Kael hadn't spoken to her since the ride back. Not a single word.
But the silence wasn't cold. It was hot, sharp, measured. The kind that came before a storm.
Selene had faced interrogations. Beatings. Starvation.
But this silence? It unraveled her more than any of them ever did.
That night, he summoned her to the Alpha's quarters. She stood before his door for a full minute before knocking.
"Enter."
The door creaked open. His scent hit her first; smoke, forest, something dangerously male.
Kael stood near the fire, her crumpled letter in his hand.
He didn't look at her. Not at first.
"You left this under your pillow," he said, voice low. "Why?"
Selene stepped in and closed the door behind her. Slowly. Carefully.
"I didn't mean for you to find it."
"Then who was it for?" he asked, still not facing her. "Me? Yourself? Or someone watching you from the shadows?"
She stayed silent.
Kael turned, finally.
His eyes were no longer soft. They were steel.
"Who is Alpha Roran? Who are you?"
The breath left her lungs.
"You already know," she whispered.
"I want to hear it from you."
Her nails bit into her palms.
"He's… my Alpha."
Kael didn't flinch. He didn't rage.
He simply said, "And your mission was to kill me." Selene felt like her ribs were collapsing.
"Yes."
Silence. A deadly, bone-chilling silence.
He walked closer, holding her note.
"Why didn't you do it?"
She met his eyes, and saw the pain behind the fury.
"Because you weren't supposed to be kind," she said, voice trembling. "You weren't supposed to matter."
His jaw clenched. "You were going to murder me in my sleep, weren't you? Poison me? Cut my throat while I trusted you?"
Selene flinched. "That was the plan."
"And yet I'm still breathing."
She looked away. "I couldn't go through with it."
"Why not?" he demanded. "Because you grew a conscience?"
"No," she said. "Because I fell in love with you."
The words dropped like stones between them.
Kael's body went rigid. His fists clenched at his sides.
"You fell in love... while lying to me? While feeding information to the enemy?"
"I stopped sending messages weeks ago."
"Why should I believe that?"
"Because if I hadn't, you'd already be dead."
He took a step closer.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"And what about the bond? Was that part of the act too?"
"No," she said, tears threatening. "That was the one thing I never faked."
Kael's breathing was ragged now. He looked torn; between desire and betrayal, instinct and logic.
He reached for her, then stopped… like touching her would burn him.
"I should lock you in the dungeons," he muttered.
"Then do it."
"I should exile you."
"Then do that too."
He grabbed her arm suddenly, his grip tight, but not cruel.
"What the hell do you want from me, Selene?"
She froze, not because of the name. But because of the way he said it.
Her lips parted. "What did you just call me?"
He didn't blink. "Selene, not Lina. I saw the name in the letter. It's who you really are, isn't it?"
She looked away. Shame pooled in her throat like poison.
"Yes. My name is Selene."
Kael let out a sharp breath, like the truth had confirmed something he'd already feared.
"So you lied about everything. Even your name."
"I had to," she said softly. "It was part of the cover. Lina was the ghost I used to get in. But Selene… Selene is the one standing here now."
Tears now sliding down her cheeks. "I want to go back to before I knew what you meant to me. Before I cared. Before I became the kind of spy who cried at night because she didn't want to do her job anymore."
Kael let her go. He paced to the fire, then back.
"You've endangered everyone," he said. "My pack. My people."
"I know."
"You used me."
"I know."
"And yet I can't stop thinking about you."
Selene looked up, stunned.
"I hate that I still want you," Kael growled. "That I still ache when you're near."
She stepped closer, voice soft. "Then don't fight it."
Kael looked at her like she was both salvation and sin.
"I don't know what to do with you."
Selene reached up, cupping his cheek. "Then don't do anything. Just… let me stay."
"For now."
He stepped back and Selene's hand dropped.
"For now," he repeated. "But I'll be watching you, Lina. And if you betray me again…"
"I won't," she said.
But in her chest, the guilt pulsed like a second heartbeat. Because she hadn't told him everything. Not yet.
And if Kael found out the final truth; that her original order was not just to kill him, but to infiltrate, weaken, and erase the entire BloodMoon pack?
He wouldn't hesitate next time.
He would kill her.
Mate bond or not.