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00:03I threw my body into the woods, no funeral, no grave, just crows.
00:07And that was the second time I died for him.
00:09In my world, being blind is a defect.
00:12Without a wolf, I know nothing.
00:13I am an omega, the very bottom of the pack.
00:16No strength, no shifting, no healing.
00:20A normal wolf gets stuck, heals in minutes.
00:23Give me a paper cut, and I'll bleed for days.
00:26But I have something no one needs to do.
00:28I don't see faces, I see souls without jealousy, toxic green, hate, deep, oily black.
00:34In my last life, I used it to build a king, Lucian, a forgotten fifth son.
00:39I picked him, I made him, I put him on the throne.
00:42In the day my sister Celeste died, he grabbed my jaw so hard I heard it crack.
00:48He forced a wolf's vein tincture down my throat.
00:52You blind freak, you knew I never wanted you.
00:55Celeste should have been mine from the start.
00:57And because of you, she ended up with Marcus.
01:00They tortured her to death.
01:02It was your fault.
01:05I died in agony.
01:07He gave Celeste's corpse a royal burial.
01:10He gave me the woods.
01:12But the hurt, his hate, it was so consuming it dragged me right back to the death.
01:17I opened my eyes.
01:19Seventeen again.
01:21Night, who made him out.
01:23Lucian walked straight past me and took Celeste's hand, like he was afraid someone might stop him.
01:28The bastard came back too, and he remembered everything.
01:31He is terrified I'll choose him again.
01:33Honestly, I couldn't care less.
01:35I swept my blind gaze across the back of the room.
01:38In a sea of dark, rotten souls, I said.
01:40A soul so pure it glowed like liquid gold.
01:43The man in the wheelchair, the true alpha.
01:46I choose Celeste as my mate.
01:49Lucian's voice cracked through the hall like a whip.
01:51She is my one and only Luna.
01:53He walked toward my sister with eyes full of a tenderness I knew for his performance.
01:58The room went silent.
01:59Then the whispers hit me like a wall.
02:01No heir in their right mind would want her.
02:03A blind Omega who couldn't even shift?
02:05What a joke.
02:07Why is she even here?
02:09Trash like her should be in the kitchen, not at a mating ball.
02:13I am an alpha's daughter born blind.
02:15When I came of age, my wolf had a world with my teeth and claws.
02:21That is not just weakness.
02:22That is a death sentence.
02:24Being wolf-less, that makes you a joke.
02:27My sister Celeste is the golden child.
02:29Born with a siren song.
02:32A voice that can calm even the most violent alpha in the world.
02:36The family treats her like the goddess.
02:38They treat me like a mistake they can't take back.
02:41Lucian dropped to one knee in front of her.
02:44Accept my mark Celeste.
02:46I will make you the most powerful woman alive.
02:49And as he spoke, he threw one look back at me.
02:52Not an apology.
02:54A warning.
02:55He thinks he can take the throne without me this time.
02:57He thinks I was what held him back.
03:00He has no idea what he just threw away.
03:02I didn't awaken a wolf when I came of age.
03:05I got something much more dangerous.
03:06The soul line.
03:11Jealousy is toxic green.
03:13Hate is a bottomless black.
03:15Love is pink.
03:16And the deeper the feeling.
03:18The darker it burns.
03:19In my last life.
03:21I kept him alive with this.
03:22I spotted assassins before they moved.
03:25I told him who to trust.
03:26Who to kill.
03:27This time.
03:28I am going to let him have exactly what he wanted.
03:31And watch him realize too late that without me.
03:33He is nothing.
03:35And I really hope.
03:36For his sake.
03:37He doesn't end up calling back to me.
03:40Begging for a mercy.
03:42The moment Lucian's announcement landed.
03:45Every eye in the room found me.
03:47I am just a blind girl.
03:48I am not worthy of a man like Lucian.
03:51Celelsta is the perfect match for him.
03:54At least you know your place.
03:55He stepped closer.
03:57An Omega with no wolf?
