POV: Lysara
The east wing of the Draven Estate always felt too quiet-its marble floors swallowing sound, its tall glass windows reflecting shadows that didn't belong. I kept my head low as I moved down the corridor, clutching the basket of linens Kaelen's mother had asked me to deliver.
One step.
Another.
Breathe.
Hide.
Everything had been manageable until today-until Kaelen's presence began haunting the halls like a storm no one could predict. Servants whispered that he hadn't slept well for nights. Others said his wolf had grown restless.
None of them knew it was because of me.
I turned the corner-and froze.
He was there.
Kaelen Draven stood at the far end of the hall, back partially turned, shoulders rigid beneath his black shirt. His voice was low as he spoke to one of the guards, but even from here I felt the thrum of his aura.
Ancestors help me.
I immediately shifted my path, stepping quietly toward the adjoining hallway. His mother hadn't recognized me, but Kaelen... Kaelen had known my body better than anyone. My scent. My breath. My heartbeat.
If anyone would sense the truth, it would be him.
Then a gust of energy swept through the corridor. My skin prickled.
He had scented me.
A slow, controlled inhale carried down the hall-one I would have known anywhere.
"Stop."
The command wasn't loud.
But it slammed into my spine like a hand.
I kept walking anyway, hoping-praying-he was speaking to someone else.
"Stop," he repeated, sharper.
I stopped.
The linen basket trembled in my hands. My heartbeat drummed in my ears as I kept my head bowed, hair falling over my face. Two years ago, that voice was comforting. Protection.
Now it was the most dangerous thing in the world.
A faint growl rumbled behind me.
Kaelen was approaching.
Footsteps. Slow, deliberate. Each one sends a pulse of heat across my skin.
"Turn around."
I swallowed hard.
Then I obeyed.
And the world stilled.
Kaelen wasn't even hiding the way he was staring-eyes narrowed, jaw tense, gaze dragging over every inch of my face. Like he was searching for something he'd lost.
His wolf was pushing beneath his skin-I could see it in the way his canines elongated just slightly, the way silver shimmered along his irises.
I dipped my head. "Alpha."
The word tasted like ash.
His eyes flashed. "Look at me."
"I'm working," I said quietly. "Your mother asked-"
"Look. At. Me."
My breath hitched. Slowly, I raised my gaze.
His reaction was instant.
His pupils blew wide.
His chest rose sharply.
For a heartbeat-just one-pure recognition flickered across his stare.
Then confusion.
Frustration.
And something dangerously close to hunger.
"Your scent," he said hoarsely. "It... changed."
Fear twisted inside me. "I don't know what you mean."
He stepped closer.
"You smell like power." His head tilted. "Pure. Untamed. It's-"
He drew in another slow breath, eyes darkening.
"Intoxicating."
"Inappropriate," I whispered.
"Inescapable," he countered.
My pulse raced. The twins' magic had been unstable lately-Kaelen noticing my scent meant something inside me was shifting too. Something tied to the prophecy. Something I wasn't ready for.
"Who are you?" Kaelen murmured, voice low enough to curl heat into my stomach.
My throat closed.
I couldn't answer.
I wouldn't survive the fallout if he knew.
Then-
A warm hand brushed my lower back.
"Is the Alpha bothering you, little moon?"
Riven.
He stepped out from the side corridor, his smirk sharp and deliberate as he positioned himself between me and Kaelen. His thumb stroked a line that made my breath catch.
Kaelen's entire body snapped into tension.
A growl tore from his chest-raw, instinctive, animalistic.
For months, his wolf had been silent.
But now?
It surged forward.
Riven raised a brow. "Touchy today, Draven."
"Remove your hand," Kaelen snarled.
"Or what?" Riven's smile deepened, infuriatingly calm. "You'll reject another woman in front of your pack?"
My heart stuttered.
Kaelen froze.
His eyes flicked to me-pain flashing there for the briefest second, so fast I almost thought I imagined it.
Then he snapped.
His aura burst outward, slamming into the walls, rattling the light fixtures.
"Don't push me, Calder."
Riven didn't move. "I think someone needs to remind the Alpha heir how to behave in front of a lady."
The tension became suffocating-two predators circling each other.
I stepped back, but Kaelen immediately shifted to follow, gaze locked on me.
"Why are you avoiding my question?" he demanded. "Who are you?"
I shook my head. "I'm just a caretaker."
"You're lying."
His voice-his eyes-his entire presence pinned me in place. He inhaled sharply again, as if he couldn't stop himself.
"What is this scent?" he murmured. "It's-gods, it's-"
Riven cut in, tone deceptively soft. "Some women don't need to explain themselves, Alpha."
Kaelen's eyes flashed silver.
"And some men," Kaelen growled, stepping closer, "don't know when to back off."
"Try making me."
Their shoulders squared.
Magic crackled.
The air vibrated as both men prepared to wolf-out right there in the hallway.
I darted between them.
"Stop!" I shouted.
Both froze.
Two pairs of dangerous, powerful eyes slammed into me.
Kaelen's first. Hungry. Confused. Possessive.
Riven's second. Protective. Calculating. Warm.
"Please," I whispered. "Just... stop."
Kaelen exhaled sharply-as if my voice hit him somewhere he didn't want it to.
His gaze dragged over my face, my lips, my trembling hands.
His wolf pushed again, swelling beneath his skin.
"I've seen you before," he said quietly, almost to himself. "My wolf knows you. My body knows you." His voice dropped. "Why?"
My blood turned to ice.
I couldn't breathe.
Riven shifted, subtly trying to guide me away-but Kaelen stepped right back into my path, blocking us both.
"I'm not letting you leave," he said. "Not until you tell me-"
His voice broke off.
The lights above us flickered.
Then-
BOOM.
The hallway erupted into blinding white.
Magic-wild, electric, untamed-flooded the air. My skin glowed faintly, a pulse racing beneath it, responding to the power I tried so desperately to hide.
Kaelen stared at me in shock.
"You-" he breathed. "You're-"
The final light exploded overhead with a sharp crack, plunging the corridor into darkness.
His voice found me through the black.
"Who are you?"
And for the first time since the rejection, I couldn't run.
The power inside me wouldn't let me.
