Chapter 5 THE SCENT OF LIES
CHAPTER 5: THE SCENT OF LIES
Kael didn’t come back that night.
I told myself I was glad, that I didn’t want to see him again, but the lie sat heavy on my tongue. Every sound from the corridor made my pulse jump. Every shadow under the door looked like him.
When dawn crept through the window, pale and cold, I was still awake. My body was tired, but my mind wouldn’t stop replaying his words—belong to me. The way he had looked at me like he could see straight through my defiance.
I pushed off the bed, needing to move, to breathe. The tower air felt too still, too heavy. The guard stationed at my door barely glanced at me when I stepped out.
“Alpha said you can walk the grounds,” he muttered.
My heart stumbled at the word Alpha. It shouldn’t make my chest tighten the way it did.
Outside, the world smelled like wet pine and smoke. Wolves moved through the courtyard—training, talking, laughing like a family I would never be part of. I kept to the edges, my bare feet silent on the cold stone. Every instinct told me to run. But run where?
The pack lands were surrounded by forest—thick, wild, and crawling with patrols. And even if I escaped, Kael would find me. I wasn’t strong enough to fight his bond. Not yet.
A voice behind me broke my thoughts. “You shouldn’t wander alone.”
I turned fast. Darius Greyson leaned against a low wall, sunlight catching on his silver hair. He looked nothing like Kael, yet somehow everything about him screamed danger in the same language.
“I don’t remember asking for company,” I said.
He smiled, slow and confident. “I wasn’t offering. Just making an observation.”
I studied him carefully. His eyes weren’t cold like Kael’s; they were warm, almost kind. But something underneath that warmth felt wrong—too polished, too perfect.
“Your brother doesn’t seem to care where I go,” I said.
“Kael cares about many things,” Darius replied, stepping closer. “He just hides it behind control. He’s always been that way—too afraid to show when something matters.”
I folded my arms. “And you’re telling me this why?”
He tilted his head. “Because you deserve to know what kind of man holds your leash.”
The words cut deeper than I wanted them to. “I don’t belong to him.”
“Don’t you?” His gaze dropped briefly to the mark on my neck—the faint shimmer of bond energy that pulsed whenever Kael was near. “He’s claimed you, even if you didn’t agree to it.”
I swallowed hard. “You talk like you hate him.”
Darius’s smile didn’t falter. “Hate is such a strong word. Let’s say I know how dangerous it is to love him.”
Something in his tone made me pause. “What do you mean?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled out a small folded parchment. “Take this,” he said quietly. “Read it when you’re alone.”
I didn’t move to take it. “Why?”
“Because truth is a weapon,” he said. “And you, Ria, have been living on lies.”
Before I could question him further, he turned and walked away, his stride easy, like a man who knew he’d already won something.
I stood there staring after him, the parchment burning in my palm.
When I returned to the tower, Kael was waiting inside. His posture was calm, but his eyes were anything but.
“Where were you?” His voice was low, controlled, the kind of quiet that warned of storms.
“I took a walk,” I said simply.
His gaze flicked to the paper in my hand. “Who gave you that?”
I hid it behind my back. “No one.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “You think I can’t smell him on you?”
My stomach twisted. “He’s your brother.”
“He’s poison.” Kael’s voice hardened. “Whatever he told you, burn it. Darius doesn’t do favors. Everything he gives comes with a blade hidden inside.”
The parchment suddenly felt heavier. “Maybe I deserve to know what’s true,” I shot back.
His eyes flashed. “You think he’s the truth?”
“I think you keep too many secrets.”
Silence stretched between us. Then Kael stepped forward, close enough that his scent wrapped around me again.
“You’re right,” he said quietly. “I do.”
The honesty in his tone threw me off balance.
“But understand this, Ria,” he continued, voice dropping to a growl. “Whatever my sins are, Darius’s are worse. He wants you because he knows you’re mine. That’s all.”
I wanted to believe him. Moon, I wanted to. But the parchment felt like a pulse in my hand, daring me to look.
Kael reached out, fingers brushing my chin. “If you open that, you can’t unsee what’s inside.”
His touch was gentler than I expected, and it scared me more than his anger. I pulled back, breaking the contact. “Then maybe it’s time I see everything.”
His eyes darkened, something raw flickering through them. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He turned and left, the door slamming behind him.
For a long moment, I stood frozen. Then, slowly, I unfolded the parchment.
It wasn’t a letter. It was a sketch—a drawing of a woman. My mother. The face was unmistakable, though her eyes looked haunted. Beside the sketch, written in sharp black ink, were words that made my blood run cold:
She didn’t die by accident. Kael Greyson ordered it.
The world tilted. I gripped the edge of the table, trying to breathe.
No. It couldn’t be true.
But beneath the words was a seal I recognized—the crest of the Greyson pack.
My chest tightened until I couldn’t draw air. My wolf whimpered inside me, confused, torn.
A sound outside the door made me jump. I crumpled the parchment and shoved it beneath my pillow just as the door opened again.
Lyra stood there, eyes gleaming. “You should be careful who you trust,” she said softly. “This place has a way of swallowing naïve little wolves whole.”
“What do you want?”
She stepped closer, her perfume sweet and suffocating. “To make sure you survive long enough to see what kind of monster you’re in love with.”
Her smile was thin, cruel. Then she left, her laughter echoing down the hall.
I sank onto the bed, my hands trembling. The sketch burned behind my eyes, the words carved into my thoughts.
Could Kael really have done it?
The fire snapped in the hearth, and for a moment I thought I saw his shadow moving there, watching me.
My wolf’s voice broke through the noise, low and broken. If it’s true… what will you do?
I didn’t have an answer.
But I knew one thing.
If Kael Greyson had killed my mother, then I wasn’t his captive anymore. I was his executioner.