03:58I wouldn't choose you if you were the last woman breathing.
04:02Not even if you crawl to me on your knees.
04:04My mother Marilyn made a sound beside me.
04:07A sharp inhale.
04:08Like she was about to say something she shouldn't.
04:10I squeezed her hand.
04:12She went quiet.
04:13I swept the room with my soul alive.
04:15Marcus.
04:16Murky charcoal.
04:17Cruel underneath the surface.
04:19The other airs.
04:20Muddy swirls of greed and want.
04:22In my last life I chose Lucian because his soul looked cleaner than anyone else's in the room.
04:27It was a mask.
04:28I didn't see what was underneath until the day he killed me.
04:31A rotten, pink, purple, black.
04:33He didn't just hate what it was.
04:35He hated me.
04:36I was blind in my last life in more ways than one.
04:39Never again.
04:40Celeste glided toward me.
04:41Face arranged into the perfect picture of a loving older sister.
04:45Don't be sad.
04:46Go ahead.
04:47I'll let you have whoever you want.
04:50Her soul was turning toxic green.
04:52Edge to edge.
04:53Pure jealousy.
04:54Barely holding its shape.
04:56Since no one's going to claim you anyway,
04:58you can always beg me for work.
05:01Celeste will need a personal maid.
05:03Emphyseus fest smitching floors.
05:04Scrubbing floors all a wolfless Omega is good for.
05:06I didn't blink.
05:07I didn't even bother.
05:09None of them were worth the energy.
05:11And then, the sound of wheels.
05:13The chatter died.
05:14Then the room shifted.
05:17Kyle Ravenscroft had arrived.
05:19Uninvited.
05:20Unannounced.
05:21And completely unmoved by the spectacle.
05:24He sat in that wheelchair like a predator at rest.
05:27And then I saw.
05:28My breath caught.
05:29His soul was gold.
05:31Pure.
05:32Shimmering.
05:32Blinding gold.
05:34The mark of the moon goddess herself.
05:36The mark of a true king.
05:38I clenched my fists so hard my nails broke the skin.
05:42Last life.
05:43I picked the wrong man.
05:44I defied the moon goddess.
05:46Put a monster on the throne.
05:48And everyone paid for it.
05:50Not this time.
05:52I stood up.
05:53I walked past Lucian without a glance.
05:55Past every arrogant alpha heir in the room.
05:57I stopped in front of Kyle's wheelchair.
06:00I choose him.
06:01The hall went dead silent.
06:03Then it exploded.
06:05Lifed up.
06:05From every direction.
06:07All it was.
06:08The blind girl and the cripple.
06:11Neither of you has a wolf.
06:13You really are a perfect match.
06:18Zaya.
06:19You can't see.
06:21You don't understand.
06:22He's in a wheelchair.
06:24She glanced at the crowd.
06:26Milking every second of it.
06:29I'll pretend I didn't hear that.
06:31Choose again.
06:33And if you truly can't find an alpha willing to have you.
06:36You're welcome to follow our caravan.
06:39Serve Lucian and me.
06:41At least you won't go hungry.
06:44I'm not anyone's servant.
06:45And I'm not a stray you take in out of pity.
06:48Kyle hadn't said a word through any of it.
06:50He just pulled his chair forward until he was right in front of me.
06:54He took my hand.
06:55His palm was large and rough.
06:57Thick with calluses.
06:59The kind of anything you get from the most hard use.
07:05He took my hand and guided it to his knee.
07:08No flinching.
07:09No excuses.
07:11If he was lying.
07:12He didn't want pity for it.
07:13I left my hand there.
07:15I could feel the heat of him through the fabric and tense.
07:18Alive.
07:19Then a jolt.
07:20It shot through my fingertips.
07:22Raced up my arm.
07:23And hit my chest like a beast.
07:24This wasn't the soul line.
07:27It was something else entirely.
07:29My blood was screaming.
07:30I don't have a wolf.
07:32I was never supposed to feel a mate bond.
