CHAPTER 25: CHAPTER 25: I SWORE I WOULDN’T BECOME HIM

Kael’s Pov

I didn’t remember moving. One second I was in that gods-damned room, surrounded by laughter and cruelty, and the next—I was kneeling on the floor with her in my arms, wrapping my coat tightly around her trembling frame.

She didn’t speak. She didn’t even flinch.

Just... silence.

Like something inside her had finally died.

Maybe it was instinct. Something deeper than thought or command had taken over, driving me to her, pulling me toward the place where her body had crumpled like a discarded thing.

My limbs worked on their own, because my mind... my mind was somewhere else entirely. Caught in that one, frozen image—her knees buckling, her shoulders curling inward, and no one doing a damn thing.

I carried her through the halls without a word, without even noticing the horrified looks of those who caught a glimpse. I didn’t care. Let them see. Let them wonder what the fuck happened.

Let them feel the shame they should’ve felt earlier, when they stood by and did nothing. Just like I did.

Her body was so light and limp in my arms like a broken thing, barely breathing. I took her straight to her room in the omega wing—the only space that was hers. I kicked the door open and stepped inside, the cold hitting me like a slap across the face.

I laid her gently on the thin bed and peeled the coat back from her shoulders, just enough to check on her.

"Selene," I called her name, my voice low, trying not to startle her. "Selene, can you hear me?"

Nothing.

Her face was wet with tears, her breathing shallow and weak, and when the coat slipped further, I noticed angry, red marks crawling up the delicate curve of her neck—grip marks. It was very deep. As if someone had held her like a possession, not a person.

My hand shook.

My goddamn hand shook.

I had seen blood before. I had delivered punishment, given orders that left people broken. But this felt different. This was not justice. This was cruelty for cruelty’s sake. And it rattled me more than I wanted to admit.

My power was supposed to protect my people, not be twisted by those too stupid to understand the weight of what they’d done.

A growl rumbled in my mind, and then my wolf, Riven let out a wounded, broken whimper.

It cracked something in me.

I clenched my teeth and reached further down, inspecting her as gently as I could, afraid of what I’d find... afraid I was already too late.

When I lifted her thighs, my heart stopped.

Red marks. Welts from brutal force. But no deeper damage, no scent of violation.

I exhaled a shaky breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Relief, bitter and sharp, hit me like a hammer. She hadn’t been taken that far.

But it didn’t matter. The damage was already done in other ways. I saw it in the way her hands had curled in on themselves, fingers twitching like they didn’t know whether to fight or surrender.

I saw it in her mouth—parted slightly, as if her body had forgotten how to breathe properly. Whatever they’d done, they’d stolen something from her. Maybe not her body, but something even harder to give back.

I pulled the coat back over her body, adjusting it carefully, and stood there for a long moment, staring down at her. Her skin was pale, almost translucent. Her lashes were wet. Her lips were trembling.

And her eyes never opened.

I turned and walked out of the room without a word.

I couldn’t stay.

I didn’t deserve to.

And I sure as hell didn’t want to face the things twisting inside me right now.

But let me be clear—this wasn’t pity. I wasn’t some soft-hearted fool moved by a broken girl’s tears. No, this was different. This was guilt, born from a place I thought I’d long buried. A promise I made to myself the night my mother died in silence, wearing the same hollow-eyed expression I’d seen on Selene just now.

I would never allow that again.

Never.

No one in this pack—no woman—would suffer that kind of fate while I still drew breath.

And if I wanted to teach Selene a lesson, if I wanted her to atone for her father’s sins, there were other ways. Better ways. Ways that didn’t make me a fucking tyrant. Because that’s what he was. That’s what I hated.

And I... I wasn’t him.

I refused to be him.

I’d made myself a promise the night my mother died. I’d looked into her empty eyes and sworn that no one would ever be silenced like that again. Not under my roof. Not under my name. And yet here I was...

With my thoughts burning and my rage like wildfire in my chest, I stormed out of the estate and into the forest beyond the pack’s walls. The night wind was sharp, but I welcomed it, let it sting my face, let it cut through the filth clinging to my soul.

Bones cracked and flesh tore as I shifted, my skin giving way to fur, muscles surging into place. I landed on all fours with a snarl, my massive black wolf form shaking the ground beneath me. Grey eyes, cold as steel, blinked through the trees.

A tuft of grey fur ran down my belly, the same color as my eyes.

Riven howled low in my head, still aching.

We ran.

Through trees, over rock, past the borders of our territory. Every pawstep was a release, every snap of twig beneath my weight a cry of fury. I needed this. I needed to feel like something still made sense.

Because back in that room—those lifeless eyes, those bruises—I felt like I was losing control. And gods help me, if I stayed another second near her, I might end up bewitched.

Not by her looks. Not by her tears.

But by the way her broken silence was starting to haunt me.

I hated the fact that she was still capable of making me feel like this after everything she had done.

But I reasoned it wasn’t because of her. Even if it had been someone else, I would’ve still done the same.

And today, I had to admit—I was wrong. I couldn’t let revenge blind me so much that I forgot the boundary between good and evil.