POV: Raevan
Kaide’s voice echoed down the stone corridor before I even turned the corner.
“—you cannot keep pretending everything is under control!”
The words hit with the sharpness of thrown knives. I stepped into the lantern-lit hall, jaw already tensing. Kaide stood near the war-table chamber, arms crossed over his chest, shoulders squared in that stubborn way that dared anyone to challenge him.
He didn’t back down when he saw me.
Good. I wasn’t in the mood for cowards.
“What is it this time?” I asked, brushing past him toward the war room.
Kaide grabbed my arm.
Even injured, I nearly slammed him into the wall. My wolf surged instantly, a low growl vibrating in my chest. Kaide didn’t flinch—only tightened his grip.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“I have no time.”
“You’ll make time.”
I ripped my arm free. “You forget yourself.”
“I forget nothing,” he shot back. “Least of all what you’re doing to her.”
My heart hammered once, hard.
“Say that again,” I warned softly.
Kaide stepped closer, eyes blazing. “You’re destroying her.”
My wolf snapped its teeth. “Watch your words.”
“No. You watch your behavior.” His voice rose, echoing off the stone. “She’s terrified, hated by half the pack, hunted by Zarek, overwhelmed by powers she doesn’t understand—and where are you?”
“Protecting her,” I snarled.
“By kissing her behind closed doors?” Kaide countered, fury simmering. “By pulling her into your arms when you know damn well you belong to someone else? By confusing the hell out of her every time she tries to find her footing?”
My breath froze in my chest.
Kaide’s expression didn’t soften. Not once.
“Everyone sees it,” he said. “Your jealousy. Your desire. Your… possession of her. You stalk her shadow like you can’t breathe unless she’s near—and then pretend she means nothing.”
“I never said she means nothing.”
“No,” Kaide whispered. “But you act like she belongs to you and yet you refuse to choose her. That’s worse.”
I felt something inside me crack.
“I can’t choose her,” I whispered.
“Can’t or won’t?”
The words landed like a blade between my ribs.
I forced myself to breathe. “Azhara and I—”
“Are a political arrangement,” Kaide snapped. “One she twists to her advantage every chance she gets.”
“She is my fiancée,” I said through clenched teeth. “Chosen since childhood. Blessed by the elders. Prepared for by the council and the clans.”
“And Soraya?” Kaide demanded. “What is she? A mistake you keep repeating? A distraction you can’t resist? A girl you kiss only when the world is asleep and then abandon at sunrise?”
A growl tore up my throat. “Enough.”
But Kaide stepped even closer, chests nearly brushing.
“She deserves better,” he said. “Better than being trapped between your touch and your guilt. Better than being hated for something she didn’t choose. Better than being strung along because you’re too afraid to make a decision.”
My jaw clenched so hard it hurt.
“I never—never—intended to hurt her,” I growled.
Kaide exhaled sharply, anger thinning into frustration. “Raevan… you already have.”
Silence stretched between us—long, brutal.
He looked away first, rubbing his forehead. “You know she had a nightmare last night? Vienne found her shaking. She didn’t sleep again after that.”
The ground shifted under my feet.
“What nightmare?” I whispered.
“A dream of her mother,” Kaide said. “Telling her she’s the key to ending the war. You think a girl who carries that weight needs you confusing her even more?”
Something hot and sharp clawed at my lungs.
“She didn’t tell me,” I muttered.
“Of course she didn’t,” Kaide snapped. “Why should she? You only come to her when you’re drowning in your own feelings, not when she’s drowning in hers.”
The truth in those words hit harder than any blade.
Kaide’s voice softened—not by much, but enough. “Raevan… you’re my brother. My Alpha. I’d follow you into fire. But this? The way you’re handling Soraya? It’s hurting her.”
The burn behind my ribs deepened, spreading through my chest like slow poison.
I forced myself to breathe.
Forced myself to think.
Forced myself to stay still when every instinct screamed to find her, pull her close, bury my face in her neck and swear I’d never fail her again.
“She is not yours,” Kaide said quietly. “Not Azhara’s. Not Zarek’s. And not even yours. She is her own.”
I shut my eyes.
“But if you keep this up,” Kaide continued, “she’s going to break. And it won’t be Zarek who destroys her. It’ll be you.”
My eyes snapped open.
“That will not happen.” My voice was ice. “I would die before I let it.”
“Then prove it,” Kaide said. “Choose a path and stay on it. Because if you keep taking one step toward her and one step away, she’ll lose her mind.”
I sucked in a breath, struggling with the war tearing me in half.
Duty. Politics. Tradition.
A lifetime of expectations.
Versus—
One girl.
One impossible, untamable, moon-marked girl who had become the pulse in my throat and the ache under my skin.
“I’m jealous,” I admitted through clenched teeth. “Of you. Of Tazir. Of every man who breathes near her. I lose myself when she talks. I burn when she looks at someone else. And when she cries…” My voice cracked. “…it ruins me.”
Kaide swallowed hard. His voice softened. “Then stop pretending you don’t care.”
“I don’t have that luxury.”
“Neither does she,” he whispered.
Another silence.
Then Kaide stepped back. “We need to face Zarek. We need a united front. And we need Soraya stable. You have to decide what she is to you—and soon.”
I didn’t answer.
Couldn’t.
Kaide nodded once, turned, and walked down the corridor, leaving me alone with the truth.
My jealousy wasn’t just a weakness.
It was a danger. To my judgment. To my pack. To Soraya. But the worst part? It was growing.