Chapter 7

Kael

My wolf hasn’t stopped pacing since the moment I opened my eyes.

He scratches at the inside of my skull like he wants out—like he doesn’t care that I’m king or that I made a decision. He only knows that we rejected our mate, and he hasn’t forgiven me for it.

Neither has my reflection.

I stand at the edge of the training courtyard, watching the warriors drill below. I should be focused. I should be strategizing for the summit. But all I see is her—Aria. The way her eyes shattered the moment I spoke the words.

I reject you.

My fists clench at my sides.

"She’s alive," my wolf growls again. "We’d feel it if she wasn’t."

"I know," I snap aloud, the words sharp enough to draw a glance from a nearby guard. I wave him off.

Dax returns just before sundown, muddy and worn from the road. He had left at my command, riding alone and fast to Crescent Border territory. I needed answers—needed to know who she was and where she came from. It was reckless, maybe. But the not knowing had started to rot me from the inside.

He doesn’t wait for formalities. He strides into the war room like a man with something heavy to say.

"Well?" I ask, not turning away from the window.

"It’s not good, Kael," he says.

My chest tightens, but I don’t move.

"She was taken in as a baby—found on the outskirts of the Crescent territory, wrapped in nothing but a blood-soaked blanket. No one knew who left her. Some thought she was cursed. Others thought she was a burden dropped by rogues. She was given to the lower ranks. Raised like an outsider."

I close my eyes.

Dax continues, quieter now. "They didn’t treat her well. No family. No friends. Bullied by the other girls. Overlooked. Underfed. And when her nature didn’t progress like most of the others, they called her broken."

A low growl rumbles from my chest.

I imagine her—small, alone, looking up at a sky that never gave her anything.

"She didn’t even know her own last name," Dax finishes. "She was completely alone."

I finally turn.

"Where is she now?"

He shakes his head. "No one’s seen her since the ceremony. The law is that if a female is rejected by her mate she is to be banished from her pack. The elder informed her of that right after your rejection. They said she ran into the forest. Disappeared. Her scent vanished. They never bothered to look into it any further as she was no one to them. They assumed the forest claimed her."

"No."

The word slips from my lips like a snarl.

"She’s not dead," I say. "I’d know if she was."

"She wouldn’t have survived long out there, Kael. Not alone. Not without shelter. You saw her—"

"She isn’t dead," I say again, stepping closer, the heat of my wolf rising beneath my skin.

Dax studies me for a long beat. "You feel her?"

I nod once, jaw tight.

"I do, too," he admits quietly. "But I wasn’t sure what that meant. I am attuned to most wolves… but my connection to her is like the one I have to you. Which I don’t understand."

He has a curious look on his face, and if what he says is true, then what does that mean about Aria? Not only is he my Beta, but he comes from a long line of warriors tied to the ruling bloodlines—sworn to protect them, bonded to their wellbeing.

We’re silent for a long moment, the crackle of the fireplace the only sound between us.

"She deserved better," Dax says.

"I know."

"You made a mistake."

"I know."

The words burn.

Because I didn’t just reject her.

I destroyed her. I destroyed her after everything she endured to get to that day.

And still… her scent lingers in my memory. Rain and wildflowers. Like spring about to break through winter. Every time I close my eyes, I see her. Not the omega they presented—but the power flickering beneath her skin. The fire in her wolf before she ran.

She wasn’t weak like I first thought.

She was rising.

My wolf pushes again, harder now. "She’s becoming something. We need to find her."

I walk to the far end of the room, where the maps are spread out. Forests. Borderlands. The place where she vanished is marked by a red dot.

The Crescent borderlands are dangerous—thick, old forest that stretches into unclaimed territory. Places filled with rogue wolves, witches, and older things that don’t like to be named.

I should be more worried… but something deep within tells me that the forest is not a threat to her. Not like it would be to anyone else. It would welcome someone like her.

"Send scouts," I say. "Quiet ones. No soldiers. No banners."

Dax’s brow furrows. "You’re not trying to take her back by force?"

"No," I mutter. "If she’s alive, she’ll come back on her own."

"And if she doesn’t?"

I look out the window, where the moon is starting to rise again.

"Then we weren’t worthy of her in the first place."

Dax shakes his head and looks like he wants to say something but stops himself.

That night, I don’t sleep.

When I finally do, it’s not restful.

In the dream, she’s in the woods again—but she’s not the same. She moves like a shadow, silent and graceful. Her eyes glow silver beneath the trees. Her wolf—full and strong—runs beside her.

And I follow, always a few steps behind.

She turns once.

Not afraid.

Not angry.

But unreadable.

Then, the dream shifts.

I see her curled on the ground, blood staining her skin, her breath ragged. Someone’s calling for her—me. But I can’t get to her. The forest is closing around us. Something ancient stirs beneath the soil. Her scream slices through me.

And then—darkness.

I wake up gasping, drenched in sweat, heart pounding like a war drum.

The bond pulses behind my ribs like a second heartbeat.

My wolf growls softly. "She’s alive, and we need to find her."

And I finally believe him.