Kael's POV
Kael stands outside the cabin door and tries not to lose his mind.
The bond is pulling at him. Not gently. Like someone reached into his chest and grabbed his heart and is dragging it toward her room. Toward Seren. Toward the female who just made three of the most powerful Alphas in the north drop to their knees with nothing but a flash of power.
It's driving him insane.
He's spent years building walls so high that nothing could penetrate them. He made his wolf so angry that the beast wouldn't even consider accepting a mate. He was supposed to be free. Supposed to be alone. Supposed to never feel anything ever again.
And now this.
A female with violet eyes and fresh wounds and a rejection mark that makes him want to hunt down whoever put it there and rip them to pieces. A female whose mere existence is forcing him to feel things he swore he would never feel again.
Vulnerability. Fear. Something that might be care, but Kael doesn't have a name for emotions anymore.
He pushes the cabin door open and walks back to her room before his rational mind can stop him.
The moment he enters, the bond settles slightly. Just enough that he can think. Just enough that his wolf stops howling long enough for him to function like a human instead of a feral beast.
Seren is sitting up in bed now. The tea cup is empty on the nightstand. Mara left a few minutes ago to give them space, which means the other two Alphas are outside the door trying not to listen to every word.
Seren's violet eyes go wide when she sees him.
Kael understands why. He's intimidating on a good day. Covered in scars that tell stories of violence and survival. Massive body that's seen too many wars. The kind of male that makes normal people instinctively back away.
She doesn't back away.
"What is your name," Kael asks. His voice comes out rough because his throat doesn't remember how to be gentle.
"Seren Ashwood," she says quietly.
Recognition flashes through him. Ashwood. That's a Silvercrest family name. His mind immediately catalogues everything he knows about Silvercrest Pack. Strong bloodline. Wealthy territory. Alpha Ashford's son is the heir apparent. The pack is stable but conservative.
"Silvercrest Pack," he says. It's not a question.
"Former Silvercrest," Seren corrects. Her voice is small. Like she's used to apologizing for her own existence.
Kael feels his wolf growl. Something about the way she said that, like she deserved to be cast out, triggers every protective instinct he has.
"You were banished," he says.
"I was rejected," she says, and the words come out with a weight that makes the bonds pulse. "At the Lunar Festival. In front of everyone. My mate rejected me publicly and said I was weak and wolfless and unworthy of an Alpha's son. Then the Alpha ordered me to leave by dawn."
Kael steps closer.
He can see the rejection mark more clearly now that he's standing over her. It's burned deep into her skin, black and twisted. Fresh enough that it's still healing. Recent enough that the wound is still open in more ways than just physical.
Rage floods through him. Hot and immediate and absolutely certain about what needs to happen next.
"Who," he says, and the word comes out like a threat.
"His name is Corbin Ashford," Seren says. "He's the Alpha's son. He was supposed to be my mate. I felt the pull for weeks, and I thought maybe the Moon Goddess had finally decided I was worth something. But when he saw me, he just... rejected me."
The name burns itself into Kael's mind. Corbin Ashford. Future Alpha of Silvercrest Pack. The male who looked at this female and decided she wasn't good enough.
That male is going to die.
Not right away. That would be too kind. But eventually, when the time comes, Corbin Ashford will understand exactly what it means to reject a Luna Queen.
"He said I was defective," Seren continues, her voice getting smaller. "That I would never shift. That I would never be strong enough for anyone. He said the Moon Goddess made a mistake binding us."
"He is an idiot," Kael says flatly.
The words come out harsh and absolute, but it's the truth. Any male who looked at Seren and only saw weakness deserves whatever comes next. Any male who couldn't recognize a Luna Queen standing right in front of him is fundamentally broken.
Seren looks up at him with those violet eyes, and something in them shifts. Like she's seeing him for the first time. Like she didn't expect him to care what happened to her.
The bond flares hot between them.
It's demanding. Insistent. It wants him to move closer. Wants him to touch her. Wants him to show her that she's safe now because he will never let anything hurt her ever again.
Kael fights it.
He can't do this. Can't let the bond make him soft. Can't let her see that beneath the scars and the rage, there's a male who's terrified of exactly this situation. A male who doesn't know how to care for something fragile without breaking it.
"Mara will explain everything tomorrow," he says, his voice cold. Deliberately cold. "You need to rest."
He turns to leave before the bond can make him do something stupid. Before it can make him sit on the edge of her bed and promise her things he doesn't know how to deliver.
"Wait," Seren says.
Her voice is small but it stops him in his tracks. The bond forces him to turn back around, his body no longer obeying his mind.
"What's your name," she asks.
"Kael Nightshade," he says. "Alpha of the Shadow Pack."
He watches recognition and fear flash across her face as she understands what that means. Shadow Pack. The most brutal territory in the north. The Alpha who rules through violence and absolute control. The male nobody wants to meet in a dark place.
That's him. And now he's bonded to her.
"The bond should have rejected you when it first formed," Kael says, because he needs her to understand what this means. "Any normal mate bond would have rejected a male like me. A female like you shouldn't survive five minutes in my territory, let alone a lifetime."
"But I'm not a normal female," Seren says quietly.
"No," Kael agrees. "You're a Luna Queen. And that means you're going to spend the rest of your life managing three Alphas who don't know how to share. Three males who would rather fight each other than cooperate. Three broken things that somehow need you to fix us."
He can see the weight of that landing on her shoulders. The understanding that this isn't a romance. This is a war. This is her against three of the most dangerous males in existence, and her only weapon is the bond.
"I don't know how to do this," Seren whispers.
"Neither do we," Kael says.
He walks toward the door, every step an agony. His wolf is screaming at him to go back. To hold her. To promise her that everything will be okay.
But Kael doesn't make promises he can't keep. And he doesn't know how to be the mate she deserves.
He's almost at the door when Seren speaks again.
"Corbin said I was wolfless," she says. "That I would never shift. But the Moon Goddess said my wolf sleeps because she's too powerful. Am I supposed to believe a god over every test I've ever failed?"
Kael stops with his hand on the door frame.
The bonds pulse with something like hope. Like Seren is starting to understand that everything she was told about herself was a lie.
"You're supposed to believe what you know to be true," Kael says without turning around. "And the moment your wolf wakes, every male in the northern territories will know that Corbin Ashford was the biggest idiot who ever lived."
He leaves before she can respond.
But his wolf doesn't leave.
His wolf stays in that room, howling and desperate and completely unwilling to be separated from her. The bond stretches between them like a living thing, pulling and insistent and making it clear that no matter how far Kael walks, he will never truly be away from her again.
Outside the cabin, Theron and Ryker are waiting.
"Well," Theron says, his amber eyes full of questions, "did you learn anything useful."
Kael's hands are clenched so hard that his nails are drawing blood from his palms.
"Her mate's name is Corbin Ashford," Kael says. "Future Alpha of Silvercrest Pack. He rejected her publicly at the Lunar Festival and called her weak and wolfless and unworthy."
He watches the understanding dawn on their faces. The realization that there's a target now. A male who rejected their mate. A male who insulted what's theirs.
"He's going to pay for that," Ryker says, and there's something lethal underneath his usual warmth.
"He's going to understand what it means to reject a Luna Queen," Theron says coldly.
And Kael realizes that the three of them, for the first time since the bonds formed, are in complete agreement about something.
They're going to destroy Corbin Ashford.