Page 117 of Fated
The desperation in Orion’s voice propelled Kai into motion. He grabbed his jacket and bolted for the door. He didn’t know what he was going to say, but he had to find her.
Kai sprinted up the stairs and down the hallway, boots thudding heavily against the hardwood floor. His mind raced, the realization of his love for Lena fueling his urgency. Heskidded to a stop outside the door to her guest suite, hand hovering over the handle for a moment before he knocked.
The door opened, and Ryker’s broad frame filled the doorway. The Moonshadow Beta-heir’s expression was stony, his normally soft brown eyes cold and hostile.
“What do you want, Bloodstone?” Ryker’s tone was clipped, devoid of the camaraderie they’d once shared. The last time he had called Kai “brother” felt like a lifetime ago.
Regret washed over Kai, the reality of his mistakes pressing heavily on his shoulders. “Is Lena here?” he asked, voice tight with urgency. “I need to talk to her.”
Ryker crossed his arms, his glare icy. “Why should I tell you?” He leaned forward, dropping his voice to a dangerous growl. “So you can rub your girlfriend in her face again? Haven’t you hurt her enough?”
The accusation cut deep. He stepped forward, his desperation breaking through. “Please,” he said, his alpha confidence stripped away, leaving only raw desperation. “I need to talk to her before she leaves.”
Tense silence filled the space between them. Kai nearly withered under Ryker’s gaze. Finally, Jace’s voice broke the stalemate.
“She’s in the dining hall,” Jace said from inside the room, voice measured and deliberate in that way that always made him sound older, wiser. “Saying goodbye to some of the pack members.” He paused, then softer: “Don’t waste this chance, Kai.”
Relief escaped Kai in a quick exhale, the knot in his chest loosening just slightly. “Thank you,” he said, glancing at Ryker. The Moonshadow Beta-heir’s gaze remained icy, a reminder of how much Kai had to make up for.
Without another word, Kai sprinted toward the exit. The hallway blurred around him as he ran. Each stride burdened by everything he’d left unsaid, everything he still had to say.
Kai pushed open the doors to the dining hall, the creak of the hinges barely registering over the rush of his breathing. The quiet murmur of the pack moving about their day filled the space—clinking plates, the scrape of chairs, and the soft hum of conversation—all faded to static the moment he saw her.
Lena.
She sat across from Darius, their heads tilted toward one another as they spoke. Sunlight poured through the windows behind them, bathing them in a warm, golden glow. Kai stood paralyzed, unable to command his body forward.
They looked so natural together. Darius, who so rarely let his guard down, wore an expression that was almost gentle, and Lena… Lena was radiant. Her posture was as poised as ever, but faint shadows under her eyes betrayed her exhaustion. Despite it, she carried herself with a strength that drew in everyone around her, including his father.
A blade of regret twisted between Kai’s ribs. She’d done that. Lena had drawn something out of Darius that Kai had never been able to. Without even trying, she’d bridged a gap Kai hadn’t imagined possible, simply by being who she was. The realization burned through him, leaving an ache in its wake.
“Look at her,”Orion said, his earlier urgency tempered by affection.“She brings out the best in him. Imagine what she could bring out in you.”
Kai’s fists clenched at his sides. He didn’t need the reminder.
What could we be now if I hadn’t fought the bond at the start? Mated? Marked? Whole?
Sorrow bore down on him like an avalanche, but it wasn’t enough to hold him back. He forced himself to move, legs feeling like lead with each step. His pulse quickened, every nerve in his body felt taut, stretched thin as the distance between them closed.
Both heads turned to him as he stopped a few paces away from the table Darius’s expression shifted, his guarded mask slipping back into place, but it was Lena’s gaze that stole Kai’s breath. Her golden-brown eyes met his, and in the space of a heartbeat, he thought he saw something flicker there—hesitation, maybe regret, but also quiet strength. The kind of strength that had always drawn him to her.
“Can we talk?” The words came out sharp-edged and too abrupt, nothing like the practiced, careful way he’d imagined saying them.
Lena’s brow furrowed, but she nodded. “Of course.” She spoke with that careful neutrality she used when bracing herself.
Darius stood, movements deliberate. He placed a hand on Lena’s shoulder before stepping aside. His father’s departure left the air between Kai and Lena crackling with tension.
Kai’s throat worked as he tried to form words, but they wouldn’t come. His hands curled into fists at his sides, nails digging into his palms. Orion was there, his presence like bedrock beneath shifting sand, his voice cutting through the static in Kai’s mind.“She is home, Kai. Stop running from what’s meant for you.”
Kai swallowed hard, throat dry as sand as he faced the female who held his heart, his future, and his very salvation in her hands. The realization crashed over him with stunning clarity—there were no more masks to hide behind, no more excuses to make.
His next thought burned through him like wildfire, consuming everything but this single, desperate truth:I can’t lose her. I won’t let this be the end. Not when I’ve only just found the courage to begin.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
LENA
The buzz of conversation around them grated against Lena’s frayed nerves like shards of glass. The warmth of afternoon sun seeping through the tall windows was oppressive. Normally, the golden light would bring her peace, but today, it only amplified the storm swirling inside her.
