: H

Alpha Kael Blackthorn. By the second hour, I had lost count of

ay, I had never reacted to anyone like that, and I r

as I arranged supplies in a small room near the meeting

working and pressed a hand against my chest, the sensation f

trange reaction was new, and I

s warriors gathered near the meeting hall. Alpha Victor was meeting with Kael,

ppened inside that room. Still, whenever fo

me, it was stronger, my fingers tightened around the fabric, and my heart bega

on a warrior speaking beside him. Yet the closer

happening. I had barely touched him yesterday,

o someone who couldn't think straight, so I lo

d the edge of the table, but the room seemed to tilt beneath my feet, it fe

a moment, I couldn't breathe, I pressed both hands against my chest, s

anything I had ever seen, and the sight sent another wave of pa

bling hands and a silver object resting in her palm, the pendant, I recognize

violently. I tried to push myself upright, but my arms f

hes? I had never been to a place like this, yet the ima

fell ac

Kael calle

neeling beside me, his expression hard with concern. One hand hovered near my

me," he

ut my visi

ed to you?"

ely left my mouth before another wave of p

responded. The warmth returned, fierce and sudden, spreading

oment, neither of us spoke, I could feel the tension in his arm beneath

st discovered something he de

" I whi

me with an intensity that made my hear

our hands touched in the corridor. But this time,

y are you looking at

instinct he couldn't control, his hand moved tow

no longer a faint sensation I could dismiss as exhaustion or imagination. It was there,

ed me. Then he looked away briefly, as though searchi

k at me, his expre

he mut

him in confu

ken aloud, his hand fell away f

g," he

ng? I

, anger beginning to

of you, and you think not

ught he might answer honestly. Instead, he hel

him, the strange warmth stirred again, my breath caug

act had burned him, whatever had passed

stand?"

answere

eturn to your duti

."You don't even want to know

ross his face. "What d

ing. The images had frightened me, and the way he had reacted made

ontinued. "There was blood ev

what it mean

ened only for a mom

he ans

ression, though I couldn't understand w

hough you're afraid of wha

You know nothing ab

t by his sudden hostility. "Then stop looking at me

said nothing. The

eting to fin

ting hall, leaving me standing ther

st my chest. The pain had faded, but the strange

fore entering the meeting hall, he

himself to turn away. I didn't know what he was fighting, but I was certain h

eren Draven, and accepting me would threaten

consequences, I watched him disappear into th

meaningless, I feared it was only the beginning. Something inside m

t I knew one thing. I would not spend the res

uld find out why, even if K