Chapter 12

THE PRICE OF THE BOND

Kael wasn’t sleeping anymore.

Not truly.

He dozed in bursts—minutes stolen from exhaustion—but every time his eyes closed, he saw her. Felt her. Heard her voice whispering through the marrow of his bones.

And when he woke, he wasn’t alone in his own mind.

The wolf was closer now. Not just pacing at the edges of his sanity, but pressing against it—breathing down his neck. Watching with yellow eyes through the mirror. Waiting for a moment of weakness.

He knew what it wanted.

Liana.

Not the woman.

The mate.

The bond had been completed—but not tamed. No ritual, no spell, no slow burn of romance to ease them into it. Just blood and battle and instinct. One desperate bite to save her life… and now she was embedded in him. Woven through every nerve ending. A second pulse beneath his own.

And it was breaking him.

Every touch burned. Every glance from her made his claws itch. Her scent—gods, her scent—was a drug that set his teeth on edge.

He couldn’t be around her.

He shouldn’t be around her.

But he couldn’t stay away either.

—

Liana had stopped pretending she wasn’t affected.

She could lie to herself in the daylight, in the safety of solitude and books and cool baths. She could murmur little mantras like You’re still you. This doesn’t own you. You’re not his—

But the bond was there.

It coiled around her spine like ivy. It pulsed through her veins when Kael was near. She knew when he was awake, knew when he was spiraling. Felt his fury, his hunger, his guilt.

It was like sharing a body with a storm.

And the worst part?

Sometimes… she liked it.

Sometimes, when she caught him watching her, when the air between them sparked like lightning and her skin went tight with awareness, she didn’t feel afraid.

She felt alive.

She hated that.

She hated him for doing this to her.

Even if he hadn’t meant to.

Even if he suffered for it.

She should want him dead for everything. For stealing her from the woods. For marking her. For tying her life to his without permission.

But when she saw the way he avoided her now—like he was afraid of what he’d do—something in her twisted.

Because he wasn’t cruel anymore.

He was breaking.

And it terrified her how much she wanted to help him.

—

Sierra found her in the observatory.

The night had rolled in soft and heavy, clouds smeared across the stars like bruises. Liana stood by the arched glass window, watching the moon, her fingers absently brushing the mark on her neck.

“You feel it worsening,” the Seer said without greeting.

Liana didn’t flinch. “Yes.”

“You completed the bond too soon.”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

“Neither did he.”

Liana’s throat tightened. “He’s losing control.”

Sierra’s expression softened, the glowing runes on her robes dimming to a hush. “It will get worse before it gets better. Kael has resisted instinct longer than any cursed Alpha I’ve seen. The mark forced the bond, but it did not balance it. Without emotional harmony between you… the power will consume him.”

“I don’t want to be the reason he turns feral,” Liana whispered. “But I don’t know if I can give him what he needs.”

“Love?” Sierra’s smile was grim. “That’s not what the bond demands.”

“Then what does it want?”

“Alignment. Unity of will. If your soul resists him, it creates chaos. Pain. Madness. But if you meet him halfway… you may still tame what he’s becoming.”

Liana hugged herself. “I don’t know who I am, Sierra. Not fully. How can I meet him halfway when I’m still finding my own path?”

Sierra’s lavender gaze turned sharp. “Then you must walk that path quickly. Because the Alpha you know is slipping away.”

—

Kael had started locking himself in the east wing.

No one else used it. Not even the guards went there. The space was massive—a sprawling series of abandoned training halls, old libraries, a chapel in ruins—but he stayed in the same two rooms. One with a bed he never used. The other with a reinforced wall he punched until his hands bled.

The wolf inside him wasn’t patient anymore.

It was clawing to the surface.

Not for violence.

For her.

His mate.

He could smell her in the night, even from the farthest corner of the mansion. He could feel her heartbeat like a second drum in his chest. And when she dreamed, he saw flickers of it in his own sleep—fragments of thoughts not his own.

It was driving him mad.

But the worst moment came at dawn.

He woke gasping, half-shifted, his arms furred and twisted, his teeth too long for a human jaw.

He looked down—and saw a name carved into the wall.

LIANA

He didn’t remember writing it.

But the wolf did.

Kael stumbled out of the room.

He had to see her.

He had to know she was still real. Still safe. Still his.

—

Liana was in the training yard.

She came here sometimes—not to train, but to move. To remember her body belonged to her. She liked the cool press of stone under her feet, the openness of the sky overhead.

But when she heard his footsteps—fast, uneven, feral—she turned sharply.

Kael stood at the threshold.

Eyes wild.

Shirtless. Scratched.

Bleeding.

“Kael,” she breathed.

He didn’t speak.

He fell to his knees.

It shocked her.

This man—this Alpha—had once looked at her like prey. Now, he looked like a soldier who’d lost every war but was still crawling home.

She ran to him.

“Kael!”

His breathing was erratic. Sweat dripped from his temples. His hands clawed at the ground like he couldn’t trust them not to reach for her.

“I can’t…” he growled. “I can’t hold it anymore.”

“Hold what?”

“The wolf.”

She dropped to her knees beside him.

His head snapped up, eyes glowing.

“Don’t touch me,” he rasped. “I’ll hurt you.”

“No,” she whispered, tears springing to her eyes. “No, you won’t.”

“I marked you. I chose you. And now my soul is—” His voice broke. “I’m not strong enough to keep it back. Not anymore.”

Liana reached out.

Brushed his face.

He flinched—but didn’t pull away.

“You don’t have to hold it back,” she said. “Not from me.”

Kael looked at her like she was the moon and he’d been trapped in night for centuries.

“But I’m dangerous.”

“You’re mine,” she said.

The bond pulsed between them.

Hard.

Hot.

Then—

Kael leaned forward.

Pressed his forehead to hers.

And for one suspended moment, the fire inside him stopped burning.

She felt it.

The balance.

Their hearts syncopating.

Not surrender.

Not romance.

Just… alignment.

And the wolf receded.

—

Later, Sierra entered the training yard and found them still sitting there.

Kael’s head rested in Liana’s lap. He was asleep—finally, truly asleep.

Liana didn’t look up.

“He needs me,” she said quietly.

“He does,” Sierra agreed.

“I don’t know if I can be what he needs.”

“You already are. You just haven’t accepted it yet.”

Liana traced the mark on his back with gentle fingers.

“I’m scared,” she whispered.

“You should be,” the Seer replied. “Because what comes next will be worse.”

Liana looked up sharply. “Worse?”

Sierra nodded. “Ronan is moving. Xander is no longer loyal. The storm is coming.”

Liana’s jaw clenched. “Let it come.”

Because for the first time, she wasn’t just reacting to the bond.

She was choosing it.

And Kael?

Kael was finally at peace.

Even if just for one night.