Chapter 4 GOING DOWN
Chapter Four
The tower felt different that night.
The fire snapped in the hearth, casting shadows across the stone walls, but the warmth did nothing to calm the restlessness inside me. My wolf paced beneath my skin, ears pinned back, claws digging, restless.
The corridors outside thrummed with life—boots on stone, voices muttering, the occasional bark of laughter. I wasn’t alone in this fortress, not really, but I’d never felt more isolated.
And then, like always, I felt it before I heard it.
Kael.
His scent curled into the room before he did—smoke, cedar, and something darker, something that wrapped around my lungs until I couldn’t breathe without thinking of him. The door creaked, and he stepped inside as if it belonged to him. Which, technically, it did.
He didn’t speak at first. Just looked at me, his storm-gray eyes unreadable. My heart kicked harder against my ribs.
“You’re still awake,” he said finally, his voice low and rough.
“You don’t knock,” I replied, folding my arms to hide the way they trembled.
Kael ignored the barb. He closed the door behind him, the click of the lock echoing louder than it should have. Then he crossed the room, his stride measured, deliberate. Predatory.
I backed into the window ledge before I realized I was moving.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
His gaze burned over me, slow, unhurried. “Because I wanted to see if you’ve learned anything yet.”
“About what?”
He stopped just close enough that the heat of his body brushed against mine, though he didn’t touch. His tattoos shifted with the tightening of his forearm as he braced a hand against the wall beside me.
“About what it means to belong to me.”
The words hit like a blow. My breath caught, my pulse stumbling.
“I don’t,” I whispered, though even I didn’t believe it.
Kael leaned in, so close his breath warmed my cheek. His lips hovered at my ear, never touching. “Not yet,” he murmured, “but your wolf knows. I can smell it.”
A tremor rolled through me. My wolf surged, wild and furious, desperate to deny him even as she leaned closer.
“Stop,” I managed, my hands pressed to his chest. The heat of him bled through his shirt, searing. “You don’t get to play with me like this.”
He caught my wrists, firm but not cruel, and pinned them against the wall. His head tilted, eyes glinting. “This isn’t play, Ria. This is bond. You feel it, even if you’re too stubborn to admit it.”
For a heartbeat, the world stilled. His mouth hovered so close to mine that one more breath would have bridged the distance. My chest ached, torn between fear, fury, and something else—something sharper, hungrier.
And then—he let go.
The sudden absence of his touch was worse than the burn of it.
Kael stepped back, his expression unreadable. “You’ll learn,” he said softly, almost to himself. “One way or another.”
Before I could respond, the door opened.
A woman swept in, her presence sharp as a knife. Tall, beautiful, her dark hair braided like a crown, her golden eyes gleaming with superiority. Her gown clung to her like armor, black silk lined with silver embroidery.
Lyra Vale.
I knew her name before she spoke it. Whispers of her had reached even my old home—Kael’s once-promised mate. She had fought beside him in the southern wars, her claws as bloody as his.
And she hated me instantly.
“Well,” she purred, her gaze flicking over me with disdain, “so the rumors are true. The Alpha really did chain himself to an auction girl.”
I stiffened, heat rushing to my cheeks. “I’m not chained to anyone.”
Her smile was all teeth. “Oh, sweet thing, you’re already bound. You just don’t know how tight the leash is yet.”
Kael’s jaw flexed, but he didn’t intervene. He just watched, unreadable, as if measuring both of us.
Lyra turned her gaze to him, her tone shifting, silk over steel. “She’ll weaken you, Kael. She doesn’t belong in this pack. She doesn’t belong with you.”
Something sharp flickered in his eyes, but his voice was calm when he answered. “Leave, Lyra.”
For a moment, she held her ground. Then her lips curved in a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Of course, Alpha. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Her heels clicked against the stone as she vanished into the hall, leaving the scent of jasmine and venom behind.
The silence she left was suffocating.
“Who was she to you?” I asked, my voice too soft.
Kael’s eyes locked on mine. “No one that matters.”
It was a lie. I could taste it in the air. But I didn’t push. Not yet.
Elsewhere in the fortress, Darius raised his cup to a circle of wolves who leaned in close.
“She’s the key,” he told them, his voice dripping with charm. “You’ve seen it yourself. Kael’s already distracted. He’s slipping.”
The wolves muttered among themselves. Some nodded. Some looked wary.
Darius’s smile sharpened. “Help me take her, and we’ll have what we need to strip him of his crown. An Alpha who can’t control his bond isn’t an Alpha at all.”
Beside him, Lyra Vale stepped out of the shadows. Her golden eyes glittered with venom.
“I’ll help you,” she said smoothly. “Because I’ll never let her take what was supposed to be mine.”
Their pact was sealed in the silence of that room, a storm brewing just beyond Kael’s reach.
Back in the tower, I lay awake long after Kael left. My wrists still tingled from where he had pinned them. My lips still burned from how close he hadn’t kissed me.
And my wolf whispered the truth I didn’t want to hear.
I didn’t hate him. Not enough.
And that would be the death of me.