07:35But there it was.
07:39Kyle's whole body locked up.
07:40I looked into his soul.
07:42Warm pink threading through shimmering gold.
07:45I leaned in close and smiled.
07:47I can fix your nights.
07:48Lucian's face went ugly.
07:50The mating ball isn't over.
07:52And you're out here making promises you can't keep?
07:55If you fail to heal him, the Alpha Council will have your head.
07:58Can you actually do it?
08:00I didn't answer right away.
08:02I let my fingers trail slowly along his tensed file.
08:05I can.
08:07But it'll require a very specific kind of contact.
08:11He understood immediately.
08:12The tips of his ears went red.
08:14He turned his head away.
08:16Couldn't quite bring himself to look at me.
08:18In my peripheral vision, Lucian's soul ignited.
08:22A roaring wall of green fire.
08:24Jealousy.
08:25A cold laugh rose in my chest.
08:27Jealous of what?
08:28Except Lucian.
08:29You are the one who poured poison down my throat.
08:32The moment I stepped outside the hall, the world tilted.
08:35White hot pain detonated behind my eyes.
08:40Like something was being driven through my skull from the inside.
08:43That is the cost.
08:45Every time I used the soul eye on that many people at once, it cost me.
08:49I pressed my freezing fingers to my temples.
08:51The cold always came after.
08:53After the ball, Lucian got to work.
08:55He pulled up everything from our past life.
08:58Her favorite flowers.
08:59Her secret hiding spots.
09:01Every word she'd been waiting her whole life to hear.
09:04They played her like he'd been practicing for years.
09:07That same day, a mating contract arrived at my door on heavy old parchment.
09:14I accept you as my mate.
09:16I will hold and protect you in this life and the next.
09:19Not even death will part us.
09:20The handwriting was deep and certain.
09:22No hesitation in a single stroke.
09:25It felt exactly like him.
09:27Both weddings were set for the same morning.
09:29The night before, Celeste walked into my room like she owned it.
09:32She didn't knock.
09:33Her maid tossed something at my feet.
09:35A tattered gray shawl.
09:37A kind worn by the lowest ranking omegas.
09:40A mark of total submission.
09:43You're a blind freak, Zara.
09:49No real alpha will ever claim you.
09:51She leaned in.
09:53Voice honeyed and vicious at the same time.
09:56Lucian and I are being generous.
09:59We're keeping you on as a servant.
10:01But on the day of the ceremony,
10:03no carriage for you.
10:05You'll wear that and walk behind the caravan.
10:08Servant's entrance.
10:09Don't embarrass us.
10:10The morning came.
10:11I left the shawl on the floor where it landed.
10:14I put on the dress Kyle had sent instead.
10:17White silk, thousands of diamonds sewn into the fabric.
10:21Small enough to look like starlight.
10:23At the estate gate, two carriages waited.
10:27One was extraordinary.
10:29Draped in thumb-sized pearls.
10:31Built like a throne that happened to have wheels.
10:33The other was plainly standard work.
10:36Nothing remarkable.
10:39Celeste didn't hesitate for a second.
10:41She walked straight to the pearl carriage and stepped inside.
10:46The head guard turned.
10:48His expression didn't waver.
10:51You're in the wrong carriage.
10:53This was commissioned by Alpha Kyle for his Luna and no one else.
10:58He didn't get no time to argue.
10:59The guards took her by the grounds and turned around.
11:02She caught her heel on her skirt and went down hard when she staked into the dirt.
11:08Lucian arrived just in time to see it.
11:12Celeste scrambled up and threw herself at him, already crying.
11:18It's Zara!
11:19She planned this!
11:22She can't stand that I'm the one becoming a Luna!
11:26She turned to the crowd gathering around them, eyes blistening.
11:29Please, don't hate her.
11:31She's struggling.
11:33I know we're in love, Lucian, but I begged you to keep her safe.
11:38I cheated for months just so she could be our servant and I not starve on the street.
