Kael’s POV

The halls of the packhouse were quiet, but inside me there was nothing close to silence. It was a storm—a restless, consuming storm that had only one name at the center of it. Aria.

Everything about her was chaos and calm wrapped into one. Every time she smiled, something inside me softened, something I never thought could exist in an Alpha. And every time she winced, every time she tried to hide her pain behind that brave face, rage surged through me. Rage for whoever dared cause it. Rage for the fact that I couldn’t wrap her in steel and keep the world from touching her.

I leaned...