Chapter Forty-Four - The Price of a Ghost

Aria’s POV

The packhouse had grown quiet by the time I finished preparing for bed.

I sat against the headboard, brushing my fingers through my hair while waiting for Kael. He had promised to tell me what he needed to discuss before bedtime, and although I had tried to occupy myself with a book, my attention kept drifting toward the door.

Whatever it was, he had seemed unusually serious when he left earlier that evening.

I wondered whether something had happened in the eastern territory. Perhaps there had been trouble with the border patrols or an issue with the trade agreement. With Kael, there was always something demanding his attention.

A soft knock interrupted my thoughts.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and Kael stepped inside.

He had changed out of his daytime clothes into a dark pair of trousers and a loose shirt. His hair was slightly disheveled, and exhaustion shadowed his face. Yet it wasn’t his tired appearance that made me straighten.

It was his expression. Something was wrong.

“Kael?” I lowered the brush. “What happened?”

He closed the door behind him but didn’t immediately approach the bed. Instead, he remained beside it, his hands resting at his sides as though he were trying to decide how to begin.

My stomach tightened. “Is someone hurt?”

“No.” He said.

“Then what is it?”

He exhaled slowly and finally came to sit beside me. “Something happened at the border today.”

I searched his face. “What kind of something?”

“It’s about Damon.”

For a moment, I couldn’t understand why he had brought up that name.

Damon?

I hadn’t thought about him much since he left Ironcrest after the altercation between him and Kael . I had meant what I said when I told him our relationship was over. Whatever we had shared belonged to a part of my life I was trying to leave behind.

Still, hearing his name from Kael’s lips brought an uncomfortable memory of the man I had once loved.

“What about him?” I asked cautiously.

Kael looked down at his hands.

“According to the report we received, Damon was attacked by rogues shortly after leaving Ironcrest. It happened outside our border.”

I stared at him. “Attacked?”

He nodded. “The rogues killed him.”

The room seemed to tilt.

I heard the words, understood them individually, but my mind refused to put them together.

Damon was dead.

The man who had once promised me forever. The man who had taken my money, hidden my father’s death, and left me to discover the truth on my own was dead.

I opened my mouth, but no words came.

Kael’s hand moved toward mine, stopping briefly as though he wasn’t certain whether I wanted the comfort. When I didn’t pull away, he gently took my fingers.

“His remains were recovered and returned to Crimson Snow,” he continued quietly. “But that isn’t the end of the matter.”

I forced myself to look at him. “What do you mean?”

“Alpha Dominic believes Damon was murdered by Ironcrest warriors.”

My heart dropped. “What?”

“Dominic is accusing our patrols of killing him and dumping his body outside the border. He’s demanding justice and has threatened to declare war if we don’t accept responsibility.”

I shook my head immediately. “No. That can’t be right.”

“I know.” He sighed deeply.

“Our warriors wouldn’t do that.”

“I know, Aria.” He peered at me.

“Then why would he accuse them?” My voice rose despite my efforts to control it. “Why would anyone believe that Ironcrest had anything to do with Damon’s death?”

“Because Damon was last seen leaving our territory, and his body was found nearby. Dominic is using those circumstances to support his accusation.”

“But that doesn’t prove anything!”

“No, it doesn’t.” Kael’s calmness should have reassured me, but I could see the tension beneath it. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes had grown colder.

This wasn’t merely a dispute between two men. An accusation against Ironcrest’s warriors was an accusation against Kael’s leadership. And if Alpha Dominic followed through on his threat, the consequences would reach every family living under Kael’s protection all because of Damon.

I pulled my hand away and pressed both palms against my face.

“Oh, Moon Goddess.”

Kael shifted closer. “Aria.”

“He came here because of me.” I lowered my hands, staring at him with wide, frightened eyes. “He came to Ironcrest to see me. Then you ordered him to leave, and now he’s dead.”

“I didn’t order anyone to kill him.”

“I know you didn’t!” The words came out more sharply than I intended.

Kael fell silent.

I swallowed and tried again. “I know you wouldn’t do that. But Damon was here because of me. If he had never come to Ironcrest, perhaps he would still be alive.”

“You cannot know that.”

“He might have returned to Crimson Snow safely. He might have…” I said with shaky hands.

“Aria.” His voice was firm enough to stop me.

I looked at him, and he gently turned my face toward his.

“Listen to me. You did not kill Damon. I did not kill Damon. And until we have evidence proving otherwise, no one has the right to decide who is responsible simply because they need someone to blame.”

“But Alpha Dominic doesn’t care about that. He wants justice.” I whimpered.

“Then he can have an investigation.”

“And if he refuses?” I asked.

Kael’s expression hardened. “Then we will deal with that when the time comes.”

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe that a misunderstanding could be resolved with a few conversations between Alphas, that Dominic would examine the facts before risking the lives of hundreds of wolves.

But I knew how pride worked among powerful wolves.

