted to run. I couldn’t. Not yet. Not until I understood the danger I was facing—or the danger I was becoming.

A knock broke the silence. Three short raps. Not Kael.

“Come in,” I said.

The door creaked open and a girl stepped in with a tray in her hands, dressed in a maid's uniform.

“Alpha said you should eat,” she said softly.

“I’m not hungry.”

She hesitated, setting the tray down. “He also said not to tell you… But the Black Ash Council has arrived.”

My heart stilled.

“The Council?” My voice was ice.

She nodded, eyes wide. “They got here an hour ago. He didn’t want you to know yet. Said it might… upset you.”

Too late.

I moved to the window, yanking the curtains aside. Three black SUVs were parked in the clearing. Six figures stood outside the stone path leading to a door, their ceremonial robes catching the wind. They looked like ghosts—silent, watching, waiting.

Their presence reeked of judgment. Of control. Of fear.

I turned back to Blaire. “You can go now.”

She nodded and left quietly.

I didn’t move from the window. I stared until the sun rose higher and the shadows of the trees retreated like prey.

They were here for me. I could feel it.

I walked out to look for Kael and found him in a room standing over a table littered with maps. He didn’t look up.

“You lied to me,” I said, voice sharp.

His hands stilled. “About what?”

“The Black Ash Council. Don’t pretend you forgot.”

He finally met my eyes. “You weren’t ready to know.”

“You don’t get to decide what I’m ready for.”

“I was protecting you.”

“From them or yourself?”

He didn’t answer. And that silence said everything.

I walked closer, planting my hands on the table between us. “What do they want?”

“They heard rumors,” he said, steady but guarded. “About the crimson moon. About your exile. They want to confirm if the prophecy is real.”

“And if they believe it is?”

“Then you’ll never leave this territory again.”

The words hit harder than I expected.

“You’d cage me,” I whispered, bitterness rising in my throat. “Just like they did.”

Kael stepped around the table, closing the distance between us. “I would die before I let them touch you.”

I stared at him.

And for the first time since I met him, I saw it.

Not power. Not dominance. But fear.

Not for himself—for me.

Before I could say anything, the door slammed open. A man burst in, panting hard.

“Alpha, you need to come now. There’s been a breach at the southern ridge.”

Kael was already moving. “Rogues?”

The Beta shook his head. “No. Something else.”

Kael glanced at me. “Stay here.”

“No.”

His jaw clenched. “Serena—”

“I’m not helpless,” I snapped. “I’m not some fragile little thing you can lock away.”

A beat passed.

Then he gave a curt nod, and we left together.

The wind bit at our skin as we reached the ridge, pine trees swaying violently despite the calm sky. Claw marks were slashed deep into the rock. Blood stained the grass. But the air held no scent of wolves.

Kael crouched near the tracks, sniffing.

“This isn’t rogue,” he said under his breath.

“What is it?”

He didn’t answer. Just stood slowly, eyes scanning the treeline like something ancient had stirred there.

And somehow, I knew—it wasn’t done.

We turned to leave, but something stopped me.

A whisper.

Soft. Inhuman.

“She’s awakened…”

I froze. So did Kael.

The air around us thickened, and every hair on my arms stood on end.

“You heard that, right?” I asked, voice barely above a breath.

Kael didn’t speak. But his glowing eyes told me everything I needed to know.

We weren’t alone.

And whatever had just found me—it already knew who I was.