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CHAPTER 18
~Kael's POV~
~Hours into the celebration~
The clinking of goblets, the rise and fall of laughter, toasts raised in booming voices that echoed beneath the vaulted ceiling of the Alpha Hall—I heard none of it.
Darian and Lucien were seated to my left, responding when needed, smiling in all the right places.
Talon made a joke about wolf blood and Shadowfang mead. It earned a round of howls. Riven even smirked.
But I couldn't focus. I was barely there, barely paying attention to what was being said.
Not with the empty space in the room or with the bond tugging at my chest like a damn leash.
Deep within, my wolf paced in my head, reprimanding me for locking my mate just to punish her.
I didn't want to pay him any heed, but the longer I stayed apart from her, the louder this silence became.
I stood up abruptly. My chair scraped back on the polished stone floor. Conversation faltered, just for a second—but I didn't explain. I didn't have to.
I left without a word to the others.
My brothers could very well guess I wanted to cool off. Whenever I got agitated like this, I moved away to calm and control my emotions.
Using that as my excuse, I headed down the hallway in one direction… Rhiannon.
The hallway was cooler than the hall, lined with guards pretending not to glance at me as I passed. I didn't slow until I reached the first storey—until I reached her room—the holding chamber.
The same space she had once awakened in. She wasn't chained like last time. But she wasn't free, either.
I couldn't risk her rescaping or hurting herself foolishly. I knocked once and opened the door before she could answer.
Rhiannon stood in the corner, arms folded, posture tight and her lips drawn. She looked beautiful in her rage. Her curls were pulled back, her clothing still clean from this morning, but her eyes burned.
"What do you want now?" she asked sharply.
I stepped inside. Closed the door. "You disobeyed a direct order."
Her jaw tensed. "And you act like I was plotting treason."
"You tried to cross the barrier."
"Is it bad to want to see my father? And before you even bother answering, I wasn't crossing." I knew she lied.
I could tell from how Darian had defended her. That annoying brother of mine had left the celebration with the excuse of using the restroom. But that was not the case.
It was either that she was escaping or Darian was intentionally getting close to her to win her favour and heart.
What a cunning bastard.
"Is that the lie you and my brother cooked up or…?"
"You can believe what you want; after all, there was no escape. Me being in this room proves that." Her words struck harder than I expected.
I exhaled and shook my head. My voice was quieter when I asked, "Why didn't you ask?"
Rhiannon blinked, incredulous. "Ask?"
"Yes. To see your father." I placed my hands in my pockets as I stepped close to where she sat on the bed.
Rhiannon scoffed, shaking her head. "After everything?"
"Everything? You are being treated well."
She let out a bitter laugh. "Alpha Kael, listen to yourself," she scoffed again as she stood up and walked in my direction, stopping a few inches from me. "After being bought, chained, and lied to?"
"We released you."
"For your pet slave turned mistress to threaten," she challenged. "I'm not a pet, unlike Seraphina. You don't get to lock me in a gold cage and expect me to purr."
The air between us felt charged all of a sudden.
My wolf purred in response, already loving more of her fiery attitude.
"It is why the Moon Goddess gave her to us. She is special. She is bold, unlike Seraphina. She is ours."
I shoved down his thoughts and focused on Rhiannon, focused on how alluring she was when angry. Feisty, like I loved my woman to be.
"You could have been killed," I said evenly, trying to reason with her. "The barrier is lethal to anyone unlinked by bond or under our command."
"I didn't know."
"Exactly. And thank heavens you are admitting the truth about wanting to escape."
I took a step closer, but stubborn Rhiannon didn't back down. Her eyes narrowed at me.
"I won't apologize for wanting to see my father," she stated. "Not to you. Not to anyone."
"Stop defying me, and maybe you'll get your wish," I groaned, closing the gap between us as I stared down at her.
Rhiannon lifted her chin, her defiance flaring like a storm. "You think dangling hope in front of me like that makes you any different from the people who captured and put me in chains?"
My jaw clenched. "I'm not them."
"Aren't you?" she whispered. "Because you are worse."
That hit harder than it should have. Rhiannon wasn't yelling. Her voice was soft—dangerously so. Accusing without raising volume, stabbing without raising a blade.
And yet, it was I who took a step closer until we could feel our body heat, our scent, and we were just a breath apart.