An Alpha who believed his people had been wronged could become dangerous. And if Dominic had already decided that Ironcrest was responsible, evidence might not be enough to change his mind.

I imagined Ironcrest’s warriors marching toward Crimson Snow. I imagined the border covered in blood, the sounds of howling wolves filling the night, and Kael standing at the front of his army.

The man I was only beginning to understand. The man I had spent so long pushing away, only to discover that I wanted him beside me more than I had ever expected.

He could be sent to war because of a man I no longer loved.

The thought was unbearable.

“Kael,” I whispered.

He brushed his thumb over my knuckles. “What is it?”

“What if he refuses peace?”

For the first time since he had entered the room, Kael didn’t answer immediately.

His silence frightened me more than anything else he had said.

“Dominic has already made his position clear,” he eventually replied. “He believes Ironcrest is responsible for Damon’s death, and he wants us to pay for it. I intend to speak with him before this becomes something neither pack can control.”

“You’re going to Crimson Snow?”

“I haven’t decided whether I’ll go there personally or send representatives first. But I will make every effort to resolve this peacefully.” He explained.

“And if he won’t listen?” I raised a brow.

Kael’s fingers tightened around mine, not enough to hurt, but enough for me to feel the determination in his touch.

“Then I will protect Ironcrest.” He said with confidence.

I searched his face. “What does that mean?”

“It means I won’t allow another Alpha to threaten my people without consequences. I’ve spent too long building peace between our neighboring packs to watch it destroyed by an accusation that hasn’t been proven.”

His words were steady, but there was no mistaking the resolve behind them.

“Kael, I don’t want you to go to war.”

“I don’t want to go to war either.” He said sadly.

“Then promise me you won’t.” I quivered.

Pain crossed his expression, and I immediately regretted the request.

He was Alpha. He couldn’t promise to stand aside if another pack attacked his people. He couldn’t put my fears above the lives of every wolf who depended on him, and I didn’t want him to become that kind of Alpha.

“I can’t promise you that, Aria,” he said quietly. “Not if Dominic refuses to make peace and chooses to attack us. I have a responsibility to protect Ironcrest.”

I lowered my gaze. “I know.”

He lifted my chin gently. “But I can promise you this. I will do everything within my power to prevent that war from happening. I will investigate Damon’s death, question the patrols who were stationed near the border, and find out what really happened to him. I won’t send my warriors into battle because of an accusation alone.”

My throat tightened. “And if the truth doesn’t matter to Dominic?”

“Then we will face that problem when it comes.”

I leaned against him, unable to hold myself upright beneath the weight of my thoughts.

Kael wrapped an arm around my shoulders and drew me against his chest. I listened to his heartbeat, steady and strong, and tried to draw comfort from it.

I had spent so much of my life believing that love meant choosing the person who made my heart race, even when that choice hurt everyone around me.

Now I was learning that love could mean something else.

It could mean worrying about a man’s safety because his life had become precious to me. It could mean wishing I could carry the burdens placed upon his shoulders, even when I knew I couldn’t. It could mean wanting to protect him from a war he might have no choice but to fight.

I had once run away from Ironcrest for Damon. Now Damon was gone, and his death threatened to pull Kael away from me.

The cruel irony made my chest ache.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

Kael leaned back enough to look at me. “For what?”

“For all of this. If Damon hadn’t come here, you wouldn’t have to deal with this accusation. You wouldn’t have to worry about Crimson Snow threatening our pack.”

His expression softened. “You are not responsible for every decision Damon made after leaving you.”

“But his death is connected to me.”

“His death is connected to where it happened and the accusations Dominic has chosen to make. That is not the same thing as being your fault.”

I wanted to accept his words. I truly did. But guilt was not always reasonable, and mine had already begun to take root.

Kael brushed a loose strand of hair away from my cheek.

“Don’t spend tonight punishing yourself for something you didn’t do.”

“How can I not worry when you might have to fight because of this?” My brows furrowed.

“Because worrying won’t change what happened. And because I need you to trust me to handle this.”

I looked into his eyes. “I trust you.”

The words came more easily than I expected.

Something shifted in his expression, a quiet warmth breaking through the tension.

“Then let me do what I must do,” he murmured. “I’ll try my best to make peace with Crimson Snow. I’ll give Dominic every reasonable opportunity to listen to the truth. But if he refuses every attempt at peace and threatens Ironcrest, I won’t abandon my people.”

I nodded slowly, even though the thought terrified me.

Kael pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead before drawing me against him again.

For a while, neither of us spoke.

Outside the bedroom windows, the wind moved through the trees surrounding the packhouse. Somewhere in the distance, a guard called out to another, their voices fading into the quiet night.

Everything around us seemed peaceful. Yet beyond our borders, another Alpha was preparing to turn grief into war.

And the man who had once broken my heart was now a ghost whose death might change the future of the pack I had finally chosen to call home.

I closed my eyes and held Kael a little tighter.

I had only just begun to understand what it meant to be his wife. Now I was afraid of what being his Luna might cost me.