Kael's Pov;
She smelled like rain. Not Jasmine like my guard had described. Not the blood-tinged smell like he said.
But rain; fresh, grounding and real.
That was the first clue the moment she had come walking towards me on our first meeting.
Yesterday, I had watched her walk through the ceremonial mating glade, cloaked in silver and a gut eating silence. Her shoulders had been stiff, her lips trembling and that was just not the one described to me.
Celeste Thorne had been described to me as one who always walked the world like it owed her breath.
Forcing and commanding to be seen and acknowledged. But this woman with striking blue eyes had walked like she was expecting the ground to swallow her or fall at any second.
Her blue eyes which should have had so much life in them were nothing but dull, shimmering and dimming every few seconds and not daring to look into my eyes. She was nothing like the Celeste Thorne that had been described to me.
There had been the first momentary anger to make another example out of them for being fooled but a small inhale of her scent had left me hungry for more.
The woman who had come to me had looked like she was waiting to be put out of her misery. Her head bowed to the floor, shoulders sagging every now and then, coupled with the repeated wobbling of her lips, I had my doubts.
And then, she looked at me. Those weren't Celeste Thorne's eyes.
They had too much pain. Too much truth as if waiting to be saved and I knew it was her. Aria Thorne, the invisible twin sister.
The sound of the water running in the bathroom drew me out of my thoughts, my sights landing on the closed door. The mixed scent of rain and her scent was a combination I never realized could be so calming and yet harmful and mind disorienting.
"What has led you to this state?" I thought loudly to myself as the door finally opened, revealing a face shrouded with not just a towel but the same powder her face had been caked with during the ceremony.
Interesting choice of things to hide the truth with.
The sight of her had my lips twitching in amusement for the first time in years and each step she took towards me, where I sat at the edge of the bed, seemed to have been carefully calculated.
I let her enjoy the silence, refraining from speaking and saying the exact things I wanted to say.
"Alpha-," She began, after what seemed like hours of carefully thinking.
"Kael," I corrected calmly, throwing her a quick glance before turning my attention back to the sheets, pretending to smoothen them. "You're my mate now. Use my name."
The moment I said this, there was the immediate hesitation she had and it was how her scent had suddenly gone so wrong, smelling like fear. The tiny breath she drew in didn't escape my ears, confirming the suspicion I had of her.
"...Kael," she called, sounding far too soft and too meek, giving me the urge to pull her into my arm and squeeze her tightly, trying as much as possible to merge her into my bone.
Finally, I turneds to look at her, allowing my eyes to properly take in her form.
She was much smaller. Smaller than the gown that had clung to her body and made her look like she didn't need a thing. Paler than the smudged makeup that still stuck to her face.
Amused, I rose to my feet, setting my legs down on the other side of the bed.
I didn't fail to notice how she went rigid just as fast, standing so upright to the point that she had the potential to be mistaken for a guard.
"Tell me mate, are you so happy to spend time with me that you failed to properly clean up your face?" I asked, enjoying how her wet cheeks flushed red in the blink of an eye.
A small gasp escaped her lips the moment my hand held her very cold ones, squeezing gently.
I watched with intrigue as she subtly struggled to pull her hands away from my grip, refusing to look into my eyes while stammering, " You must be mistaken, Al- Kael. Nothing like that happened."
Hearing her fail to come up with a better excuse had my lips twitching again. I was keeping her and I knew it.
"Are you sure about that, dear mate?" I asked, whispering in her ear and enjoying how she shivered in reaction. Laughing to myself, I let my finger trail up from her wrist to her arm and almost immediately, it was at this moment I realized she was on nothing but a towel.
Everything else in my line of sight seemed to have disappeared and the only thing I could see were the droplets of water trailing down from her neck, the exact spot my mark sat on, to her small exposed cleavage and disappearing into the towel.
Her pale milky skin did nothing to reduce the growing hotness of my blood.
My wolf held no pure thoughts, only yelling, "Mate wants us!" all too hungry to have her writhing beneath him. But I was no such animal.
"Mate, have you come here to seduce me?" I groaned, trying to zone out all impure thoughts which were working perfectly not until she moved in a fright and right then and there, I watched the towel slip from her body, revealing an image that was forever going to haunt me even in my sleep.
"Mate!" I called out, reeling in all my power and using all I had not to act on my animal instincts….
"Pick any cloth you like and go to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow," I managed to croak out, turning away from her and wishing I hadn't seen how delicate her curves had been and how ripe she was.
"Kael..," The soft calling of her voice was the last thing I needed and I let out a cuss, swearing under my breath before making my way out the door.
"Go to bed, mate. I will see you tomorrow when the thoughts in my head are no longer to have you writhing and moaning beneath me as I mark you on all the unholy places on your body…"