Violet
The cup I had just finished drinking from floated in lazy circles above my palm, rotating slowly as I guided it.
It was almost too easy now, just like breathing. The syzygy—or whatever it was now, responded to the smallest impulse, flowing through as naturally as blood through veins.
Before, it had felt like a force I had to push into submission, but now...
Now it was just... mine.
My body had assimilated it completely.
I dropped my hand and the cup fell. I caught it before it could shatter against the balcony floor, my fingers closing around the ceramic with perhaps more force than necessary.
Ari was dead.
The thought hit again, as it had been hitting repeatedly over the past few days, with the sa dull, aching force. Each ti I thought I’d processed it, accepted it, and moved on, it would surge back and steal the air from my lungs all over again.
She had died the sa day I had told Kael about them.
If I had woken up earlier. If I had prioritized finding them the mont I had regained consciousness instead of...
I pressed the cup against my forehead, trying to control myself.
The little girl had been sick for weeks before I had even t them. Respiratory illness that had progressed too far, damaged too much. Even if I had rembered imdiately, even if Kael had acted the instant I had told him, it would not have made a difference.
My heart stung.
But at least Aster was safe now.
Kael had acted imdiately once I told him everything. He’d used his authority to extract Aster from his family’s custody and send him directly to Ila’s orphanage.
It should have felt like a victory. And in a way, it was. Aster was alive, safe, fed, no longer locked in a separate building or forced to navigate predatory wolves in marketplaces.
But he had lost his sister.
And the family... they were still there. Still in that house. Barely even fazed by the loss of their daughter just because she was an Oga?!
The political complexity. The cultural norms. The fact that this had never been classified as an issue before because everyone just... accepted it. Ogas were different. Weaker. It was natural that they’d be treated differently, kept separate, given fewer resources.
Natural.
The word made want to scream.
I was grateful for what Kael had done, but even though I felt it wasn’t enough, changing an entire nation’s cultural attitudes wasn’t sothing that could be done overnight with a single decree. There were political considerations, diplomatic relationships, deeply ingrained beliefs that would take years to shift.
Understanding didn’t make it hurt less.
I set the cup down on the small table beside my chair and leaned back, staring up at the sky. The sun was beginning its descent toward evening.
Kael was busy. Constantly. The summit preparation consud every mont of his ti, leaving him rushing between etings and consultations and many other small crises that required his attention.
I had barely seen him in days.
And it made uncomfortable for so reason.
Part of understood. He was about to host the most important political event of the year. Other Supre Alphas and their delegates would be arriving in just over a week, and everything had to be perfect.
But another part of , the part I was less proud of, felt abandoned. Again.
At tis, I would find myself thinking about him at odd monts that made no sense at all. And not the usual perverted thoughts...
The way his hand had felt in mine. The warmth of his embrace. The safety... and the physical closeness that made everything else fade away for a while.
Or maybe it was because I would have to leave soon... and I wouldn’t see him again until after a while.
That thought, too, kept circling back. How would he react when I told him I needed to go? He would most likely refuse. He would hate it.
But I needed this.
As for the summit.
The actual eting wouldn’t start imdiately. First ca the arrival period next week. Then there would be about two weeks of preliminary etings, diplomatic dinners, and other things.
And sowhere in all of that, Damon would arrive.
My stomach clenched at the thought.
My forr mate. The alpha who had rejected , humiliated , used when it was convenient and discarded when it wasn’t.
I would have to see him again and probably interact with him.
The thought made my skin crawl.
I wondered if he would bring Elena. I wouldn’t put it past him to do that.
Knowing Damon, he would bring her specifically to make a point.
The old would have been devastated. Would have felt that familiar sha and inadequacy burning through my chest at the re thought of facing them together.
But now...
I lifted my hand and watched silver-white light pulse faintly beneath my skin.
There was nothing he could possibly do to now.
[ - ]
I sat at the edge of my bed, staring at the wall that separated my room from his. He moved about. The rustle of papers and the hurried, quiet scratches of a pen.
Just minutes ago, he, along with Tow and two other wolves had been in here to turn my room into a strategy session.
They had discussed what I would face at the summit during my trial. The accusations that would be thrown at . The questions about my nature, my power, my place in Kael’s territory. All the rebuttals for each scenario had been prepared, along with responses that oddly shook . Smart ones I couldn’t have co up with on my own.
At so point, one of the wolves, a gruff older man, had suggested they rush my integration into Kael’s pack. Make it official before the summit began, so there would be no question about my standing.
Kael and Tow had dismissed the idea imdiately. It was complicated with being a Lycan, and there was no ti to quickly do that regardless.
But Kael’s next words had sent a strange humming sensation through my chest that was both pleasant, and made panic.
If all else failed, he would announce I was his mate in front of everyone.
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