Kael
She smelled like fire.
Not smoke. Not ash. Fire. Raw. Untamed. Alive.
Karl stood outside the room, fists clenched at his sides, muscles coiled tight like he'd just stepped out of a fight — because that's what being near her felt like. Every. Damn. Second. A fight. Between man and wolf. Between logic and instinct.
He hadn't meant to bite her. That wasn't some poetic excuse — it was the truth. The rogue hunt had gone sideways, his blood had been up, and her scent — sharp, female, full of something ancient — had sliced through his senses like a blade to the throat.
By the time he realized what she was, the bond had already locked in place.
And now he couldn't shake her.
Kael paced the hallway, jaw tight. The moon was still high, burning through the stained-glass window. The Blood Moon. A bad omen. He should have known the hunt would go wrong. He should've stayed in the mountains, where the pack couldn't feel the storm churning inside him.
Where she couldn't feel it.
His wolf stirred restlessly beneath his skin, prowling in circles, snarling everything he remembered her scent. The way her body had arched beneath him. The sound of her moans — not from pleasure, not yet, but from the fever. It was always the same. Once bitten, the mate fever took hold.
And with Lyra… it burned hotter.
Kael dragged a hand through his hair and forced himself to breathe. Calm. Control. Discipline. That's what made an Alpha. Not the strength to destroy — but the will not to.
Except she made him forget all that.
She was still human — mostly. But there was something in her blood. He'd tasted it. Something wild. Dominant. Ancient. It whispered to his wolf like a secret it had been waiting centuries to hear.
And now that it had heard it, it wanted more.
He shouldn't have gone into her room. Shouldn't have touched her, even to cool her down. But seeing her like that — trembling, sweat drenched, burning from the inside out — it had twisted something in his chest.
She hated him. Good. That made it easier
Easier to ignore how his cock throbbed at the memory of her flushed skin. How her voice — hoarse and defiant — had made his blood heat.
Why didn't you fuck me and be done with it
He'd almost turned back. Almost given in.
Because that was the truth of it. The claiming bite wasn't complete until the bond was sealed in flesh. In blood. In sex. And once done, it couldn't be undone.
One thrust, and she'd be his in every way. Soul-bound. Beyond reversal.
The thought made his jaw ache.
He wanted her. God, he wanted her. But he wouldn't take her like this. Not While she was burning, not while she still thought she had a choice.
Kael shoved open the double doors to the balcony. Cold night air hit his bare chest, grounding him. The scent of pine, wet stone, and the river below filled his lungs. He leaned against the stone rail and looked out over the territory.
His territory.
The mountains of Varthos. Unforgiving. Untamed. And soon to be at war.
Rogues were pushing in from the east. The Blood Court in the south had started sniffing around their borders. And now this — her. A wild card dropped straight into the middle of his carefully balanced kingdom.
She wasn't part of the plan.
And that made her dangerous.
"Alpha."
Kael didn't need to turn to recognize the voice. Thorne, his Beta, stepped onto the balcony with quiet purpose. Loyal. Efficient. Brutal when needed. The only wolf Kael trusted with the truth.
"She's stable," Thorne said. "For now. But the fever's accelerating. Faster than normal."
Kael nodded once. "It's her bloodline. Something's sleeping in her.
"Should I look into her records?"
"No. Burn them."
Thorne raised a brow. "You want her off the map?"
"She already is. Make it official."
Thorne hesitated. "You know what the others will say."
"That I've lost control?" Kael's mouth curved into a humorless smile. "Let them say it."
"And if she doesn't survive the fever?"
Kael's hand curled around the stone railing. "She will."
"Because she's strong?"
"No." He looked out at the moon again. "Because she has to."
The wind howled low through the valley, and Kael felt in his bones. The shift tugging at him. The bloodlust crawling under his skin. But it wasn't battle that made him restless tonight. It was her.
Lyra.
The girl with fire in her blood and fury in her eyes.
His accidental mate.
His curse.
His obsession.