(THE ALPHA I WAS NEVER MEANT TO LOVE)

CHAPTER THREE

The dead man was still staring at me.

Even though his eyes had already lost their light, I couldn't look away.

His final words kept repeating inside my head.

The Veyne heir must never awaken.

I didn't understand what they meant.

I didn't even know there was a Veyne heir.

As far as I had known, I was simply Elara-a girl raised by a mother who refused to talk about the past, a girl who had never awakened her wolf, a girl who had spent most of her life wondering why she was different.

Now I was beginning to suspect that being different had never been an accident.

Kael stood over the body in silence.

The warriors around him waited for his orders, but the Alpha seemed lost in his own thoughts.

His eyes remained fixed on the dead assassin.

Something about those final words had affected him.

I could see it.

His shoulders were rigid, his jaw clenched, and there was a darkness in his expression that hadn't been there before.

"Who is the Veyne heir?" I finally asked.

His gaze shifted toward me.

For several seconds, he said nothing.

That silence frightened me more than an answer would have.

"You heard what he said," Kael replied.

"Yes."

"Then you heard enough."

My chest tightened.

I hated the way he spoke to me-as though every answer was another secret he needed to hide.

"I am the one people are trying to kill. I think I deserve to know why."

Something flickered in his eyes.

He knew I was right.

Still, he looked away.

One of the warriors approached him and quietly reported that the entire tower had been searched. No other intruders had been found.

Kael gave a short order for the guards to double the watch.

Then his attention returned to me.

"You're not leaving this room."

I almost laughed.

"I wasn't planning to."

His expression hardened.

"This isn't a request."

I looked at him carefully.

"You said this was for my protection."

"It is."

"Then why does it feel like I'm being punished?"

He didn't answer.

Perhaps because he knew exactly what I meant.

Since arriving here, he had treated me like a dangerous secret instead of his mate. He had questioned me, investigated my family, locked me inside a tower, and refused to acknowledge the bond between us.

And now someone had nearly murdered me.

I wanted to be angry with him.

But beneath the anger was something worse.

Fear.

I was beginning to realize that whatever my mother had hidden from me had followed me all the way here.

The warriors carried the body away.

The door closed.

Kael remained.

For a moment, we stood alone.

His eyes moved toward the pendant at my neck.

"Where did you get that?"

"My mother."

"Did she ever tell you what it meant?"

"No."

He studied me.

"Did she ever tell you about the Veynes?"

I shook my head.

"Then there is something you need to remember."

"What?"

"If you suddenly remember anything from your childhood, anything unusual, you tell me."

His voice was serious enough to make my stomach twist.

"Why?"

"Because whoever sent that man knows something about you."

I stared at him.

"And you don't?"

His silence answered me.

Kael turned toward the door.

Before he could leave, I spoke.

"You felt it too, didn't you?"

He stopped.

I didn't need to explain what I meant.

The bond.

The invisible pull that had struck us both the moment our eyes met.

His back remained toward me.

For a long moment, he didn't move.

Then he said quietly, "Get some sleep, Elara."

He walked out.

The door closed behind him.

I was alone again.

But this time, sleep was impossible.

I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at my hands.

The words kept returning.

The Veyne heir must never awaken.

What was supposed to awaken?

Why had I never heard a wolf?

Why had my mother hidden everything?

And why did Kael look at me as though he was afraid of what I might become?

I reached for the pendant.

The moment my fingers touched it, a strange warmth spread through my palm.

I froze.

The room suddenly felt colder.

Then came a sound.

Barely audible.

A whisper.

I lifted my head.

Nothing.

The guards were outside.

The windows were closed.

Yet I could have sworn someone had spoken my name.

"Elara."

I stood slowly.

My heart began to pound.

The voice came again.

This time, it wasn't outside me.

It was inside.

I pressed a hand against my chest.

Something moved beneath my ribs.

Not pain.

Not exactly.

It felt like a presence.

A tiny spark buried somewhere deep inside me.

I closed my eyes.

For one brief second, I saw a woman standing in a forest.

Her face was blurred, but something about her felt familiar.

She was holding a small child.

Me.

I knew it without knowing how.

The vision vanished.

I opened my eyes, gasping.

My hand flew to my pendant.

The metal was burning hot.

Then a sharp pain shot through my head.

I stumbled backward.

Images flashed through my mind.

Fire.

Screaming.

A house surrounded by warriors.

My mother running.

Someone shouting my name.

Then darkness.

I screamed.

The door burst open.

Kael rushed inside.

His eyes immediately found me.

I was on the floor, gripping my head.

"What happened?"

I couldn't answer.

The vision was already disappearing.

Kael knelt beside me.

His hand reached for my shoulder.

The moment he touched me, the pain stopped.

Completely.

His eyes widened.

Mine did too.

For several seconds, neither of us moved.

Then something happened that made my entire body go cold.

A faint silver light appeared beneath my skin.

Right over my heart.

Kael stared at it.

His face changed.

He slowly pulled my collar aside.

There, beneath my skin, was a mark I had never seen before.

A crescent.

Around a black shape.

The same symbol on my pendant.

Kael's breathing became uneven.

"Where did that come from?" I whispered.

He didn't answer.

He looked terrified.

Not of me.

Of what the mark meant.

His fingers hovered over it without touching.

Then his eyes met mine.

"Elara..."

"What?"

His voice dropped.

"I've seen this before."

My heart stopped.

"Where?"

He looked toward the door as though suddenly worried someone might be listening.

"In an ancient Veyne record."

The room seemed to shrink around us.

I stared at him.

"What did it say?"

Kael didn't answer immediately.

His eyes returned to the mark.

Then, very quietly, he said,

"It said the Veyne heir would return."

A cold shiver moved through me.

"And what happens when she returns?"

Kael looked directly into my eyes.

"That," he said, "is what I'm afraid to find out."

Outside the tower, something moved through the darkness.

Neither of us noticed.

A shadow disappeared between the trees.

And somewhere beyond the walls of the Alpha's territory, someone was watching the tower.

Waiting.

Because the assassin had failed.

But the person who sent him had no intention of giving up.

And now they knew something they hadn't known before.

The Veyne heir had begun to awaken.