The tension between us stretched. I could hear Rhiannon's pulse beat at the base of her neck. I could smell her wild, unique scent.
My wolf stirred. "Ours. Touch her. Take her. She wants it. We want it."
I blocked Kale out, barely.
"You think this is about control, but you have no idea what I've been holding back. Holding back in so many ways."
Her eyes flickered brightly, her defiance shining through. "Then show me."
The challenge in her voice was like kindling to an already raging fire. She didn't flinch. Her breath hitched slightly, her chest rising.
Her eyes-those burning, fearless eyes—dared me to do what we both knew I wanted, what Kale wanted.
My hand twitched at my side. I wanted to touch her. Just once. To trace her cheekbone, her jaw, the slope of her neck.
But I didn't. Because I knew one touch was all I needed to let go, to claim her lips and all of her as mine.
To have her legs wrapped around my waist, her body arching into mine while her honey pot ground on me as I thrust into her over and over again, having her scream my name, and let the whole pack know who she belonged to first, even my brothers.
"Yes, yes, yes. Do it! Do it! Do it!" Kale chanted in my head.
I tried to reason with my head and not the direction of my dick, but Rhiannon was making it intense and too hard to resist.
Rhiannon stepped in—just slightly. Her chin tilted upward, lips parted in defiance. Our noses nearly brushed.
My body screamed for her. My restraint screamed louder.
The silence between us was no longer silence but soundless war—held breath, pounding hearts, the thrumming of two wolves.
My gaze dropped to her lips. She saw it. I allowed her to see and feel me, to feel the way my body needed her, and silently warned her to back away, but she didn't move. Not even forward or back.
Time slowed. I waited and leaned in barely.
Our foreheads almost touched. My breath mingled with hers. Her eyes drifted shut for a half-second, just long enough for her walls to tremble, her lips parting slightly.
But I stopped right there in that razor-thin line between control and surrender.
I closed my eyes, breathing in deeply. Fighting the ache, the want, the pull.
My fists clenched at my sides to stop myself from reaching out, claiming, breaking every unspoken rule I'd set for myself since the moment I knew she was mine.
Then the corner of her lips curled at the side subtly, and I saw it.
A flicker of something raw, dangerous that both scared and thrilled her.
"You're not ready," I muttered.
Rhiannon didn't respond with words, but the tremble in her breath said enough. "And I won't take what you won't give."
With every ounce of will I had, I stepped back.
The bond recoiled like a stretched thread snapped too suddenly. My body felt colder and hungrier. Kale paced like a caged beast, angry that I had not given in.
I turned without another word and walked out of the room, before I did something we'd both regret.
Before I made her hate me for taking what wasn't yet freely given.
But gods… If she had stepped forward—just once—I wouldn't have stopped.
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~Alpha Hall — Later~
The celebration had picked up again, louder now with wine flowing and guards lining the walls in uniform.
I returned to my seat. My brothers barely glanced at me, but I was sure they knew, judging by the frustrated tension rolling off me in waves and her scent.
Soren whispered something into Talon's ear. Lucien handed out another round of drinks. The Shadowfang Alphas were seated in the centre now, towering and proud.
Then one of them raised his goblet and stood.
Alpha Aiden. Shadowfang's heir apparent. Golden-eyed, silver-haired, handsome when he wasn't being a dick, arrogant at times but dangerous.
"I must say," he began loudly, "your hospitality is unmatched, as always."
Polite murmurs followed with head nods. He turned slightly, his gaze sweeping the room.
"I heard," he continued, slower now, "that you all recently acquired something... someone rare."
The room quieted all of a sudden.
I tensed, my breathing coming in slow, shallow breaths as my eyes narrowed at him.
"Not just any slave," Aiden said, lips curled into a grin. "But your mates."
My brothers froze beside me. The temperature in the room dropped.
"And I thought, surely, that can't be true. A she-wolf purchased from the auction block?" His smile grew. "Rare… But then I remembered whose pack this was. And here we are… Rare is your normal, right?"
He raised his goblet, his golden eyes narrowing on me. "So... where is she?"
The silence was deafening as my grip on my chair tightened, the wood creaking from the sheer pressure exerted on it.
"Where is your alpha-born mate, Kael? And when do we get to meet the last alpha she-wolf you chained... and claimed?"