Kael said it without raising his voice.
"I chose power."
The words landed harder than any shouted confession ever could.
Elara stopped walking.
They were alone on the narrow path above Frostveil, the one that curved away from the watchtowers and sank into quiet stone and wind. Mira had been taken inside by Rowan moments earlier, the child sensing tension before anyone asked her to leave.
Elara turned slowly.
"Say it again," she said.
Kael faced her fully now. No armor. No banner. No audience to perform for.
"I chose power," he repeated. "Not love. Not you."
There it was.
Clean. Undeniable.
Elara felt something settle inside her chest. Not pain. Not shocked. A strange, steady clarity.
"So I wasn't imagining it," she said softly. "All those years of being ignored. Of standing beside you while you looked through me."
Kael swallowed. "No. You weren't."
The bond stirred between them, restless, aching. It did not argue. It remembered.
Elara let out a slow breath. "You know what hurts most?"
Kael said nothing.
"You didn't lie," she continued. "You didn't pretend you were torn. You just… decided. And you lived with it."
Kael's jaw tightened. "I thought I could carry it."
"And instead," Elara said, "you taught me to carry it alone."
The wind cut sharply across the ridge. Frostveil stretched below them, quiet for now, but alert. Waiting.
Kael stepped closer, stopping at a careful distance away. "I convinced myself that sacrifice was leadership. That wanting you made me weak."
Elara's eyes burned, but her voice stayed calm. "And now?"
"Now I see the cost," he said. "I see what I hollowed out to stand where I stood."
She studied him, really studied him, for the first time in years. He looked older than she remembered. Not in body. In weight.
"You don't get absolution for awareness," she said. "Understanding the wound doesn't heal it."
"I know," Kael replied. "That's why I'm not asking."
That surprised her.
"You're not?"
"No." He shook his head. "I'm telling you the truth you deserved then."
Elara looked away, toward the distant treeline where other packs watched and waited. "The truth would have saved me years ago."
"I know," he said again, quieter this time.
Silence pressed between them.
Below, a horn sounded faintly. A Frostveil signal. Not an alarm. Warning.
Elara straightened. "They'll come again. The southern packs won't stop."
"I'm aware."
"And when they do," she said, "they won't just test borders. They'll test loyalty."
Kael nodded. "That's why I needed to say this now."
She turned back sharply. "Needed? Or wanted?"
"Both," he admitted. "If I stand beside you in what comes next, it has to be without illusion."
Elara felt the bond react to that. Not soften. Clarify.
"You still feel it," she said.
"Yes."
"But you don't claim it."
"No."
That hurt more than denial would have.
"You know," Elara said slowly, "for a long time, I thought if you ever admitted this, it would break me."
Kael's gaze sharpened. "And?"
"It didn't," she said. "It freed me."
He absorbed that like a blow.
"You were my worst fear," she continued. "The proof that love was optional. That bonds could be ignored if power demanded it."
Kael's voice went rough. "And now?"
"And now," she said, "you're just a man who made a choice and has to live beside its consequences."
The distance between them felt wider than ever.
A runner appeared at the edge of the path, breathless. "Elara. Kael. Scouts returned."
Elara's focus snapped sharply. "Report."
"Southern packs are regrouping," the runner said. "But that's not all."
Kael tensed. "What else?"
"Word came from the eastern ridge," the runner continued. "An internal challenge is rising. Within Kael's pack."
Kael went still.
"Who?" he asked.
"Your uncle," the runner said. "He's calling a council. Claiming you've lost authority by bowing to a bond you once rejected."
Elara watched Kael carefully.
There it was.
The test.
Power or truth. Again.
Kael closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them, something had changed.
"I won't stop it," he said.
The runner blinked. "Alpha?"
"If my authority only stands when I deny my past," Kael said, "then it doesn't deserve to stand at all."
Elara felt the weight of that choice ripple outward.
"You'll lose wolves," she said.
"Yes."
"You could lose your title."
"Yes."
She searched his face. "And if you do?"
"Then I lose it, honestly."
The runner hesitated, then bowed and ran.
Elara said nothing for a long moment.
Then, quietly, "This doesn't earn you back what you broke."
"I know," Kael replied. "But it might stop me from breaking more."
Below them, Frostveil stirred as messengers ran and guards shifted positions. The calm was fracturing.
Elara turned toward the path back to the settlement. "Mira comes first. Always."
Kael nodded immediately. "I understand."
"Say it," she demanded. "Say it without hesitation."
Kael met her gaze. "Your child comes before my crown."
The bond flared sharply at that, not with forgiveness, but recognition.
Elara moved past him, not waiting to see if he followed.
He did.
They reached the outer square just as raised voices echoed from below. Frostveil wolves clustered near the gates. Rowan stood rigid, jaw tight.
"They sent an envoy," Rowan said as soon as he saw them. "Not southern."
Elara's stomach dropped. "Who?"
Rowan's eyes flicked to Kael. "Your pack."
Kael swore under his breath.
From the treelined emerged three figures wearing Kael's colors. At their center stood his uncle, tall and smiling like a man who smelled blood.
"Alpha Kael," the older wolf called. "You return without banners, without obedience. The pack demands clarity."
Kael stepped forward before Elara could speak.
"You'll have it," he said.
His uncle's gaze slid to Elara, then to the direction Mira had gone. "And the bond?"
Kael did not look away. "Exists."
Murmurs erupted.
"And the child?"
Kael's shoulders squared. "Is under her protection. Not ours."
His uncle's smile widened. "So you admit weakness."
Kael's voice stayed calm. "I admit the truth."
"Then you admit you chose wrong," the man pressed.
Kael inhaled.
Elara felt the moment thin.
"Yes," Kael said clearly. "I chose power. And it cost more than it gave."
Gasps. Shouts. Disbelief.
His uncle laughed. "Then step aside. Let a stronger Alpha lead."
Kael turned, not to his pack, but to Elara.
"I won't ask you to stand with me," he said quietly. "But I won't deny you again."
Elara met his gaze.
She saw the man he had been.
The man he was trying to become.
And the danger circling both of them.
"This fight isn't yours alone," she said. "But it isn't about love either."
Kael nodded. "I know."
From inside Frostveil, a child's cry rang out. Sharp. Afraid.
Elara's head snapped toward the sound.
"Mira," she whispered.
Rowan drew his blade. "Someone breached the inner path."
Chaos erupted.
Elara moved without thought, power surging through her veins, the land answering her call.
Kael followed at her side, no commands, no hesitation.
Whatever came next would not ask who they loved.
It would demand who they chose to protect.
And this time, neither of them could afford to choose wrong again.