Page 28 of Fated
How’s it going with your dad?
AVA
Where are you?
AVA
Why aren’t you answering?
AVA
Magnus said your dad pulled you into a room with another alpha and some she-wolf. What’s going on?
AVA
Kai, we need to talk.
AVA
STOP IGNORING ME!
Kai rubbed a hand over his face, shoulders sagging under crushing guilt. He hesitated to answer Ava, but ignoring her felt just as wrong.
He typed out a short reply, fingers heavy and dragging across the screen.
KAI
It’s been a long day. My social battery is shot. I’ll call you tomorrow after everything settles down.
He hit send and watched as the message status changed from “Sent” to “Read.”
No response. Her silence was a condemnation.
Kai tossed the phone aside and poured himself another glass. The guilt twisted like a knife in his chest, carving deeper with each shallow breath.
And it wasn’t just Ava.
Lena’s crumpling expression when he mentioned Ava’s name gnawed at him. The look of betrayal had branded itself into his brain, burning deeper with every second he’d stood there, frozen and unsure.
“Coward,”Orion growled.
Kai flinched, gripping the glass tighter.“I’m not a coward. I’m trying to do the right thing.”
“You hurt mate.”Orion’s voice pulsed with anger and anguish.“She needs us. Go. Apologize. Claim her.”
Kai shook his head, temples throbbing, breath coming in short bursts as he pounded his fist against the table.“It’s not that simple!”he argued slamming the glass down, the sound echoing in the silence. The walls pressed inward, the air thick with Orion’s suffocating fury.
Grabbing the bottle, he left the room and wandered aimlessly through the dimly lit halls of the lodge. The whiskey burnedwith every swig, but the warmth never came. Orion’s awareness sharpened with each step, as if he knew something Kai couldn’t sense.
His feet carried him to the opposite wing without thought, the now empty bottle dangling loosely at his side. He jerked to a stop, breath catching as he found himself outside a door.
Lena’s door.
Even if her scent hadn’t been unmistakable, he would have known. There was something magnetic about the space. As if the bond itself was pulling him closer, demanding he acknowledge what he was trying so hard to deny.
“Knock.”Orion surged, his presence a fiery, insistent force.“Take what’s ours. Give what’s hers.”
Kai clenched his fists. He pressed his forehead against the doorframe as he fought for control. Alpha instincts roared in his blood, urging him to break it down, complete the bond, to claim what was his by divine decree.
