Cassia's POV
I needed air.
I felt so angry but I did not even know why I was angry… the feeling of betrayal didn't leave my mind.
After everything his burning golden eyes refused to leave my mind and I…? I couldn't stay trapped in this castle anymore.
The memory of last night haunted me. The way he had looked at me, the way he was on the bed with another woman, the way he wrapped his arms around her made me so angry . It wasn't just anger.
I stormed down the dimly lit halls, my breathing uneven. I needed to clear my head.
I found my way outside, my boots crunching against the frost-covered garden path.
I should have turned back.
But I didn't.
I didn't know where I was going to be. What did staying in the castle do to me?
My father sold me, my supposed husband-to-be was a hypocrite, and now the alpha king appeared from nowhere making me feel this way without caring.
The moment I entered the wooded area near the palace, I sensed it.
A presence. Then a second. And a third.
I turned, my pulse hammering. The shadows shifted. Blue eyes gleamed from the darkness.
Wolves.
Not just any wolves—men.
They stepped forward, their hulking figures half-shifted, claws glinting.
"Well, well," one of them drawled, his voice thick with amusement. "What do we have here? A lost little human?"
"How did a human end up in the kingdom without being dinner? Or Mated she Mated?" The second wolf said.
"I think she is the stupid human princess… I expected something else."
My breath hitched. They knew who I was.
"You shouldn't be out here alone, Princess," the first wolf sneered. "It's dangerous for someone like you."
I stepped back, my heart pounding.
They followed.
"Let me pass," I ordered, forcing my voice to remain steady.
"Hahaha."
Laughter was all I got from them.
"Or what?" the tallest of them taunted. He moved too fast, suddenly in front of me, his claws brushing against my cheek.
I slapped his hand away, my stomach twisting in dread.
"Lord Darius is my husband."
"Feisty," he smirked, and then he pulled strands of hair on my neck.
"Unfortunately you do not have a mark so you are still free to mingle." He grinned.
I tried to run.
A hard grip yanked me back.
I struggled, kicked, but they were too strong. One of them grabbed my wrists, pushing me against a tree.
"You smell different," one of them murmured against my skin. "Not like the others. What are you, little human?"
A scream tore from my throat.
Just as his lips were about to crash with mine I felt the air changed.
The wolves stilled.
And then I felt him.
A snarl ripped through the air.
Not just any snarl I have ever heard, a sound so vicious, so inhuman, that the ground itself trembled beneath me.
It came from everywhere and then he appeared.
A blur of white and gold.
The wolf closest to me barely had time to turn before Kael's claws sliced through his throat.
Blood sprayed across the frost-covered ground.
The second man lunged and Kael snapped his neck with one hand.
The third tried to run but Kael caught him mid-air, slamming him down so hard the earth cracked.
In no time their bodies dropped... Lifeless.
The entire fight lasted seconds and I stood frozen, my breath coming in short shallow gasps.
Kael straightened, his golden eyes burning feral and deranged as they locked onto me.
"They touched you."
It wasn't a question.
It was a statement. A deadly one.
His chest heaved, his body still half-shifted, his claws dripping red, fangs bared.
I swallowed hard, my pulse erratic. I should have been afraid.
I should have run, but my body was traitorous and stayed rooted to the spot.
The alpha prince moved before I could think. One moment, he was standing over the bodies and the next, he was in front of me.
Too close.
His heat wrapped around me, caging me in. His scent, smoke, cedar, something purely male invaded my senses.
"You're hurt."
His voice was rough.
I realized he was looking at my wrist. The one they had grabbed.
A bruise was already forming.
His jaw clenched.
"Uhm…" his growl stopped me.
His fingers traced the bruise, and I sucked in a sharp breath.
Why was it burning?
The moment his skin touched mine, something exploded through me.
Heat. Fire. Something raw, something I had no controle over. Was this lust?
I tried to pull away, his grip tightened.
"Who did this to you?"
"You already killed them," I whispered.
"Not enough."
His voice, gods, his voice. It coiled around me, deep and rough and filled with something I didn't understand.
I realized too late that he had leaned in.
That I had leaned in. That our breaths were now the same.
I was trembling but not from fear, but from his touch and I hated it.
"You shouldn't be out here alone."
His voice was quieter now. But still lethal.
"You shouldn't care," I forced out.
His golden eyes flashed.
"I don't."
Then why was he still holding me?
Why couldn't I breathe because of those words?
After a while he let go.
The absence of his touch was worse than the fire.
He turned around, dragging a hand through his dark hair. He looked furious. Not at me but at himself?
"Go back inside."
"Alpha…"
"Don't!"
His growl silenced me.
"Now."
I hesitated, and then I turned around and ran towards the castle.
Kael's POV.
I watched her go.
I could still feel her warmth on my skin. Still hear the ragged way she had breathed when she called my ''Alpha'.
My hands curled into fists.
She wasn't supposed to be here.
She wasn't supposed to exist in his world and yet his wolf had nearly lost control. "Why her?!" When I was younger I craved for my mate but years passed and she never came until I became lost, became the unwanted so why now?
At the thought of her being touched, hurt, I could see nothing but red.
What the hell was happening to me?
This wasn't supposed to happen.
Not with her.
I exhaled sharply, staring at the blood on my hands.
"Stay away from her," I told myself even though deep down, I knew I couldn't.