Luna. Chapter 56

(Lyra's POV)

I was still in wolf form when I caught his scent on the night air. Familiar and devastating and impossible.

Kael.

He's here, Aria said unnecessarily.

I'd thought I was prepared for this moment. Four years of separation, of building a life without him, of convincing myself I'd moved on. But smelling him again, feeling the way my wolf responded to his presence...

The mate bond, Aria whispered. It's still there.

That was impossible. He'd rejected me. Formally, publicly, with witnesses. The bond should have been severed completely.

But as I padded through the trees toward his scent, I felt that familiar pull in my chest. Stronger than it had ever been before, like a rope connecting my heart to his.

I found him in the moonlit clearing where we used to meet when we were teenagers. He was sitting on the fallen log where he'd first told me he loved me, staring up at the moon with an expression of deep sadness.

He looked terrible. Thinner than I remembered, with new lines around his eyes and a careful way of moving that suggested ongoing pain. The poison Seraphina had injected him with had left its mark.

He's been suffering, Aria observed.

Good, I thought, though I didn't entirely mean it.

Kael looked up as I emerged from the tree line. For a moment, we just stared at each other across the clearing. Man and wolf, former mates, parents of a child he'd barely been allowed to know.

"Lyra," he said quietly. "You're beautiful."

I shifted back to human form without thinking, suddenly desperate to confront him properly.

"What are you doing here?" My voice came out angrier than I'd intended.

"I heard it was your birthday. I thought..." He gestured helplessly. "I hoped I might see your first transformation."

"You lost the right to be part of my important moments four years ago."

"I know."

"Do you? Because you seem to keep showing up in places you don't belong."

Kael stood slowly, and I could see the effort it cost him. "The mate bond is back, isn't it?"

I wanted to deny it, but Aria wouldn't let me lie. "That's impossible."

"But it's true."

"Yes," I admitted reluctantly. "But I don't know why."

"I do."

That stopped me cold. "What?"

"The bond was never actually severed. It was blocked, suppressed by Seraphina's influence. When she died, the block lifted."

"She's dead?"

"Six months ago. Natural causes, according to the medical examiner. But I think her body finally gave out from all the dark magic she'd been using."

I processed this information, feeling Aria's reaction to it. Relief, but also something like vindication.

She was poison, my wolf said. Her death freed us.

"So what now?" I asked Kael. "You think we can just pick up where we left off?"

"No. I think I destroyed any chance of that four years ago."

"You did."

"But I'm hoping you might be willing to let me prove I've changed."

I looked at him - really looked at him. The arrogance was gone, replaced by a humility that seemed genuine. The easy confidence had been burned away, leaving someone who seemed to understand the weight of his failures.

"I hate you," I said quietly.

"I know."

"But I still love you too. And I hate that even more."

"Lyra..."

"No." I held up my hand. "I'm not ready for this conversation. I may never be ready for it."

"I understand."

"Do you?"

"I understand that I don't deserve forgiveness. I understand that loving someone means accepting their choices, even when those choices don't include you."

I stared at him for a long moment, feeling the mate bond humming between us like a live wire.

"Stay away from me, Kael."

"If that's what you want."

"It is."

But as I walked away, leaving him alone in the moonlight, both Aria and I knew I was lying.