Chapter 13
Kael reached for me, but froze when he saw the unfiltered scorn on my face.
“See?” I laughed, sharp and cold. “Even now, you can’t own up to it. Deep down, you’ve always looked down on me.”
His throat bobbed. “If that day… if I hadn’t slapped you…”
“No.” I cut him off. “Kael, you wavered in this relationship, didn’t you? For a split second, you thought being with me was predictable, boring. Riley? She was thrilling, different, a spark you didn’t get from me.”
“It’s normal, Kael. You liked me because we grew up together, because we were the perfect match on paper. But you didn’t
love me–or at least, not enough.”
“You thought I was pretty, sure, but that didn’t stop you from finding me dull, too familiar, no spark left. Then Riley came
along, nothing like me, and you were hooked.”
“But here’s the thing, Kael. If it wasn’t Riley, it would’ve been someone else–some other young, gorgeous, ‘different‘ Omega just as worthy. But…”
I let out a bitter chuckle.
“How dare you hit me? Did you forget no one lays a hand on the future Alpha? Who do you think you are, Kael?”
“Why did you dare?”
Kael’s face crumpled, hollow and defeated.
I’d hit the darkest, most selfish corner of his heart, and he knew it.
He had no defense left. “Talia, did I lose you?”
“Kael,” I said, giving the Alpha who’d grown up with me one last look, “you didn’t lose me.”
“You lost yourself.”
As I turned, the balcony’s glass door caught Kael’s reflection–crumpling to his knees.
The moonlight sliced like a cold blade, pinning his shadow to the ground.
His suit was still crisp, but he looked like a husk, soul sucked dry, nothing left but an empty shell.
“You don’t love me anymore?”
His voice was barely a whisper, asking a question he already knew the answer to.
I looked at him.
This Alpha, who’d once been my entire world, now looked like a lost kid, fragile and broken.
“I never loved you.”
Kael’s body jolted, like an invisible sledgehammer had slammed into him.
“What… what did you say?”
“I loved the boy who fought for me,” I said, calm as stone. “The one who slipped chocolate in my pocket when my blood Chapter 13
sugar crashed.”
The night breeze lifted my skirt, and from the distance, I heard my parents‘ laughter.
“But that Kael? He died in that barroom bet.”
Tears slid silently down Kael’s face. He opened his mouth, but no sound came.
“You know what?” I said, sparing one last glance at this familiar stranger. “I’m glad we never bonded.”
As I walked toward the warm glow of the party, I heard his stifled sobs behind me.
They were quickly drowned out by the banquet’s laughter, just like our past–washed away by time, clean and gone.
Chapter 14
Later, Riley got kicked out of the pack.
Word was, Kael dumped her too.
Everything she’d schemed for–using every dirty trick in the book–popped like sea foam at sunrise, gone in a blink.
Kael, though? He turned into someone else entirely. He started showing up everywhere, a silent shadow trailing me.
After work, his footsteps echoed ten feet behind, steady as a heartbeat.
“What the hell do you want?” I finally cornered him at the stairwell.
He looked wrecked, his face gaunt.
He was still wearing the cufflinks I gave him.
“I…” His throat bobbed. “I just want to make it up to you…”
“No need,” I snapped. “The best thing you can do is leave me alone.”
I didn’t tell anyone I was quitting Ashveil Enterprises.
On my last day, I just took a few close coworkers out for dinner, said my goodbyes.
Kael was the last to hear I was leaving the company.
I don’t know who tipped him off, but on my final day, he chased my car for miles.
Through the window, I saw that once–proud boy, now a mess, running after me.
The sycamore trees lining the road blurred past, his figure shrinking in my rearview mirror.
Kael’s white shirt billowed in the wind, like a bird with broken wings.
“Talia…”
His shout shattered in the roar of my engine.
My mom shot me a worried glance. I shook
my
head.
In the rearview, his running figure grew smaller, vanishing under the sycamores at the corner.
After that, bits and pieces about Kael trickled in.
Friends said he’d started drinking hard, getting wasted and causing scenes at bars..
They said he’d become a ruthless hotshot in business, ice–cold at the negotiation table.
They said he went through girlfriends like they were disposable razors, but late at night, he kept calling a number that
never answered.
I laughed it off over afternoon coffee, brushing it aside.
Then I turned back to my work, my tailored suit and skirt molding me into someone sharper, stronger.
As the only heir to the Silverclaw Pack’s Alpha King, Alpha blood ran through my veins. It was time to step up, to shoulder Chapter 14
the responsibility of becoming the next Alpha.
I threw myself into learning the ropes–handling pack affairs, tackling crises, always with my dad by my side, busy but
fulfilled.
I grew clearer, tougher, more powerful.
I soaked up every skill a true Alpha needed, hungry for it.
Memories of Kael faded with each full moon, slipping away like shadows.
One day, a sun shower hit Silverwyn.
I burst into the pack hall, drenched, and ran smack into Evander’s stunned face.
His eyes were soft, warm, dressed in casual clothes.
He had an armful of paperwork for joining the pack.
“Talia, been a minute.” He brushed a raindrop from my hair, his smile like a cozy fire. “So, can I chase you now?”
My wolf stirred, whispering, “He’s the one.”
Chapter 1 The Warrior King Is Back
