"Kael is going to kill me," Liam muttered, but he nodded. "Fine. But you stay behind the pack line. And if things go south, you run. Understood?"
"Understood."
We made our way to the southern border, where Kael stood with twenty of his strongest warriors, facing down Dominic and his forces across the territorial line. The air crackled with tension, two Alpha dominances clashing like thunder.
Dominic looked different than he had three weeks ago. Thinner. Tired. His suit was still impeccable, but there were dark circles under his eyes and a tightness around his mouth that spoke of sleepless nights.
Good.
His eyes found mine immediately, and something flickered across his face. Relief? Longing? Regret?
Too damn late.
"Elara." My name came out rough, almost desperate. "You look… you look well."
"I am well," I said coldly, moving to stand beside Kael despite Liam's protests. "Which is why your claim that I was coerced is laughable. I'm happier now than I've been in three years."
Something cracked in his expression. "You're saying that because he's listening. Because you think you have to prove"
"I'm saying it because it's true." I took Kael's hand, and I felt him tense beside me, surprised. But he laced his fingers through mine, presenting a united front. "I left you, Dominic. Not because anyone forced me. Not because I was mentally unstable. But because you made me miserable, and I finally loved myself enough to walk away."
"You don't mean that." But his voice lacked conviction. "The mate bond"
"The mate bond was one-sided from the beginning!" My voice rose, carrying across the border. "You never wanted me. You wanted Vivian. I was just the obligation the Moon Goddess forced on you. So you took me for granted, ignored me, made me feel worthless every single day until I broke. And now that I'm putting myself back together, you want to drag me back down because your ego can't handle being the one who got left?"
"That's not" He stepped forward, and immediately Kael's warriors moved to block him.
"You need to leave, Steele," Kael said, his voice deadly calm. "Elara has made her choice. Multiple times. Loudly. If you can't respect that, then you never deserved her in the first place."
"And you do?" Dominic's eyes flashed amber, jealousy and rage warring in his expression. "You've known her for three weeks! You don't know her favorite color, her fears, her dreams"
"Green," Kael interrupted. "Like the forest in spring. She's afraid of disappointing people, of not being enough, of letting people see her cry because she thinks it makes her weak.
She dreams of having a garden where she can grow her mother's roses, of writing the poetry she's been hiding in notebooks since she was fourteen, of having children who'll grow up knowing they're loved unconditionally."
My breath caught. Because every single thing he'd said was true. Things I'd never told Dominic in three years of marriage. Things Kael had learned in three weeks just by paying attention.
Dominic's face had gone pale. "Elara"
"Goodbye, Dominic." My voice was steady now, final. "Accept that it's over. Move on with Vivian. Be happy. But let me be happy too."
"You're making a mistake." His hands clenched into fists, his wolf right at the surface. "He'll leave you too. Everyone leaves eventually. And when he does, when you're alone and broken again, don't come crying back to me."
The words were meant to hurt. To plant seeds of doubt. To make me question my choices.
They bounced off me like rain off stone.
"If he leaves," I said softly, "I'll survive.
Because you taught me that I'm strong enough to walk away from people who don't value me. You taught me that I can rebuild myself from nothing. You taught me that I deserve better. So thank you, Dominic. For breaking me so thoroughly that I had no choice but to learn how to be whole on my own."
I turned my back on him the ultimate dismissal from a wolf to another and walked away.
Behind me, I heard Kael give one final order. "If you or any of your warriors cross this border again without invitation, I'll consider it an act of war. Now get the hell off my land."
Kael caught up to me halfway back to the pack house, his hand finding mine again.
"That was incredibly brave," he said quietly. "And incredibly stupid. You could have been hurt."
"But I wasn't." I looked up at him, and something warm unfurled in my chest at the concern in his eyes. "I needed to face him. I needed him to see that I meant it. That I'm not coming back."
"Green," Kael said suddenly, and I blinked.
"What?"
"Your favorite color. It really is green, isn't it?"
I laughed, the sound surprised and genuine. "You actually paid attention to that? When I mentioned it that one time?"
"I pay attention to everything about you, Elara." He stopped walking, turning to face me fully. "The way you bite your lip when you're nervous. The way your nose crinkles when you laugh. The way you hum when you think no one's listening. The way you look at the forest like it's calling you home."
My heart was racing again, my wolf practically singing with joy. "Kael"
"I know it's fast," he said, his hands coming up to frame my face. "I know you just got divorced. I know you probably need time and space and a thousand other things I should be giving you. But Elara, I need you to know I'm not interested in you because you're convenient or available or because I'm trying to be the rebound guy."
"Then why?" I whispered.
"Because you're brave and strong and funny and kind. Because you light up when you talk about the things you love. Because you survived three years of hell and came out the other side with your heart still intact.
Because when I look at you, I see someone worth fighting for. Someone worth waiting for. Someone worth"
I kissed him.
I cut off his words with my lips, threading my fingers into his hair and pulling him down to me. He made a sound of surprise that quickly turned into a growl of approval, his arms wrapping around my waist and lifting me against him.
This kiss wasn't soft or testing. It was desperate and claiming and full of all the things we hadn't said yet. His mouth moved against mine like he was trying to memorize the taste of me, and I kissed him back with three years of starvation and loneliness and need.
When we finally broke apart, both breathing hard, his eyes were blazing with something that made my knees weak.
"I'm not ready," I said honestly, my forehead resting against his. "I'm not ready for everything that comes with this. But I want to be. I want to try. If you're willing to be patient with me"
"I'd wait forever for you," he said simply. "However long it takes. Whatever you need. I'm not going anywhere, Elara. Not unless you tell me to go."
"Don't go," I whispered. "Stay. Please stay."
"Always," he promised, and kissed me again.
And for the first time in three years, I believed someone when they said they'd stay.
Because unlike Dominic's empty promises, Kael's words felt like truth.
They felt like home.