Chapter 5

The summit continued through the evening.

Elena sat at the far end of the dinner table, surrounded by lesser physicians who gawked at her with a mixture of respect and suspicion. She ignored them, focusing on her meal, cataloging every exit route in the room. The doors. The windows. The servant's passage behind the kitchen.

Get in, get the cure, get out.

But Brandon kept looking at her. His eyes found her every few minutes, lingering on her profile, her hands, the curve of her neck. She felt his wolf pressing against the edges of her consciousness, a frantic, needy animal that recognized what she was.

He doesn't know you're his rejected mate. He just thinks you're an omega with power. He's curious. Obsessive. Dangerous.

She needed to leave the summit early, before his curiosity turned into something worse.

But before she could excuse herself, Brandon rose from his seat and stalked toward her. The room went quiet. Every wolf watched as the Alpha approached the mysterious rogue physician.

"Dr. Vane," he said, his voice low. "A word."

Elena looked up at him, her expression cold. "I'm busy, Alpha."

"Now."

He grabbed her elbow with a possessive, bruising grip and steered her into an empty hallway. His body blocked her exit. His eyes burned with something feral.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "I've seen that shade of blue before. I've smelled that scent. You're not just some rogue."

Elena met his gaze without flinching. "I'm a physician. That's all you need to know."

"Liar." He leaned closer, his breath hot against her ear. "I'm your Alpha. You don't get to hide from me."

He rejected me. He doesn't get to call himself my Alpha.

She shoved him back hard, harder than any omega should have been able to. Brandon stumbled, shock flashing across his face.

"Don't touch me," Elena said, her voice sharp as a blade. "I'm not yours. I never was. And if you try to claim me, I'll make you regret it."

Brandon's eyes narrowed. "You're—"

"I'm leaving." She stepped past him, her spine straight, her heart hammering. "Stay away from me, Alpha."

She walked back into the main hall, grabbed her bag, and headed for the exit. But just as she reached the doors, a suffocating wave of dark magic crashed through the room.

Every wolf in the building dropped to their knees.

The air grew thick, cold, suffocating. Chandeliers shattered. Windows cracked. A pressure like a mountain pressed down on Elena's chest and then she heard the footsteps.

Heavy. Measured. Royal.

The Lycan King walked through the shattered doors, his midnight-black cloak billowing behind him. He was even larger than she remembered six-four of carved muscle, silver tribal tattoos glowing along his arms, his face finally unmasked.

Sharp jaw. Dark lashes. Obsidian eyes that burned with a decade of hunting.

Kaelen.

His gaze swept the room, dismissing the kneeling wolves. And then it locked onto her.

Elena froze.

The silver pendant around her neck throbbed with warmth. The bond between them roared to life, a tidal wave of possessive, primal fury.

Found you.

Kaelen crossed the room in three strides and trapped her against the wall. His hand cupped her jaw, tilting her face up. His fangs grazed her neck, right over the mating mark he had given her five years ago.

"Hello, little wolf," he growled, his voice vibrating through her bones. "I've been looking for you."

Brandon scrambled to his feet. "King Kaelen! That woman is under my protection. She's a citizen of Silvermoon—"

Kaelen didn't even glance at him. "She wears my pendant. She carries my scent. She gave birth to my heirs." He turned his head, fixing Brandon with a look that could melt stone. "You rejected her. You threw her away. She's not yours."

Elena's breath hitched. "How do you know—"

"I've always known," Kaelen said, his thumb stroking her jaw. "I followed your scent to the clinic. I watched you raise them. I waited." He leaned closer, his lips brushing her ear. "I'm done waiting."

Brandon's face turned purple. "She's my mate!"

"She was," Kaelen said coldly. "But she belongs to the King now. And no one touches my queen or my heirs."

The weight of his words crushed the air out of the room.

My queen. My heirs.

Elena tried to push him away, but her arms wouldn't move. The bond that ancient, unbreakable thread that tied her to him pulsed with urgency. Her wolf had recognized him the second he walked in. Now every cell in her body screamed mate, mate, mate.

"No," she said, her voice cracking. "You can't just—"

"I can," Kaelen said. "And I will."

He pulled back, scanning the room with cold amusement. Silvermoon's elite still knelt on the floor, trembling. Alpha Brandon had his fists clenched at his sides, shaking with rage.

"Brandon," Kaelen drawled, "you filed a custody claim for my children. Did you really think I would let that stand?"

Brandon's face went white. "Children? I thought they were—"

"You thought they were yours." Kaelen laughed a low, dangerous sound. "Elena has been carrying my bloodline for five years. And you, a petty pack Alpha, tried to steal them."

"I didn't know—"

"Ignorance is not a defense." Kaelen stepped toward him, his aura suffocating. "You rejected your fated mate. You banished her into a blizzard. You nearly killed her and my heirs. And now you want to play father?"

Brandon's wolf whimpered. "I can make it right. I'll do anything."

"Then stay away from my family." Kaelen turned his back on him with a deliberate insult and wrapped his arm around Elena's waist. "We're leaving."

Elena dug her heels in. "Wait. I'm not going anywhere with you."

Kaelen raised an eyebrow. "You have no choice, little wolf. The Citadel is the only place I can protect you from the rogues and the only place where your children can be cured of the Silver Sickness."

Her blood ran cold. "You know about that?"

"I know everything." He leaned in, his breath warm against her ear. "I know Leo shifted for the first time last week. I know Lily's humming power is growing stronger. I know their veins are glowing silver every night. They have six months, maybe less, before the sickness kills them."

Elena's knees buckled.

Kaelen caught her, lifting her effortlessly. His arms were solid, unyielding.

"I'll cure them," he murmured. "But only if you come willingly."

She looked into his obsidian eyes, the eyes of a tyrant, a hunter, a monster. And she saw something she hadn't expected. Fear.

He was terrified of losing her.

"I'll come," she said hoarsely. "For my children. Not for you."

Kaelen smiled a slow, triumphant smile that made her stomach flip.

"Good," he said. "Then let's go home."

He carried her out of the summit hall, past the groveling wolves, past the shattered glass and broken chandeliers. Alpha Brandon shouted something behind them, a desperate plea, a threat, she couldn't tell but Kaelen didn't stop.

The Lycan King's personal convoy waited outside: a fleet of black SUVs, armed guards, and a sleek helicopter that shimmered with silver runes.

Elena's heart raced.

She was going to the Royal Citadel, the heart of Lycan power with the monster who had marked her soul.

And her children were waiting.

I'm coming, Leo. Lily. Mama is coming.

But as Kaelen strapped her into the helicopter, she caught his eyes again.

"You let me go that morning," she said. "In the cave. Why?"

Kaelen's smile faded. His expression turned ancient, weary.

"Because if I had claimed you then," he said softly, "you would have shattered. You were broken, bleeding, barely alive. I needed you to heal. I needed you to become strong." He cupped her cheek, his thumb wiping away a tear she hadn't noticed. "And you did. You became a wolf worth chasing."

The helicopter lifted off, carrying her toward the frozen north.

Toward the man who had waited five years.

Toward a cure and a war.