Page 7

I didn't believe in second chances.

Not for people like me.

Not for omegas who had already been rejected, who ran away, broken and unclaimed.

But Kael made it hard not to wonder.

Every time I saw him, something inside me shifted-quietly, steadily, like the tide pulling at the shore. It wasn't loud like the bond with Jace had been. It didn't explode like lightning or feel like drowning.

It was something gentler.

Like being seen.

Like coming up for air.

?

I didn't want to admit it at first.

But I started to feel it-the warmth of Kael's scent in the halls, the way my wolf stirred when he was near. My instincts didn't panic like they had with Jace.

They leaned in.

Drawn. Curious.

Hopeful.

And that scared me more than anything.

I didn't want a second mate. I didn't want another bond I couldn't trust. Another heartbreak I couldn't recover from. I didn't want to lose myself again.

So I tried to bury it.

Tried to keep my distance. Tried not to care.

But the bond?

It didn't care what I wanted.

?

One evening, Kael found me sitting under the old pine tree at the edge of Crescent Fang's eastern cliff. It had become my spot-somewhere I could think, breathe, and pretend the world wasn't spinning beneath me.

He sat beside me in silence, his presence steady but never overwhelming.

"I keep trying not to feel it," I whispered, not looking at him. "But it's there."

"I know," he said simply.

I turned to him then. "How can you be okay with this? You don't even know me."

"I don't have to," he said. "The bond doesn't lie."

"That's what I thought last time," I murmured. "And he rejected me. Said I wasn't enough."

Kael's jaw tightened slightly, but his eyes never left mine.

"He was wrong."

The words hit harder than I expected.

"Jace wasn't my first heartbreak," I said, voice trembling. "But he was the one I believed in the longest. The one I loved before I even understood what love meant."

Kael didn't flinch or ask questions. He just listened.

"I don't expect you to love me," I added. "I don't even expect you to stay. I just need... time."

He nodded. "You'll have it."

I looked down at our hands resting in the grass-his, scarred and steady. Mine, unsure and shaking.

And still, I could feel it.

Not a scream.

Not a demand.

Just a whisper in my chest that said,

This time could be different.