The castle felt different in the morning. It seemed like it's energy was always changing.. but it wasn't louder. Just off. Like the air had shifted or a storm was brewing..
The guards stationed outside Kael's chamber door were whispering now—not just about the King's moods or the rumors of war, but about the woman inside his chambers. The one no one had seen. The one whose scent didn't match anything they'd ever smelled before.
Vireya.
She didn't know that, of course.
She was too busy trying not to implode.
She stood at the window, arms folded, staring out at the snow-dusted cliffs. Her breath fogged the glass. She hadn't slept. Not really. Not since waking up wrapped in Kael's arms.
She hadn't mentioned it. Neither had he.
But the tension? It was still thick in the room.
And Kael hadn't left. Not once.
He was seated by the fire again, reading but not really. His eyes kept lifting. Flicking to her. Watching. Measuring.
Like he knew something was coming.
She did too.
Because every time she closed her eyes, she could see it.
That forest. That mist. Those eyes.
And now? Now her back ached like something inside her was splitting open.
"Do you ever plan on letting me out of this room?" she snapped suddenly, breaking the silence like glass.
Kael looked up, slow. Calm. Dangerous.
"No."
Vireya's hands balled into fists. "You can't just keep me locked up like some—"
"I can," he said, standing now. "And I will. It is my job to protect my mate."
"Because I'm yours?" she spat. "Because your wolf wants to keep me like some pretty little prisoner with a bloodline no one understands?"
Kael was in front of her before she realized she'd moved. Inches from her face. His jaw tight.
"I'm keeping you here because if anyone else catches even a whiff of what's inside you, they will want to control it. Or kill it. Or both."
"I can handle myself."
"No. You can't."
She shoved him.
The power that shot through her hand wasn't normal.
Kael stumbled back a full step. His boots actually slid.
The stone wall behind her cracked.
Both of them froze.
Vireya looked down at her fingers.
A faint glow.
Red. Gold. Feral.
"What the fuck," she whispered.
Kael didn't move.
But his voice was low. Reverent. Terrified.
"She's waking up."
Across the castle, Iska dropped the bone she was carving.
The hair on her arms stood up.
"Ohhhhhh fuck," she whispered, a slow grin spreading across her face.
Then louder—
"KAEL! You better not be letting her tantrum unsupervised!" she said out loud in her cottage.
Vireya stared at her hand, still tingling.
The wall behind her was cracked.
The air around them charged like lightning in a storm.
Kael took a slow step toward her.
"Don't."
Her voice wavered.
But her body didn't move.
Kael's jaw clenched. "You think I want this?"
"You wanted to bite me in front of a room full of wolves," she shot back. "Don't act like you're some victim of fate."
"I bit you," he growled, "because I couldn't fucking breathe without doing it."
Another step.
She backed into the window frame.
"You're not in control," she whispered.
His hand slammed into the stone beside her head.
"I'm more in control than you think," he said, voice low. Deadly. "Because if I wasn't" his eyes dropped to her mouth "I'd already be inside you."
Her breath hitched.
The bond flared between them. Heat. Hunger. Need.
"You want this," he said, barely audible now. "Don't lie to me."
"I want a lot of things," she rasped. "Doesn't mean I should have them."
"Then stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you're ready to burn for it."
She didn't answer.
Didn't need to.
Her hands grabbed the front of his shirt and he crushed his mouth to hers.
It wasn't gentle. It wasn't sweet.
It was everything they'd been holding back. Anger and desire and frustration all rolled into one violent, breathless kiss.
Her back hit the wall again, but she didn't care. He was everywhere hands gripping her waist, mouth at her throat, his body holding hers like he'd been carved for it.
She bit his lip.
He growled, actually growled, and spun her toward the bed like the floor might give out under them.
Clothes vanished ripped, discarded, forgotten.
There were no declarations. No promises.
Just fire.
And the raw, brutal truth of a bond that refused to be denied.
