Chapter 4 The Cold Alpha

The rain hadn’t stopped when Kael crossed back into Blackthorn territory.

It followed him like a curse — cold, sharp, and endless. The trees bent under it, their roots sinking into mud that reeked of blood and old secrets. His boots were soaked through, but he didn’t care. He’d had worse nights.

What he couldn’t ignore was her scent.

Human. Warm. Wild in a way it shouldn’t be.

It clung to him like smoke.

He hated that it steadied him.

The gates opened before he reached them. The guards lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes. Kael didn’t speak. He didn’t have to. Everyone knew what silence meant when it came from him.

His jacket stuck to his skin, dark with blood that wasn’t all his. His ribs still burned from the claws that tore through him, but the pain was fading too fast. He should’ve been dead, but he wasn’t.

And he knew why.

That woman.

Her hands on his chest. The look in her eyes.

The power that had slipped out of her and into him like light through cracks in stone.

He remembered the sound she made — small, breathless — when she realized he wasn’t human. He’d seen fear before, but hers was different. It wasn’t just fear. It was recognition.

She knew.

And still, she touched him.

Kael stepped into the packhouse, boots heavy on polished stone. Torches lined the hall, their flames bowing low as if they, too, feared him. Lucian waited near the great hall, his shoulders tense.

“You were gone too long,” Lucian said carefully. “We thought—”

“I was hunting.”

Lucian’s gaze flicked to the blood on his shirt. “And the prey?”

Kael didn’t answer. He kept walking. The walls felt too close. The air smelled of damp ash and wolves who had learned to hold their breath when he passed.

Inside his chamber, he stripped off his jacket and stood before the open balcony. The mountains were a dark line against the clouds. The storm hadn’t moved on; it was waiting. Just like him.

Lucian lingered by the door. “The rogues hit the southern ridge again. Two humans dead. One alive. Said she saw fire that didn’t burn.”

Kael turned slightly. “Fire?”

“No flames. Just heat. Like light coming out of the bodies.”

The Alpha’s jaw tightened. “Get me details.”

Lucian hesitated. “There’s more. Word from the city — a doctor who saved a man that shouldn’t have survived. People said there was light.” He paused. “Silver light.”

Kael didn’t move, but the air did. The wind shifted, low and cold. His voice dropped. “Keep that quiet. No one outside this room.”

Lucian nodded, relief and fear mixing in his scent. “Yes, Alpha.”

When he was gone, Kael leaned on the railing. Rain slid from his hair to the stone below. He could still feel her touch, even now. The memory burned under his skin like it had been branded there.

Mate.

The word rose from somewhere deep — from the beast inside him that still believed in fate. Kael shut it out. He didn’t believe in the Moon Goddess anymore. He’d buried too many bodies in her name.

Still… her scent hadn’t left him.

It was clean, but sharp. Like rain after lightning.

And it made something in him restless.

He stared out at the storm until dawn.

---

By morning, the courtyard was alive with movement. Warriors trained, blades flashing in the cold light. The air smelled of wet soil and sweat. Kael moved through them, silent, controlled. None of them met his eyes.

Corin, his second Beta, jogged up holding a report. “Another attack last night. Highway near the woods. Two dead. Survivor says the bodies caught fire from the inside. No scorch marks on the ground.”

Kael frowned. “Inside?”

“Yes, Alpha. Like the heat was in their blood.”

He took the file, scanning the photos. The corpses looked hollowed out. Too clean. No weapon marks. Just light that had killed.

He closed the file. “Burn everything that mentions this. Keep the area sealed.”

Corin nodded and left.

Kael sat back in his chair. The map spread across his desk showed the border between their world and the humans’. His hand hovered over one point — the city. St. Mary’s Hospital.

Her name had been Selene.

Soft, like it didn’t belong in his mouth.

He said it once, quietly. The sound pulled something sharp and warm through his chest. His wolf pushed against his control, tail lashing.

He grabbed his coat.

---

The drive into the city was quiet. Too quiet. The rain had thinned, but the sky still hung low and heavy. Kael parked a few streets away from the hospital and waited.

Then she appeared.

Selene.

Her hair was damp, falling loose around her face. She moved fast, coffee in one hand, papers in the other. Her eyes looked tired — but not weak. There was a fire there that didn’t belong in a human.

His pulse slowed. Every part of him stilled.

When she stopped at the curb and looked up, her gaze went straight toward his car. She couldn’t see through the tinted glass. But she felt him. He could tell. Her shoulders went tight, and for a second, her heartbeat matched his.

Then she turned and went inside.

He waited until the door shut behind her, then started the car.

Not yet.

---

That night, the pack gathered by the fire pit. Flames tore at the dark air, throwing sparks up into the wind. Kael stood before them, arms crossed, eyes on the blaze.

“We move at dawn,” he said.

Lucian stepped forward. “Toward the city?”

“Yes.”

Corin’s voice was lower. “If what’s there isn’t rogue?”

Kael looked at the flames. They bent toward him, drawn by the heat under his skin. When he finally met their eyes, his own burned gold.

“Then I’ll deal with it myself.”

The circle broke. Warriors melted back into the shadows. Only Kael stayed by the fire, the glow painting his face in red and smoke.

He thought about her again — about the light that had healed him, about the way her voice trembled when she said his name.

A human couldn’t do that.

But she had.

“She’s not one of them,” he muttered.

His wolf stirred, restless. Mate.

He clenched his jaw. “No.”

He turned to the balcony. The moon hung low, pale and broken behind clouds.

“Why her?” he whispered.

No answer. Just wind. Just silence.

His hands tightened on the railing. For years, he’d kept his heart buried under orders, blood, and cold steel. Now one woman — one human — had torn through all of it with a single touch.

He hated her for it.

He couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Far below, thunder rolled again.

Kael lifted his head. “If she’s mine,” he said softly, “the Goddess made a mistake.”

Lightning split the sky.

Miles away, Selene woke with a gasp, her skin faintly glowing under the dark.

And in the distance, across rain and shadow, a single wolf howled her name.