11:45She's a blind, Omega.
11:46She should be grateful anyone even bothered to take her in.
11:49To pull a strunt like this on her sister's wedding day, it's fetic.
11:53The crowd was vicious.
11:55They always are when they smell weakness.
11:57Omega!
11:58Lucian's soul was drowning in black.
12:00Thick, suffocating, ink dark.
12:02He pulled Celeste against his chest and turned on me.
12:06You're an Omega, Zara.
12:09You have no right to wear white.
12:12Take that dress off right now or I'll shred it off your back myself!
12:17Celeste buried her face in his chest.
12:20But I could see her soul.
12:21She was smirking.
12:24Lucian, you don't have me watching her back this time.
12:28What's coming for you tonight isn't a wedding.
12:32It's a funeral.
12:35Celeste's been foiled like I'd struck.
12:37How can you curse him like that?
12:39Just because he didn't choose you?
12:42You dare curse an Alpha Heir?
12:46Guards, seize her!
12:48The soldiers started moving in.
12:51Think carefully.
12:52You're laying a hand on Alpha Kyle's mate.
12:56Make sure that's a consequence you're ready to live with.
12:58Lucian laughed.
12:59Jagged.
13:00Ugly.
13:01Kyle?
13:02The cripple isn't even here.
13:04Probably hiding in his chambers, too embarrassed to show his face.
13:07He's using you for sport, Zara.
13:09Nothing more.
13:10He stepped forward, close enough that his shadow fell over me.
13:13Neil.
13:14Beg Celeste's forgiveness.
13:17And maybe, maybe, I'll still find a use for you.
13:20Then a voice cut through everything.
13:22Who is threatening my mate?
13:23The crowd split.
13:24Kyle moved through them like they weren't there.
13:26Sharp black suit.
13:28Not a single piece out of place.
13:30Even seated.
13:30His presence was suffocating.
13:32The moment he appeared, the street went silent.
13:35Beside him, Lucian suddenly looked at the boy wearing his boots.
13:40Kyle came straight to me.
13:42He took my hand and folded it inside his large, warm, unhurried...
13:46So he raised him back.
13:48Then he looked up.
13:50Now.
13:50His eyes fixed on Lucian like a blade finding its mark.
13:53Let's try that again.
13:55Who was it that told my mate to move?
13:57The temperature in the street seemed to drop.
14:00No one walked.
14:01No one breathed.
14:02He didn't shout.
14:03Didn't signal his men.
14:04He just watched Lucian the way a predator watches something it has already decided to deal with later.
14:10I'll remember that.
14:11I'm an alpha heir.
14:13Same as you.
14:14Who the hell do you think you are?
14:15Who the hell do you think you are?
14:17A forgotten fifth son?
14:19Trying to give orders to my mate.
14:22You're not a rival, Lucian.
14:24You're a fit note.
14:25The color drained from Lucian's face.
14:28This isn't over.
14:29Low and mean.
14:30You'll both regret tonight.
14:33I gave you a chance, Zara.
14:36When you come crawling back, and you will, don't expect mercy.
14:41I looked at his soul, muddy green.
14:43Murky and small.
14:44He genuinely believes he is the chosen one.
14:46He thinks the throne is already his, and that I was just dead weight holding him back.
14:51He has no idea what is waiting for him.
14:53Without me clearing his path, he won't last the season.
14:57He'll be lucky to still be breathing by the time the leaves turn.
15:00Oh, our first night as mates was quiet.
15:02Just the two of us, and the fire crackling low between us.
15:07We shared whiskey, amber, and slow burning on the way down.
15:12I could feel his eyes, heavy and silver warm against my skin.
15:16My pulse wouldn't settle.
15:18Even sitting across from me in that chair, his presence filled the entire room.
15:23You said you could fix my legs.
15:27How?
15:29Help me with something first.
15:32I've never seen this room.
15:35Describe it to me.
15:37Then he started talking.
15:39The fires glow.
15:40The oil paintings.
