4

KAEL

She snorted, then laughed. It was sharp and sudden. She rolled her eyes, and for the first time I saw a flaw in her mask. Something real moved beneath her control.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “You’re an alpha and you don’t like balls? I don’t buy it.”

“Don’t you?” I asked.

“Oh, come on.” She flicked her hand. “Alphas love showing power. You do it in your own lands, with your packs, where no one can truly test you. But a ball is different. That’s where it counts. Leading a pack is easy. At a ball, you all stand around and compare yourselves. Who matters most. Who is strongest. Who keeps the tightest hold on their wolf. They call it unity, but it’s really just one long fight to see who stands on top.”

She stopped talking. Her shoulders pulled tight. Then she looked down and scrunched her nose.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No,” I said evenly. “You shouldn’t have. But you aren’t wrong. Balls serve no real purpose.”

“To you.”

I tilted my head. “Say that again.”

“They’re useless to you. And maybe to the other alphas too. But not to women.” Her voice slowed, softer now. “You alphas make the rules. Some packs make those rules even harsher for women. Sometimes the only way to leave a pack is to marry into another one.”

Her gaze drifted, distant.

That was when I understood. Aria was not breaking because Alaric Stonefang rejected her. She was breaking because her way out had disappeared.

“What pack are you from?” I asked.

“Does it matter?” she said. “They’re all the same.”

They were not. I let it pass.

“I’m not from here either,” I said. “If you refuse to go home, I don’t have advice for you.”

“That’s fine.” She shrugged. “It’s the same crap everywhere.” Then, quieter, “Thanks for the clothes.”

“Full moon tonight,” I said. “After the ball, they plan to run together. Don’t you want to go?”

She moved to the window. Moonlight spilled over her hair and skin. She stood still and let it touch her.

“No. I can control my wolf. I don’t need to let it loose just because it’s a full moon.” She glanced at me. “Do you need to run?”

“I don’t need to.”

That answer made me look at her again.

“Do you want to run?”

“Not with them.” She hesitated, then met my eyes. “I was thinking of another way to burn this off. Are you mated?”

Direct. Bold.

“No.”

“I don’t even know your name,” she said. “Or your clan, Alpha.”

“What makes you think I’m an alpha?”

She studied me, slow and thoughtful. “We’re in the Grand Moon Hall. It’s packed with alphas. You’ve been giving orders. This room costs too much for anyone else. Either you have a very kind alpha backing you, or you are one. There’s power in you. It feels… wrong. Not like the others. Or maybe I just don’t get out much.”

She saw too much.

“All you need to know,” I said, “is that I could kill you right now and no one would stop me.”

I wanted her to understand exactly who stood in front of her.

She only shrugged.

“That doesn’t make you special. Anyone in a pack could kill me. No one would care.”

Interesting.

“I’m Kael,” I said. “Goldenreach Pack.”

I did not know why I said it. Or why I lied. If I had told her the truth, she would have fallen to her knees without question. I could have taken whatever I wanted. She would have learned soon enough anyway. Nearly every alpha in the region knew my name.

But when was the last time someone touched me without wanting power, safety, or status?

“Never heard of it,” she said. “I don’t know much about packs outside this place.”

I let a small hint of my power fill the room. Not enough to frighten her. Just enough to see what she would do. Almost fifty alphas had come for Alaric’s ball. If she truly believed she would be his mate, she would have studied every guest.

She would have known me.

I cursed under my breath. She made no sense. I could drag a wolf to the surface with a thought, yet hers barely stirred. She knew how to act around alphas, but she had not done any of it with me. Trained, yet resisting.

Aria was guarded. Sealed tight. And far from dull.

“If you had one night with no rules,” she asked, “what would you do?”

I took my time answering.

“There was a time when I had nothing but freedom,” I said. “My brother and I had no duties. No watchers. No one telling us what we had to be. It feels like another life now.”

“That sounds nice,” she said.

“It was,” I said. “I didn’t appreciate it. You never do until it’s gone. If I had one night like that now, I’d do whatever made me feel like myself again. Like I was the one in control.”

“Like sleeping with a woman who wants you?” she asked. “No strings.”

I held her gaze.

“I never lack willing women, Aria. Many of them are beautiful.”

Her mouth tightened. I saw real disappointment flash before she hid it.

“Then I guess I don’t have anything you want.”

“You want to spend your night with someone?” I asked softly.

“I just want to feel something good.” She breathed out and walked to the bed, picking up the jeans.

Something twisted in my chest before I knew why.

“What are you doing?”

“I thought it was clear. I’m going to find a little pleasure.” She looked at me. “I should probably be dressed for that.”

“No.”

She stopped and turned back.

“I want a choice,” she said. “What happened earlier taught me not to walk up to men half-dressed.”

Was she really planning to leave and find a stranger? My wolf pressed hard against my control. I hated the idea. I hated how much I cared.

She stepped past me toward the bathroom. I reached out and caught her arm.

“You think going out alone to find someone is smart?” I asked.

“What do you care?” she whispered.

Heat stirred low in my body. I lifted her and set her on the back of the couch. The jeans slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor. I ran my hands down her bare thighs, slow enough to stretch the moment.

“I leave tomorrow,” I said.

“Then I won’t be in your way,” she answered.

This trip was meant to be business. Simple. Controlled. Now my focus was gone. My teeth ached to mark her, to claim something I could not name.

My hands moved to her hips. I felt it at once.

“No bra. No panties.” My voice dropped. “Under that dress. Did you come here to test wolves? Don’t expect me to be soft.”

“I’m not asking for soft.” She opened her thighs and held my gaze. Calm. Sure.

“Hard and fast,” she said. “That’s what you want, right?”