Chapter 4

Veyra’s POV

I found the Alpha King waiting inside my estate the following morning. For three seconds, I simply stared at him.

Kael Veyr stood beside the fireplace, dressed in black, his expression as calm as if he owned the building. Two guards waited near the entrance. My hands tightened around my bag.

“What are you doing in my house?”

His gaze shifted to me. “Good morning, Lady Nightingale.”

“Don’t change the subject. Who gave you permission to enter my property?”

“Your caretaker allowed me inside.”

“After you presented yourself as a representative of the royal court.”

“I am the royal court.”

I wanted to throw something at him. Instead, I shut the door behind me. “Get out.”

One of his guards looked horrified. Kael merely raised an eyebrow.

“You haven’t even heard why I’m here.”

“And you haven’t explained why the Alpha King thinks he can enter a woman’s property without her permission.”

Something flickered in his eyes. Amusement, perhaps.

“I’ll remember that the next time I require your hospitality.”

“Make sure there isn’t a next time.”

He studied me for a moment before his expression hardened.

“The royal court has been investigating unusual purchases made by several wealthy families. Food, medicine, weapons, fuel. Your transactions attracted my attention because you began preparing before any official warning was issued.”

My stomach tightened, but I kept my face composed.

“Perhaps I’m better at recognizing danger than your investigators.”

“Then explain what danger you’ve recognized.”

I walked past him and placed my bag on the table.

“The northern territories have reported unexplained illnesses among wolves. Patrols have gone missing, and livestock have died without an identifiable cause. Are you going to tell me those reports are false?”

His expression changed.

“No.”

The single word silenced me. Kael continued, “The reports are real. My younger brother, Ronan, has also been suffering from a condition affecting his wolf. Our healers haven’t identified the cause.”

I remembered Ronan from my first life. His condition had worsened during the early stages of the apocalypse, leaving him weak and unable to shift properly. The memory slipped out before I could stop it.

“It could be connected to the Hollowlands.”

Kael went completely still.

“How do you know that name?”

I cursed myself silently, “I’ve heard rumors.”

“From whom?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.” He stepped away from the fireplace. “I’ve spent years investigating the Hollowlands. Several people who approached the subject have disappeared. Yet a Luna from Blackthorn is buying enough supplies to survive a catastrophe and mentioning a classified location as if she knows what she’s talking about.”

His voice remained controlled, but the warning beneath it was unmistakable. I lifted my chin.

“I’m preparing because nobody else appears willing to.”

Kael watched me for several seconds before speaking again.

“I can give you access to selected royal reports. In exchange, you share what you know about the symptoms and your preparations.”

“Will the royal court control my supplies?”

“No.”

“My property?”

“No.”

“Then we might have a conversation.”

His mouth tightened. “You negotiate every sentence?”

“Only when someone arrives uninvited and starts demanding answers.”

For the first time, he looked genuinely irritated.

I found it strangely satisfying.

“You cannot protect this estate if the surrounding territories collapse,” he said. “Eventually, desperate people will come looking for food.”

“Then I’ll make sure the estate is ready.”

“And if the infected reach your gates?”

“I’ll defend them.”

“Against an entire pack?”

“Would you prefer I hand everything over to you and hope your soldiers remember that my life matters?”

The question escaped before I could soften it. Kael’s expression grew unreadable. I looked away, furious with myself for allowing the memory of my death to influence this conversation. He didn’t know what Draven had done. He couldn’t understand why the thought of surrendering control made my skin crawl.

Still, I refused to apologize.

“Share what you know,” he said at last. “I won’t interfere with your property or demand control of your resources. But if you’re concealing information that endangers my people, I’ll hold you responsible.”

“And if you attempt to seize my sanctuary, I’ll make sure every surviving Alpha knows their king tried to take a private refuge before the apocalypse even began.”

Silence filled the room.

Then Kael smiled.

It was brief, barely more than a curve of his lips, but it transformed his stern face in a way I wasn’t prepared for. My stomach fluttered. I immediately hated it.

“You’re very bold for someone standing in front of her king,” he remarked.

“And you’re very comfortable in a house that isn’t yours.”

His smile disappeared, although amusement lingered in his eyes.

“Fine. We have an agreement.”

He extended his hand. I hesitated before shaking it. His palm was warm, his grip firm without being forceful. For one strange second, something stirred deep inside me.

