Chapter 18

Zaiden’s POV

The council hall still smelled of blood and smoke, but it wasn’t the rogues that lingered in my mind. It was her words.

“Maybe I was a mistake.”

They cut deeper than any blade. And when I reached for her, when I tried to hold her, she pulled away. Since then, she’d avoided me at every turn. When I passed her in the corridors, her eyes slid past me like I wasn’t there.

My wolf hated it—hated that she was slipping further, hated that I’d let my temper wound her. But pride kept me silent. If she wanted distance, I would give it. For now.

Instead, I drowned myself in duty. Strategy, patrols, maps spread across the war table. Anything but the ache in my chest.

Cole stood at my side as always, voice steady, presence familiar. He had been my right hand through every battle. If I let myself waver, even for a second, I would question the unthinkable. But I couldn’t. Not yet.

So I set a trap. Another patrol, another false route whispered to only a select few. The eastern caves had already been compromised; this time I spoke of the ridge north of Blackvale.

Only Cole, three warriors, and I knew the plan.

And still, when we reached the ridge, the rogues were waiting.

Steel and claws tore the night. The ambush was fast, too precise. My warriors fought with fury, scattering them, but my blood ran cold. This wasn’t luck. This was betrayal.

When it was over, I stood among the bodies, chest heaving. Cole limped forward, blood on his cheek.

“Alpha,” he said, voice hoarse but steady, “it seems no matter where we move, they’re always waiting.”

I studied him, my wolf growling in the back of my mind. Too steady. Too ready.

But I forced the thought away. “We’ll tighten our circle. No word leaves this hall.”

Cole nodded solemnly. Loyal. Trusted. Familiar.

And yet, in the shadows of my heart, doubt whispered louder.

Karen’s POV

I couldn’t breathe inside the packhouse anymore. Not with the whispers following me, not with the looks that lingered too long.

“She came and the rogues followed.”

“She distracts the Alpha. He hesitates now.”

“Maybe she isn’t the Luna we need.”

Cole didn’t say it outright, but his carefully placed words poisoned ears faster than venom. Maybe it isn’t one of us. Maybe it’s her presence. Think—when did the attacks grow worse?

The pack began to doubt me, and Zaiden’s silence burned worse than their stares. He didn’t defend me. Not loudly enough. Not like a mate should.

And his words that night replayed again and again. His anger. His hesitation.

Maybe I was wrong to believe the bond meant I belonged here.

I threw myself into training, into patrols, into endless tasks just to escape the ache. But the bond made it worse—because even when I turned from him, my wolf clawed to go back.

I hated it. Hated that no matter what, I still wanted him.

So I made a choice. If he wouldn’t protect me, if this pack only saw me as a curse, then I’d leave before he rejected me like the first mate had.

Better to go now, before he cast me aside.

That night, I slipped into the dark. The forest whispered, branches clawing my skin as I crossed the borderlines in silence. My heart thundered, every step heavy.

But just as I reached the ridge, a voice sliced through the night.

“Going somewhere, mate?”

I froze.

Zaiden stepped out of the shadows, golden eyes gleaming like fire. His voice was low, dangerous, threaded with something raw.

I turned slowly, throat tight. “Don’t call me that.”

His gaze narrowed. “You think you can walk away from me?”

“I’m not yours if you don’t believe in me,” I snapped, though my chest shook. “If you won’t stand for me, then let me go.”