Page 6 of Fated
“Avoiding your responsibilities again, Kai?” Darius’s low voice carried an edge that could cut steel.
“Just clearing my head.” Kai forced the words out evenly. “It’s been a long day.”
“Every day is long when you’re an alpha.” Darius’s eyes narrowed to emerald points. “The pack won’t wait while you brood in the woods.”
Orion bristled, but Kai swallowed his retort. Arguing with Darius was like fighting a tide—it only left you battered and exhausted.
“Understood.” Kai brushed past his father into the warmth of the packhouse, swallowing unspoken arguments.
Familiar scents of roasted venison, caramelized root vegetables, and applewood smoke greeted him but did little to ease the tension coiling between his shoulder blades. The dining room buzzed with conversation, clinking silverware, and scraping chairs. The sounds vibrated against Kai’s sensitive ear drums until everything faded when his attention locked on Ava.
Her sleek blonde hair caught the light like spun platinum, the scent of her expensive jasmine shampoo carrying across the room even before her laugh cut through the air—sharp and calculated, meant to draw every eye, vibrating at a frequency that made the wolf beneath his skin flatten his ears.
When their gazes met, her slow smile spread like honey, beckoning him closer. Kai hesitated as Orion’s warning vibrated through his chest.
“She’s trouble,”the wolf growled.
“She’s a force,”Kai countered, though the words felt rehearsed.
He’d loved her since they were pups. Where others had scoffed at his ideas, Ava had always leaned closer, firing back questions and suggestions. As a survivor of a rogue attack that had decimated her birthpack, she understood the value of charting one’s own path. Every vision became a shared blueprint, making fated bonds seem unnecessary when he’d already found his match in her.
At least, that was what he kept telling himself.
“Strong, yes,”Orion conceded.“But not ours. She seeks her own power, not to build yours.”
Kai crossed the room, shoving his wolf’s doubts aside. Pack members straightened as he passed, their conversations dimming to whispers, chairs scraping as bodies shifted to make space, the subtle scent of submission and respect mingling with undercurrents of curiosity and assessment. Their attention never felt real—always tinged with obligation rather than genuine respect.
Ava, at least, never softened her edges. Her ambition matched his own, raw and unapologetic. That had to count for something.
“Off brooding again?” Ava’s fingers trailed along his forearm as he sat beside her. Her perfume—floral and severe—overwhelmed the natural scents around them. “I swear, Kai, if you spent half as much time taking action as you do thinking, the pack would have already crowned you alpha.”
“I’ll take that under advisement.” Kai claimed her beer and took a long drink, the bitter liquid cooling his heated thoughts.
Ava’s smile widened, but something flickered behind her eyes that he couldn’t quite read. She leaned closer, laughter like winter frost creeping across glass—beautiful but cold to the touch.
“She smells of ambition and deceit,”Orion rumbled.“Her loyalty is to herself.”
“Your ideas are bold and forward-thinking. You’ll get there.” Her voice dropped to a whisper as she traced circles on his arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake. “And when you do, I’ll be right there beside you.”
“But will she be thereforus?”Orion pressed.
Kai nodded, acid rising at the back of his throat with each mechanical movement of his head. He needed to believe that Ava saw more than just a path to power in him. Years together, building a foundation brick by brick—surely that meant more than instant cosmic recognition. Yet doubt crept in when hersmile felt practiced, when her touch felt more like a claim than a caress.
If I stumble, will Ava steady me—or will she search for another route to power?
As the evening wore on and Ava’s commentary filled the room, Kai found himself drifting, memories overtaking him. His mother’s voice, soft but certain:“When you meet her—your fated—you’ll understand what Selene intended for us all.”Even three years after her death, Althea’s words haunted Kai. She and his father had embodied the perfect fated bond—their connection so profound it had sometimes made him feel like an outsider in their presence.
Despite the ambient noise of his surroundings, Kai couldn’t silence the whispers of that memory or quell the persistent sense of disquiet it stirred in him. The familiar ache in his chest intensified—not quite emptiness, but something unsettled, unfinished.
The stories of fated mates were woven into the community’s very existence, but Kai didn’t want divine interference. He loved Ava. They’d crafted dreams together. Mapped a future. They were planning their mating ceremony for fall when they would seek Selene’s blessing. The Goddess’s approval of chosen bonds was rare, but Kai was certain She would recognize their genuine love and commitment to each other and the Bloodstone pack.
His mother’s disappointed eyes flashed in his mind again. Her last words to him about Ava still burned:“You’re choosing a harder path than you need to, my love.”She’d never openly opposed them, but her gentle concern had sometimes cut deeper than Darius’s outright disapproval.
“You can’t outrun fate,”Orion’s voice was gentler now but tinged with longing.
Kai’s hands clenched beneath the table, nails digging half-moons into his palms. His jaw tightened until he tasted thecoppery tang of blood from where his teeth had caught the inside of his cheek, the sharp sting a welcome distraction from Orion’s truth.
“Watch me,”Kai replied.
