Chapter 25

Departure 2

Alpha Kingsley’s POV

As she stepped into the royal carriage, I sent a few quick orders through the pack’s mind link, then followed her inside. Almost immediately, the carriage began to move, slowly making its way toward the train entrance of the pack.

I took a seat opposite her, watching quietly, my eyes tracing her every movement.

She leaned slightly forward, stretching her neck toward the carriage window. Her wide eyes took in everything outside-the sprawling forests, the running rivers, the wild animals that passed at a distance. Small gasps and low, almost breathless exclamations escaped her lips, a soft soundtrack to her wonder.

How much I had missed those lips.

She didn’t even notice me watching. Her attention was fully captured by the world outside, her curiosity unrestrained, her fascination pure.

She was peaceful.

Happy.

Everything about her radiated a quiet joy that was impossible to ignore. It reached out, touching me even across the carriage, stirring something deep inside that I had long buried under layers of control.

Beautiful.

Charming.

Intoxicating.

And I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Argon, my wolf, didn’t make things any easier. He moved restlessly within me, nudging my instincts forward, urging me to step closer. His presence was heavy, pressing against my mind like a weight, a constant whisper that echoed one word over and over:

Mine.

The word has been repeated Many times in my head that has taken root silently in my heart.

I clenched my jaw, forcing him back. I couldn’t let him take over. Not here. Not like this.

I wouldn’t frighten her.

Watching her like this, completely absorbed in the simple beauty outside, I felt it would almost be a sin to disturb her. To pull her into my arms, to kiss her, to claim her… it felt wrong. Not forbidden by law or pack rules, but by something deeper, something I couldn’t yet name.

Even so, the desire burned inside me, slow and relentless. I wanted to reach for her, to press my face into her hair, to feel her warmth, to taste her lips. I wanted her in a way I hadn’t allowed myself to admit for weeks.

And yet I resisted.

I forced myself to remain calm, to keep my primal urges buried deep. I would not show her the darker, wilder side of me – not yet.

Instead, I simply watched. I watched her smile at the trees, her eyes lighting up when a deer bounded across a clearing. I watched her giggle softly when a flock of birds rose from the forest floor and flew overhead. Her movements were delicate,

unguarded, like a bird finally free from a cage.

And the thought cut through me like a knite.

Because if I was honest, I knew part of that cage had been my doing.

+15 Bonus

I had taken her from her home, from her pack, from the life she knew. I had kidnapped her. The word lingered bitterly in my