Chapter 22
806words
"Kael..."
I tried to stop him, but he just smiled, shook his head, and leaned in to press a kiss on my lips.
"Serena, to me, your smile is worth more than all these stones combined. As long as it makes you happy, I would willingly give up all the lands of Silver Creek."
I looked up at him.
His pupils reflected a tiny version of me, his gaze focused and deeply affectionate, as if I were the only one in his world.
In that moment, I felt the long-shut door of my heart click open.
As our feelings for each other deepened, I finally agreed to return with Kael to his pack's territory to meet his elders.
From the moment our private jet landed until we arrived at Silver Creek's hidden estate, no one outside of Kael's most trusted elders and family knew of my existence.
Kael protected me completely, shielding me inside a seamless, impenetrable cocoon.
That was why I had no idea that just a few hundred meters from the estate, outside the iron gates, Aiden had been standing in the pouring rain for hours.
He had bought information from the Rogue network and knew I was coming back.
After months of confinement, he had escaped, dragging his not-yet-healed leg like a madman, all for this one sliver of hope.
He thought that if he just waited, he would see me.
But he was wrong.
Even as the night grew deep and the lights in the main estate building went out, he never saw that familiar figure.
Meanwhile, in a second-floor bedroom, the firelight cast two intertwined silhouettes upon the wall.
The mate bond was re-establishing itself, and the feeling of a deep, spiritual connection made me tremble.
"Serena," Kael whispered in my ear, his voice husky and sensual. "My Luna..."
Later that night, after the storm of passion had passed.
I slept soundly curled up in Kael's arms, a faint, contented smile on my lips.
Kael watched me sleep, his eyes so full of tenderness they seemed to overflow. He gently kissed my forehead, then rose, slipped on a robe, and left the room.
As soon as he got downstairs, the Beta guard on duty approached.
"Alpha, that Rogue is still here."
Kael sat on the sofa, poured a glass of whiskey, and his eyes instantly turned to ice.
"Still?"
"Yes, sir. He's been in the rain for five hours."
Kael let out a cold laugh, set down his glass, and strode toward the main gate.
In the dark, rainy night, thunder rumbled.
Aiden was soaked to the bone, his face as pale as paper, leaning weakly against the iron gate.
When he saw Kael emerge, a flicker of light finally ignited in his dead-gray eyes.
"Is she in there?"
His voice was hoarse and broken, filled with a desperate plea. "Let me see her, I'm begging you..."
Moments before, he had been staring at the second-floor window, the one glowing with warm light.
Though he couldn't see any figures, his own severed, residual mate bond could sense the vibrations coming from within.
It was the feeling of her happiness.
Her pleasure as she bonded with another Alpha.
The sensation was like someone carving into his heart with a dull knife, over and over again.
He finally understood.
Was this how she had felt all those times he betrayed and humiliated her? Did she hurt so much that she had wanted to die?
"You want to see her?"
Kael stood on the steps under a black umbrella, looking down on him with contempt.
"Aiden, what right do you have to see her?"
"I..."
Aiden opened his mouth, wanting to explain, to repent, but under the crushing weight of Kael's Alpha presence, all his words turned into a powerless choke.
POW!
Kael gave him no chance to speak, landing a vicious punch squarely in his face.
Aiden, already weak, staggered back from the blow and fell heavily into the mud.
"That punch was for the Elara of the past."
Kael took a handkerchief from a guard, leisurely wiped his hand, and then tossed it onto Aiden's face as if it were a piece of trash.
"Notify the Black Moon pack to come and collect their stray. Tell them that if this mad dog ever shows up on my territory again, I will not be so polite."
With that, he turned and walked back into the estate, the heavy gates closing behind him.
A bolt of lightning split the sky.
Aiden stared hopelessly at the closed gate, the last of his strength draining away.
He swayed in the thunderstorm for a few moments before his vision went black and he collapsed.
