The door to the guest quarters was ajar. I should’ve walked past. I should’ve kept my dignity. But I didn’t.
I leaned closer. And my world broke.
He sat on the edge of the bed, bare-chested, skin slick with sweat, hand moving furiously. In his other hand—my breath hitched—was a photo.
Her photo. Elowen’s.
He whispered her name with a reverence that made my stomach twist.
For a heartbeat, I forgot how to breathe. My wolf whimpered, trembling beneath my skin.
Kael. My loyal knight. My chosen guardian. The man I’d hand-picked three years ago from a line of elite warriors.
I remembered that day. The others had stood proud and eager, eyes bright with hunger for glory. Kael, though—he was still as stone, silence wrapped around him like armor. Power radiated from him quietly, gravitational.
I’d tried everything to crack that composure—silks, perfume, staged “accidents,” even near-fatal ones. He never touched me. I thought it was restraint. It was disinterest.
Then his phone buzzed. He answered immediately, voice shifting—cold, commanding, unmistakably Alpha.
“I’ve been pretending to serve Lyra for years,” he said. “You think I’d quit now? I need to keep Elowen safe. Lyra’s just my access point.”