My wolf.

She had been quiet since my rebirth, as if she, too, feared what waited ahead. Now she pressed against my consciousness with sudden, startling intensity. I pulled my hand away. Kael’s expression changed. His wolf had reacted, too.

“Are you injured?” he asked.

“No.”

“Your face suggests otherwise.”

“My face is none of your business.”

He studied me, seemingly deciding whether to argue.

“What just happened?” he asked.

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

Neither of us spoke for a moment. The warmth in my chest had become an uncomfortable ache.

My wolf was restless, responding to something in Kael that I couldn’t identify.

I knew what the reaction might mean.

A mate bond!!

The thought filled me with dread. I’d already spent seven years bound to a man who had mistaken my love for permission to destroy me. I wasn’t ready to discover that fate had selected another man for me. Kael seemed to read something in my expression.

“If this is a mate reaction, we shouldn’t draw conclusions without having our wolves examined.”

I stared at him.

“Do you believe that possibility?”

“I believe in understanding a situation before acting on it.”

“And if we are mates?”

His gaze held mine.

“Then we’ll decide what it means. You owe me nothing simply because our wolves might recognize each other.”

I hadn’t expected that answer. Powerful men usually treated their kindness as a debt I would eventually have to repay. Draven had done it for years, turning every sacrifice into another reason I owed him more.

Kael made no such demand. I didn’t trust him. But for the first time, I wondered whether I might eventually learn to. Before I could answer, the door burst open. A guard rushed inside, breathing hard.

“Your Majesty! An infected wolf has been spotted near the eastern boundary. It attacked a patrol and retreated into the trees.”

Kael’s entire demeanor changed.

“Secure the estate. No one approaches it without my order.”

I stepped forward. “I’m coming with you.”

His eyes narrowed. “Absolutely not.”

“I know things about the infected wolves that your soldiers don’t.”

“That doesn’t make you qualified to face one.”

“Then keep me behind your defensive line. But if you want answers about the Hollowlands, you should stop treating me like an inconvenience.”

His jaw tightened. After a long moment, he gestured toward the door.

“You stay behind my guards. If I tell you to retreat, you retreat.”

“Agreed.”

I followed him outside. And immediately wished I hadn’t. The infected wolf stood near the tree line.

At first glance, it almost looked ordinary. Then it moved, and I saw the wrongness in its limbs, the unnatural tension in its body. It’s eyes were clouded, but its attention seemed disturbingly focused.

It wasn’t hunting like a starving animal. It was searching. Kael raised a hand, signaling his soldiers to hold their positions. The creature turned its head.

Then it saw me. It stopped. A cold shiver traveled down my spine.

“Your Majesty,” one of the guards whispered, raising his weapon.

“Hold.”

The infected wolf began approaching. My heart hammered against my ribs. I remembered the shelter, the hands holding me down, the faces of the people who had decided my death was necessary. I remembered teeth tearing into me while my family watched. My wolf recoiled, but I forced myself to remain standing. The creature came within a few steps of me. Then it lowered its head.

Every soldier fell silent. I couldn’t move. The wolf raised its face again. A strange, broken sound escaped its throat, almost like an attempt to speak. One word emerged.

“Bloodline.”

Its legs buckled.

The creature collapsed at my feet. Kael immediately ordered his guards to secure its body, but I barely heard him. My hands were shaking, and my wolf had gone unnaturally quiet. I had no explanation for what had just happened. Or why the creature had looked at me as if it knew me.

Kael turned toward me.

“What did it mean?”

“I don’t know.”

It was the truth. Just not the whole truth. Something connected me to these creatures. I could feel it, though I didn’t understand what it was. And with the healer’s discovery of my pregnancy, the questions surrounding my bloodline had become even more terrifying. Kael stepped closer.

I looked up at him, ready for another demand. Instead, he suddenly froze. His breathing changed. His eyes darkened, and something powerful stirred beneath his controlled expression. His wolf surged forward.

Then Kael stared at me as though the world had shifted beneath his feet.

“No,” he whispered.

I frowned. “What?”

He took one unsteady step toward me, his face drained of color.

“My wolf…”

His voice broke. For the first time since meeting the Alpha King, I saw genuine fear in his eyes.

“He remembers you.”

My blood turned to ice.

“But I have never met you before,” I whispered.