15:42He told me their textures, not just their subjects.
15:45The velvet curtains.
15:46Deep and heavy.
15:47On the shelf above the nightstand, there's an old book.
15:53The cover is faded.
15:55My hand stilled around the glass.
15:57That shelf was high, nearly at the ceiling.
16:00From a wheelchair, the top of that book was completely out of sight.
16:04There was no way he could know the cover was faded.
16:07I didn't say a word.
16:08I just took another sip and filed that detail away somewhere.
16:12I wouldn't forget it.
16:13I stood up with my glass in hand, then let it slip.
16:18It hit the carpet with a dull thud and rolled toward the sofa.
16:22Kyle's body moved before his mind could stop it.
16:25His chest surged forward.
16:27The muscles in his thighs locked and coiled, dense as iron cables.
16:32For a single, unguarded second, he was about to stand.
16:35Then he caught himself and settled back into the leather as if nothing had happened.
16:39But I felt it.
16:41That reflex was all the confirmation I needed.
16:44I didn't say anything.
16:46Not yet.
16:47There's one more way to be sure.
16:51I stepped in close.
16:53And I straddled his lap.
16:55Kyle stopped breathing.
16:58The heat from his hands soaked straight through the silk.
17:01It burned against my skin like a brand.
17:04My heart was slamming.
17:06I ignored it.
17:08I raised my hand and let my fingertips trace from his jaw down to his chest.
17:13Hard as stone beneath the shirt.
17:15Not the body of a man who hadn't used his legs in seven years.
17:18I looked into his soul.
17:20A storm deep crimson.
17:22Soft pink.
17:23Something more tender than he'd admit.
17:25And threading through both.
17:27A sharp streak of dark green panic.
17:30He knew I was getting close.
17:32I leaned down.
17:37My lips barely grazed the corner of his mouth.
17:41Not a kiss.
17:42A question.
17:43His breathing came apart.
17:44And then I took his hand and pressed his palm flat against my chest.
17:49The silk between us was nothing.
17:51My face was burning.
17:52Because in that moment, his body gave me the most honest answer he had.
17:57His body reacted before his mind could stop it.
18:00I felt the shift in his balance.
18:03The sudden brace through his thighs.
18:05The instinctive drive upward.
18:07A man who hadn't used his legs in seven years wouldn't move like that.
18:11I pulled back just enough.
18:12Let the smile come slowly.
18:14Your legs are fine.
18:16That much, I know.
18:18Kyle closed his eyes.
18:19His throat moved as he swallowed.
18:21Then he stood up.
18:23One hand stayed at my waist.
18:25The other still pressed against my chest.
18:27He lifted me and I felt just how much of him there was.
18:30Nearly six foot from him.
18:32All of it muscle.
18:33My whole world was suddenly just him.
18:36How did you know?
18:38I just smiled and gave him something vague enough to pass.
18:41He set me down gently on the edge of the bed.
18:44Then stepped back.
18:45The hand that had touched my chest was shaking.
18:47I'm sorry, I shouldn't have.
18:49Don't.
18:50I'm the one who put your hand there.
18:52He looked at me for a long moment.
18:54He laughed.
18:55A real laugh.
18:56Warm and unguarded.
18:58Like seven years of tension finally giving way.
19:01Seven years.
19:02Seven years fooling everyone.
19:04The whole damn world.
19:06And my blind mate catches me on the very first night.
19:10We didn't go any further that night.
19:11We ended up on the rug in front of the fire.
19:14The bottle of whiskey between us.
19:15And we just.
19:17Talked.
19:18He told me about the night his parents were killed.
19:20They called it a rogue wolf attack.
19:23Everyone knew what it actually was.
19:25The alpha king had ordered it.
19:27He was 15 years old.
19:29Standing at their funeral.
19:31And he made a decision.
19:32He would become the cripple.
19:34Invisible.
19:36Unthreatening.
19:37Off the king's list entirely.
19:39It was the only way to stay alive.