She didn't remember how they got to the bed.
Just hands. Teeth. Fire.
Kael's body over hers, the weight of him pinning her down like a promise.
His mouth devoured hers—possessive, bruising, desperate. Not because he wanted her.
Because he needed her.
She gasped as he bit her lip, then trailed down her throat, his voice rough against her skin.
"You don't get to run from this."
Her back arched as his fingers gripped her thighs, dragging her closer, spreading her wide.
"You think this bond is a choice?" he snarled. "You're mine. The moon carved you for me. And I'm going to remind you of that every single time you try to fight it."
She should have told him no.
She should have shoved him off.
But all she could do was whimper as his hand gripped her throat not to choke, just to hold. To own.
"You feel it," he said, voice ragged. "That pressure in your chest? That heat between your legs? That's your body begging me to breed it."
Her heart slammed into her ribs as his other hand trailed down her body and his fingers dipped into her wet pussy. "So fucking wet for your King" he said taking his fingers and never breaking eye contact as he brought his fingers to his lips and sucked her wetness off them.
"So fucking good. You taste like MINE... I want to hear you say it," he growled. "Tell me who you belong to."
She stared at him, defiant as always. That fire in her that matched her hair refusing to give in to him. "Fuck you."
His smirk turned savage. "Gladly."
And then he was inside her.
No warning.
No easing in.
Just a brutal, possessive thrust that split her in half and punched the air from her lungs.
She screamed—loud, broken—her fingers clawing at his back as he slammed into her again.
Harder.
Deeper.
Fucking her like he was trying to plant himself in her soul.
There was no rhythm.
No pacing.
Just claiming.
His hand slid under her thigh, lifting her higher, angling deeper. His other hand never left her throat, thumb dragging over her pulse as he watched her fall apart.
"You were made for this," he rasped. "Tight little cunt wrapped around my cock like it's the only thing you've ever needed."
She sobbed, back arching, pleasure and pain twisting until she couldn't tell which was which.
"You're going to take every drop of my cum" he whispered, biting at her jaw. "You're going to feel me for days."
Her orgasm slammed into her without warning. Her body clenched so hard it dragged a groan from his throat.
"Fuck yes," Kael hissed, grinding deeper as her body trembled.
But he wasn't done.
Not even close.
He flipped her over rough, efficient and dragged her hips up until she was on her knees, spine bowed, hands clawing the sheets.
"You think you've been claimed?" he growled, voice not fully human now.
Drekken was close.
Too close.
"Not yet."
He slammed into her again.
Faster. Harder.
Using her like his body had been starved for a thousand years.
And maybe it had.
She cried out with every thrust, every slap of skin on skin, her body trembling with the weight of it.
"I'm going to fill you," he said, panting, savage. "So deep you won't know where I end and you begin."
"You're insane," she gasped.
"And you love it," he bit out, hand wrapping in her hair and yanking her head back. "Now say it."
"Say what?"
"Say you're mine."
She didn't answer.
He thrust harder.
She screamed again, thighs shaking, body undone.
"Say. It."
"I'm yours!" she sobbed.
He snarled savage and victorious.
Then his rhythm shattered. His thrusts lost all control, brutal and desperate, chasing his end.
And when he came, he roared.
Loud. Animal. All Alpha.
His hips locked, cock pulsing deep inside her and when he collapsed over her, panting, still buried inside.
He whispered it...."You're mine now. MATE." As his knot took place swelling inside her, still pumping her full of his seed. He licked the spot on her neck that he had claimed her. She shuddered. Lost in the moment as they were locked together, he picked her up off her knees and flipped them. With his head against the headboard, he pulled her into his chest feeling her slight resistance before she relaxed against him even as she huffed.
He smirked and she could feel it. "I still hate you, you fucking cocky bastard" he answered her with a light rumble in his chest.
And her wolf?
Growled in approval in the distance of her conscious. But still refusing to come to the surface.