6

KAEL

Her scent was everywhere in the hotel room. It hung in the air and soaked into every surface. The couch where I had first made her come.

The bed where I had taken her again and again until the night blurred into morning. The shower where I carried her before dawn because we had ruined the sheets, pressing her against the cold tile and not stopping.

The towel on the bathroom counter where I bent her over and drove into her until my hands shook.

In the end, we had fallen asleep on the couch. I woke the moment she shifted her weight and slid away from me, but I stayed still.

I kept my eyes closed and listened as she moved carefully, trying not to make a sound. The door opened. Then closed.

When I finally stood and checked the room, I saw she had left everything behind. She had not taken the clothes I offered. Not the dress either. That meant she must have shifted and gone home as a wolf.

I picked up the torn dress and laid it across the bed. I stared at it, waiting for it to tell me something it never would.

Last night had not been normal. It had been different in a way I did not like. I had never lost control like that before. Not once. I had pushed too far. I could have hurt her. She had been overwhelming. Her scent. Her reactions. The way my body answered without asking me first.

When I finally forced my thoughts into order, I made a call.

Two hours later, Alpha Alaric and his new mate were sitting across from me in one of the hotel’s conference rooms. They smelled strongly of each other. But there was no mating bond between them.

That was not unusual. True bonds were rare now.

“I wanted to apologize in person for missing the celebration in the Grand Moon Hall,” I said, keeping my voice even as I motioned for them to sit. “Something came up.”

“No apology needed, Your Majesty,” Alaric said, bowing low. “It was an honor that you accepted the invitation at all. I know your time is limited.”

“It is,” I said. “But meeting the alphas matters. I intended to speak with many of them last night. Instead, I will be here for another month and invite them one by one while I assess them and their packs.”

“I’m sure they’ll welcome the chance to meet the new king,” he said quietly, pride clear in his tone.

They sat. Lyra’s chair rolled back a few inches with a small squeak. She murmured an apology. Alaric immediately grabbed the arm of her chair and dragged it closer to him.

“Tell me about the woman you rejected,” I said.

There were other issues that should have come first. Serious ones. Letting myself get pulled into a night like that had thrown everything off. I should have been finished with these meetings already. Instead, I would be stuck here for weeks.

The last thing I needed was to think about her again. And yet, she was all I could think about.

I had showered until my skin felt raw. I had wrapped my fist around my cock and worked myself empty more than once, trying to get her out of my head. I had run hard this morning, fast and far, until her scent no longer clung to me. None of it helped.

I needed to focus.

“Aria?” Alaric frowned. “Aria Blackwood. She’s the daughter of Victor Blackwood. Lyra’s cousin, on her mother’s side.”

“She was your intended before Lyra,” I said.

“Nothing official,” he replied. “But Victor and I had discussed joining our packs through marriage. Everyone knew I planned to mate with her. Then I learned what kind of woman she really is.”

“And that is?”

“She sleeps around. With anyone. That’s not who I want beside me.”

My stomach tightened. “When you say infidelity, you mean to you. Were you faithful to her?”

“I was.”

It was a lie. A lazy one. His grin told me he expected me to accept it as normal.

“So you rejected her,” I said slowly. “And you chose to do it publicly.”

“I rejected her because she betrayed me,” he said. “I humiliated her because she humiliated me. Apparently every man in the hall had already had her.”

Lyra started to speak. Alaric’s hand closed hard around hers. She went quiet at once.

I looked at her. “You’re Aria’s cousin. Are you part of the Blackthorn Clan?”

“She belongs to Ironwill Basin now,” Alaric cut in. “She is mine.”

So Aria had left the hall with nothing. No alliance. No mate. No victory.

Had she known who I was last night? I had not told her I was king. I had only named my old clan. If she failed with Alaric, had she aimed higher instead?

I had been careless. I was too close to what I wanted to risk that. I had not clawed my way to the throne just to lose control over a woman in lace.

Anger pushed down hard on the obsession. I forced it to settle, to turn cold and sharp.

I would not lose my head over this.

I had not cared about her past last night. Caring now meant the night mattered more than I wanted to admit.

She had used me. That much was clear. There was no point pretending otherwise. Being one more body in her history should not matter to me.

And yet.

I could not respect a wolf who could not respect loyalty. It was the core of who we were.

And she clearly did not have it.