19:42I told him about Lucian.
19:43All of it.
19:44What he was underneath.
19:46I didn't choose you because I had no other options.
19:50I chose you because you were the only one worth choosing.
19:54I watched his soul begin to shift.
19:56The gold bleeding slowly into a deep and glowing ache.
20:01Late into the night, it came back.
20:03The splitting pain behind my temples.
20:05Like an axe working its way through bone.
20:08I tried to keep my hands still.
20:10They were shaking anyway.
20:12Kyle stopped mid-sentence.
20:14Your head.
20:15Before I could deflect, his thumbs were already at my temples.
20:19The pressure.
20:19Exact like he'd mapped the pain before he touched it.
20:23My mother used to get them.
20:24I've known what to do since I was a boy.
20:26The pain didn't ease.
20:28It vanished.
20:29We shared the same bed.
20:30His arm lay heavy and warm across my waist.
20:33My head settled against his chest.
20:35I listened to his heartbeat through my soul lie.
20:38I watched his soul settle.
20:39The gold softening, deepening into a rich and quiet pink.
20:43For the first time in two lifetimes, I felt safe.
20:46Lucien's wedding night was falling apart.
20:48In my last life, a maid tried to spike his wine with wolf's bane.
20:52I caught her before she could get close.
20:55I read the murder in her soul, swapped the glasses, had her detained before he'd taken
20:59a single seat.
21:01This time, I did nothing.
21:03Celeste wouldn't notice.
21:04She wouldn't know a threat if it sat down beside her and introduced itself.
21:08The next morning, Kyle and I arrived at the Alpha King's estate.
21:12No sign of Lucien.
21:13No sign of Celeste.
21:15The corridors were alive with hushed, urgent voices.
21:18The thing there was poisoned in his own chambers.
21:20He hasn't woken.
21:21The healers say the dose was enough to drop a grizzly.
21:25I kept my face perfectly still, but underneath it, I was smiling.
21:29Lucien's fall had started.
21:31I missed how the ghost was going to stop it.
21:34The carriage had barely rolled to a stop when Celeste appeared at the gates.
21:37She looked like she hadn't slept in days.
21:40Zara!
21:41You poisoned him!
21:44Give me the antidote right now!
21:47I felt the temperature inside the carriage shift.
21:49Kyle went very still beside me.
21:51I placed a hand on his arm.
21:53I've got this.
21:55I leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.
21:58Then I stepped out into the morning air.
22:01Antidote?
22:02I don't have one.
22:05Whatever happened to Lucien has nothing to do with me.
22:08Liar!
22:11Then how did you know he'd be dying on his wedding night?
22:14I tilted my head.
22:16That's a serious accusation.
22:18Where's your proof?
22:20Did you catch the killer?
22:22Did you find the poison?
22:23I already knew she hadn't.
22:25The spy Marcus sent was a professional.
22:28Without my soul eye, she was a ghost.
22:30By now she was likely across the border, untouchable.
22:34Celeste stood there, mouth open, nothing coming out.
22:37If you keep causing a scene on my land, my warriors will remove you.
22:43Her eyes dropped to my neck.
22:45She saw the red mark Kyle had left there.
22:48You actually slept with him?
22:50A blind girl and a broken man?
22:53I suppose trash finds its own level.
22:55I suppose trash finds its own level.
22:57I thought about last night, the fire, the whiskey,
23:00the long silence after he finally stood up
23:02and I felt the full weight of him for the first time.
23:04Kyle wasn't broken.
23:06He was 10,000 times the man Lucien would ever be.
23:08I laughed.
23:12What is so funny?
23:13I stopped, looked at her.
23:14We're close enough to it.
23:15I'm laughing at how blind you are.
23:18Lucien is going to die.
23:20And when he goes down, he'll take you with him.
23:23If you want to survive what's coming,
23:26sever the bond now, while you still can.
23:29That was it for her.
23:30She swung at my face, wide, furious, telegraphed from a mile away.
23:34I shifted my weight and stepped aside.
