CHAPTER FOUR

Kael’s POV

The weight of command often silences a man’s soul—but not tonight. Tonight, mine roared with questions I couldn’t voice, not even to myself. I sat in the Alpha’s hall, surrounded by nobles whose laughter was too loud, wine-stained smiles too wide, and whose hands roamed too freely over trembling omega flesh.

I hated these gatherings but I tolerated them for politics, for power and for image but when I saw her walk into the room—dressed like the rest, but carrying a quiet sort of resistance in her downturned gaze—everything else bled into irrelevance.

Elara.

The name tasted like heat and guilt on my tongue.

Her scent reached me first, subtle and different from the others, like crushed violets under moonlight. It caught me off guard, made my wolf stir with an urgency I didn’t understand. The others didn’t notice—too busy talking, groping, drinking, but Jones did. The bastard always had a nose for vulnerability.

“You,” he said, pointing like she was a prize on display. “Come here.”

My vision blurred red.

Before I knew it and before I could stop myself, my tongue ran free, “She is mine, Jones.” The words left me like instinct, not decision.

The room stilled. I heard my own breath, felt the weight of her shock, and something ancient stirred beneath my skin. It was like possession, protection and rage. Jones laughed nervously, but I knew he was calculating behind those beady eyes. “Didn’t know you were interested in Omegas, Alpha.” 

I descended the dais slowly, deliberately. Every step was a warning.

“She… is… mine.” My voice was calm, but my wolf pressed at the edges of my control. “Unless you’d like to challenge that.”

He backed down, smart and then she moved, hesitantly, like she was broken.

Elara.

So delicate and fragile-looking in that awful excuse of an outfit. She wasn’t built for this kind of cruelty and yet she stood before me with the quiet dignity of someone who’d learned to suffer in silence.

When she stepped close enough, I caught her wrist—not harshly, but to anchor her to me.

To keep her safe.

I drew her into the seat beside mine, close enough that the scent of soap and something uniquely in her calmed the storm in my chest. Her head stayed bowed. Trained. Conditioned.

That enraged me more than anything.

I tipped her chin up, just enough to see her face.

“Elara,” I said, quietly, like a vow.

She swallowed hard and her lips trembled.

“What are you doing here?”

It was a stupid question. I already knew the answer. The matron must’ve selected her like she was nothing. Just another girl to be used and tossed aside.

“I was assigned,” she whispered.

The words pierced me. My jaw clenched hard, She didn’t belong here.

I wanted to pick her up and carry her out and for some reason wanted to crush the matron’s bones and burn the names of every man who had ever touched her inappropriately but instead, I stared at her and bit back the howl of fury inside me.

“You shouldn’t be in this room,” I said.

She looked like she agreed.

I was about to tell her something else—maybe even let her leave—when the ballroom doors slammed open.

The noise silenced everything and then I saw her.

Liora………………….My betrothed.

Her red gown shimmered like blood in the candlelight. Her sharp eyes narrowed on me and then Elara, calculating and cruel.

The entire hall stiffened and even the nobles sensed the shift in power. She marched forward, each step confident, each sway of her hips like a blade.

“Elara,” she said, her voice honeyed with venom. “What a surprise.”

Elara froze beside me. I felt the spike of fear radiate off her.

“What is this?” Liora turned to me now, smiling sharp. “Is she your new plaything, Kael?”

Her use of my name without the title was deliberate, disrespectful. I didn’t answer, not immediately.

Instead, I rose slowly, positioning myself between her and Elara. “Leave.”

“I wasn’t speaking to you,” she said, her eyes gleaming. “I want her to answer.”

Elara’s voice shook. “I—I didn’t choose this. I was assigned—”

“Assigned?” Liora repeated, laughing now. “Oh darling, you think you were chosen to sit beside him?”

She looked around at the nobles. “You all see this? Our beloved Alpha rescues damaged goods from the servant quarters. Tell me, Kael, is this what you want for your future Luna?”

The word echoed like a slap. My wolf surged. I stepped forward, teeth clenched. “Liora, you’re out of line.”

“I am the line,” she snapped. “You forget, this union was your father’s will. You owe your title to my bloodline and now you humiliate me in front of the court for a filthy omega?”

That did it.

I stepped off the podium entirely. “Leave, now. Before I forget my control.”

She smirked. “I’m not going anywhere. In fact, I think it’s time I reminded this little servant girl of her place.”

She reached for Elara—too fast and my wolf broke free.

I grabbed Liora’s wrist mid-air, twisting it just enough to make her gasp. “Touch her again and you’ll leave here in chains.”

It was silence………..utter silence.

Liora yanked herself free, fury turning her face red. “You’ll regret this, Kael.”

She turned, her gown sweeping like fire behind her, and stormed out, slamming the doors behind her. The moment hung around us, frozen. Then eveyone started whispering and the music hesitantly returned.

I looked at Elara. She was shaking.

“Come,” I said again, more gently now. I helped her up, hand firm on the small of her back as I guided her out through the private corridor behind the throne.

Once we were away from the hall, I opened the door to my chambers and ushered her inside.

“You’re safe here,” I said.

She blinked up at me, unsure.

“You can rest,” I added. “No one will touch you again, not without answering me.”

“Thank you, Alpha.” she said with her head bowed and the next minute she sprinted out of there while I watched her go. I sigh hard because a lot of things had just started with this simple action of mine.