Page 31

Instead, I push away from the table, putting on a smirk. “Finally catching on, Alpha?”

His mouth twitches, but there’s something dark that descends on his face. That familiar aura surrounds him. My throat goes dry and my heart skips able beat. I feel my wetness coating me and my wolf whimpers in anticipation.

“Maybe.” He smirks, but he doesn’t move to touch me. He keeps a good distance, focused on the map and thumbing through recent report files to make sure we got everything.

As the night stretches on, the tension in the room skyrockets. His pheromones are hard to ignore when we are this close together, occasionally interrupted by a guard, Ian, or someone else.

We work together, sketching out plans, refining strategies.

And somewhere between moving pieces on the map and exchanging witty remarks, my wolf slips in a thought of how good he’d feel sliding through my lips, warming up my tongue and stretching my throat.

I almost get carried away and moan at the thought.

I shake my head, but I catch Kieran watching me, a rare softness in his eyes. My heart stumbles, my wolf stirring at the quiet intensity of his gaze.

I swallow hard, tearing my focus back to the map. “What are you doing?”

“I meant what I said before, Hazel. I won’t stop trying until I can have you in my arms again as mine.”

The bond hums faintly, steady and unrelenting, and for the first time in a long while, I don’t push it away.

Maybe I’ll never trust him fully. Maybe I’ll never let go of the past.

But for tonight, in the quiet glow of candlelight, I let myself go. I grant myself permission to indulge a fantasy. Also, staying away is negatively affecting my wolf. And soon, it will no longer be a need I can fight. The Goddess might punish me in a way that will cost me my wolf.

So why push him away when he crashes his lips against mine and pulls me into himself by my waist? I can feel every contour of his muscles, and his warmth makes me moan into his mouth. He sucks on my lip, making me wetter than ever, before sliding his tongue in to taste me.

It sends a shudder through me, and I am getting hotter and wetter.

Before we can go on, there’s a knock and he pulls back, regret filling his desire-darkened eyes.

There’s a look on Ian’s face when he pokes his head in, but my head is too in the clouds to do this right now. I can’t make sense of what he’s saying, but I know Kieran has to handle it.

“It’s fine. I was just heading back to my room.” I lick my lips as I walk away, his taste still blooming on my tongue.

My heart aches knowing that even at this point, I can’t insist on his time.

As if it can’t get any worse about sharing it.

The air in the estate is different now. Heavier.

Tighter. The weight of the pack’s scrutiny presses against my skin like an invisible force, suffocating and inescapable.

Every corridor I walk down, every courtyard I pass through, eyes follow me.

Some are filled with curiosity. Others with suspicion. And too many with open hostility.

It doesn’t matter that my strategies are strengthening the pack. It doesn’t matter that the warriors who once mocked me now see the wisdom in my plans. Half of them still see me as an outsider, a threat to their order, a mistake Kieran refuses to correct.

And I can feel it. The division.

A storm is waiting to break. It finally does when a pack meeting is summoned and the subject is obviously…me.

The council chamber explodes with the voices of the high-ranking warriors and elders rising in heated debate. I stand near the long oak table, my arms crossed, my face carefully impassive as they argue over my fate.

One of the elders snaps, his grizzled face twisted in disdain. “She came here as a prisoner, a traitor from a rival pack. And now you expect us to believe she has our best interests at heart?”

I keep my expression blank, though my wolf bristles at the accusation.

“She has proven her worth,” Ian, Kieran’s Gamma, counters, his voice steady. “Her training program with the Omegas has already produced viable warriors. And her defense plans are sound. We’d be fools to ignore them.”

“A few decent tactics don’t erase where she came from,” another elder argues. “She’s turned our pack against itself. Look at us—fighting amongst ourselves because of her.”

I clench my jaw. They don’t see it. The real problem isn’t me. It’s their fear of change, their desperation to cling to a structure that has largely worked for centuries, even if it means being blind to its weaknesses.

I exhale slowly, keeping my breathing steady.

Don’t react. Don’t give them the satisfaction.

“She’s a warrior,” Ian says again, his tone like steel. “And if you had any sense, you’d see that we need warriors right now. Not infighting.”

“Enough.” Kieran looks each of them in the eyes. “Hazel is innocent. Not once has she done anything against Moonfang. It's been Damon all along. He's been working with Eldon to turn the pack against itself, to weaken us. To divide us. This war is evidence of that.”

The command room is quiet, but then, a low growl of authority stills every voice in the chamber.

Kieran steps forward from where he’s been standing near the fireplace, his blue eyes burning with something unreadable as they sweep across the room.

His presence fills the space effortlessly, demanding attention, demanding submission.

My wolf stirs, aroused by his aura, eager to submit to his wolf.

“This debate is pointless,” he says, his voice steady. “Hazel isn’t going anywhere.”

Murmurs ripple through the room. Some in agreement. Others in outrage.

One elder scoffs. “You’re willing to divide your pack over her?”

Kieran’s gaze hardens. “The pack is divided because some of you question my leadership and care. Would I lead the pack I dearly love into the ground?”

Silence. Heavy. Unforgiving.

I watch him, my chest tightening at the unwavering certainty in his stance.

“Kieran—” another elder begins, but he cuts them off with a sharp glare.

“She is my Mate,” he states, and the weight of those words crashes over me like a tidal wave. “She is staying and will soon be my Luna. Yours too. And if any of you have a problem with that, you know where the border is.”

The room stills.

For a moment, no one moves, no one breathes.

Then, one by one, the dissenters shift uneasily, some looking away, others tightening their jaws in silent defeat.

But the war isn’t over. I can feel it in the way some of them still glare at me, their resentment simmering beneath their forced compliance.

I exhale slowly, steadying myself.

Fine. Let them hate me.

I’m not here to be loved.

I’m here to survive.

Later that night, I find Kieran still in the strategy room, standing by the window, his hands braced against the frame as he stares into the darkened forest beyond the estate walls.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I say quietly, stepping inside.

His shoulders stiffen slightly before he turns to face me. “Yes, I did.”

I cross my arms. “You just made things worse for yourself.”

A humorless smirk tugs at his lips. “You think I care?”

I study him for a moment, taking in the tension in his stance, the exhaustion hidden beneath the sharp lines of his face. “You should.”

He exhales, running a hand through his hair. “If they want to be angry, let them. I won’t stand by and let them tear you apart just because they refuse to adapt. ”

Something twists in my chest—something too close to warmth, to gratitude. I shove it down.

I should turn around. Walk away. Keep the distance between us firm.

But I don’t.

Because for all his flaws, for all his mistakes, Kieran just stood in front of his pack and chose me.

And I don’t know what to do with that.