23:36She hit nothing but air.
23:38The momentum carried her forward and she went down hard,
23:40palms and knees in the dirt.
23:42I looked down at her.
23:42Remember this.
23:44Because the next time you raise a hand to me, I won't step aside.
23:48She stared up at me from the ground, trembling.
23:50For the first time in her life, she was actually afraid of me.
23:53The blind girl she used to torment wasn't there anymore.
23:56Someone else had taken her place.
23:59Kyle was waiting when I stepped back into the carriage.
24:02He just watched me with those gray eyes.
24:04And in them, not worry, not pity.
24:06Admiration.
24:07He trusted me to handle my own affairs.
24:09That respect landed heavier than any shield he could have raised.
24:12He turned to his lead guard and spoke low.
24:14No one from Lucian's pack crosses onto my land again.
24:18For any reason.
24:20Ever.
24:23After Celeste was escorted out,
24:25we turned to the business of leaving.
24:27We were heading for Thorn Harbor.
24:28The courtyard filled with people and supplies controlled chaos.
24:32And through all of it, my soul I found a single target.
24:35A guard named Vaughn, his soul was a muddy, treacherous gray.
24:39I leaned close to Kyle's ear.
24:41Who is that man?
24:43Vaughn.
24:44He's been with me since I was 15.
24:47Saved my life twice.
24:48I pulled back and left it in.
24:50Kyle, do you trust me?
24:51His soul flushed deep dark pink all at once.
24:54You're my mate.
24:55Of course I do.
24:57He's a traitor.
24:58We change the route to Thorn Harbor.
25:01And we tell no one.
25:03And my last time.
25:04This was where it ended.
25:05Kyle.
25:06Ambushed on the road to the harbor.
25:08Wounds that never healed.
25:09He died defending the city walls.
25:11I finished speaking.
25:13Let my lips brush his cheek.
25:15Kyle's arm came around my waist immediately.
25:18Pulling me in.
25:19Across the yard I felt Vaughn watching us.
25:22He clocked how close we were.
25:24He looked really fast.
25:24Kyle pressed his face into the curb of my neck.
25:27His breath was warm against my skin.
25:30Are you trying to fix my legs again?
25:32Because I'm happy to wait until tonight.
25:34Or we could start now.
25:36The next morning, Vaughn was gone.
25:38Kyle sat beside me at breakfast.
25:40Cutting my steak into careful pieces without being asked.
25:44You were right.
25:45Vaughn was Marcus' man.
25:47Buried so deep I never suspected him once in seven years.
25:52It took some persuasion to get him to talk.
25:57He looked at me.
25:58How did you know, Zara?
26:00I looked into his soul, golden pink.
26:02Wound together.
26:03No suspicion.
26:04No fear.
26:05Lucky guess.
26:07The words were barely out when the pain hit.
26:09White.
26:10Hot behind both temples at once.
26:12My hand went to my head before I could stop it.
26:14Kyle didn't say a word.
26:16He just moved his chair flushed against mine.
26:18Un-in-hand kept cutting my food.
26:19The other reached up and wrapped around the back of my neck.
26:22The pain dissolved.
26:23He has stopped asking why it happens.
26:25He just makes sure he is there when it does.
26:28Norn Harbor.
26:29Kyle's territory.
26:30The land was rough.
26:32Resources thin.
26:33The kind of place the Alpha Council never bothered to look at twice.
26:37The wolves here were loyal to Kyle.
26:40The way wolves are loyal to someone they've chosen.
26:43Out of true devotion.
26:44When I went to the market, they called me Luna and refused my coin.
26:48Every stall, every vendor.
26:49I had to set the money down and walk away before they touch it.
26:53I came back to the estate breathless.
26:55And my maid watched me come through the door.
26:59The Luna is blind.
27:01But she moves faster than any soldier I've trained with.
27:05Kyle heard her.
27:07That night his fingers found the edges of my eyes.
27:09Zara, is it really just nothing?
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