MasukMorning arrived quietly. For the first time in what felt like forever... Blackwood was peaceful. Sunlight spilled through the windows. The estate stirred slowly to life. Somewhere downstairs... I could hear the faint sounds of servants beginning another day. It felt... Normal. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed normal. A soft knock sounded at the door. "Come in." The door opened. Kael stepped inside. He looked rested. He crossed the room and stopped beside the window. "I made you a promise." I joined him. "You did." "No more secrets." He was quiet for a long moment. Then he looked out across the estate. "There were three packs." I frowned. "Three?" He nodded once. "The people who took you..." "They were the last of them." I stared at him. "The last?" "They survived by disappearing." "They abandoned their own territories." "They changed names." "They scattered." "For years..." "There was nothing to find." I sear
Complete silence. No one moved. No one seemed willing to breathe. The words echoed through the room. Stay away from my mate. Mate. The word settled somewhere deep inside me. I stared at Kael. Certain I had misunderstood. Certain I had imagined it. Yet no one around me looked confused. Lucas was the first to recover. His eyes shifted from Kael... To me... Then back again. "What..." The question died before it was fully spoken. Elder Rowan closed his eyes. For a brief moment... It almost looked as though he had been expecting this. Agatha quietly gathered Aurelia into her arms. Aurelia frowned. "Daddy?" Kael didn't answer. He remained exactly where he was. Every muscle in his body rigid. His gaze never left Lucas. The strange restlessness beneath my skin grew stronger. It spread through my chest... Down my arms... Until every breath felt strangely unfamiliar. I pressed a hand against my heart. "What..." My voice sounded d
The second day passed more slowly than the first. By sunset... I found myself glancing towards the estate gates far more often than I cared to admit. Aurelia noticed. "You've looked outside five times." "I have not." She counted on her fingers. "Six." I laughed despite myself. Before I could answer... The sound of engines echoed across the courtyard. Aurelia was already on her feet. "Daddy!" She was halfway to the door before I even stood. By the time I reached the entrance... The vehicles had stopped. Kael stepped out first. He looked tired. More tired than I had ever seen him. His clothes bore the dust of two days on the road. His eyes searched the entrance. They found me immediately. For a long moment... Neither of us moved. Then Aurelia threw herself into his arms. He caught her effortlessly. "Did you win?" She asked. A faint smile touched his face. "Yes." That single smile... Was enough. Aurelia beamed. "I told Ari
The rest of the day passed more quietly than I expected. No visitors. No questions. No discussions about what had happened. Agatha seemed determined to protect me from all of it. If anyone came looking for me... She sent them away. "The doctor said you need rest." She reminded me for what felt like the tenth time. By evening... I had given up arguing. Aurelia, on the other hand... Never seemed to run out of energy. She followed me everywhere. If I sat in the sitting room... She sat beside me. If I walked onto the balcony... She came too. If I reached for a book... She climbed onto the sofa beside me and insisted I read it aloud. It should have been exhausting. Instead... I found myself looking for her whenever she wandered out of sight. As the sun began to set... She rested her head against my shoulder. Carefully avoiding the injured one. "I'm glad you're back." She said softly. "So am I." For a while... We simply watched the
The drive back to Blackwood estate passed in near silence. I drifted in and out of sleep. Each time I opened my eyes... Kael was still there. Sitting opposite me. Watching. Making sure I was still awake whenever the road grew rough. By the time the gates of the Blackwood Estate came into view... The tension I'd carried since my capture had settled into a dull ache. The gates swung open. The SUV rolled through. The moment it stopped... The front doors of the estate flew open. "Aria!" A small figure came racing down the steps. "Aurelia—" Agatha's voice followed behind her. "Slow down!" But Aurelia wasn't listening. She reached the vehicle just as Kael opened the door. The moment she saw me... She froze. Her bright little face crumpled. Tears spilled down her cheeks. "You came back..." Her voice shook. "You really came back." She threw her little arms around me as carefully as she could. As though she wanted to hug me with all her st
For one suspended heartbeat... I forgot how to breathe. Kael. He was here. I couldn't see him. Not yet. But I knew that voice. The clearing changed almost instantly. The kidnappers who had been firing wildly only moments before suddenly became cautious. Some glanced towards the tree line. Others slowly retreated. Fear. Real fear. I saw it on faces that had remained expressionless throughout my captivity. One of the men whispered, "It's him." Another took an uneasy step backwards. "We need to leave." "There is no leaving." The older man replied sharply. "Hold your positions." No one moved. Then... He appeared. Kael stepped out from between the trees. He wasn't running. He wasn't shouting. He simply walked. Dark clothing. A pistol resting easily in one hand. His eyes swept across the clearing. They found me almost immediately. For the briefest moment... Everything else disappeared. Then he looked away. Because there w
I stepped into the bathroom, and washed away the whole stress of the day. My mind wandered back to Lucas, I couldn't help it. We would have completed the ceremony now, and gone to his chambers. I won't have had to be alone. My face darkened, imagining him with Manda. I was feeling uneasy, I'm sur
The next morning, I woke up with a sense of purpose. For the first time since the ceremony, I had a plan. It wasn't much of one, but it was enough. I was going to find somewhere else to stay. The room Agatha had given me was comfortable. Too comfortable. The soft mattress, the warm blankets
"Aurelia, we're leaving" Kael said to his daughter. "Already, but I don't want to leave Aria" Aurelia said looking at me. "Let's take her along, can't she come with us? our house is big enough for all of us". she added. I expected Kael to refuse, he didn't know me, a common stranger rejected
"It's time" my newly found friend Mira informed me. I've waited for this night for so long, I've been on a strict diet, having to eat those very tasteless meals. I carefully stood up, so as not to ruin my pretty white dress, specially selected for this night, everything I was putting on was caref







