Kael Varon POV
Kael couldn't move.
His entire body was locked in place, staring at the empty space where Iris had stood. The space where his mate had looked him in the eye and rejected him with his own words.
His wolf was screaming inside his chest. Not the controlled howl from before. This was something completely different. This was an animal tearing itself apart from the inside out. This was madness and desperation and absolute devastation all mixed together.
She'd used his exact words.
Unworthy. Wolfless. Powerless.
But she'd reversed them. Made them about him. Made him feel exactly how she'd felt three years ago when he destroyed her in front of thousands.
His knees went weak.
Garrett was there suddenly, a steady hand on his shoulder. His Beta was the only thing keeping him upright. The only thing keeping him from running after her. The only thing keeping him from losing what little control he had left.
Around him, the other Alphas were moving. Theron was pale and shocked. Damon was on his knees, actually weeping. Caspian looked like someone had stolen his future. Ronan was watching the space where she'd disappeared with an expression that might have been respect.
But Kael couldn't see them properly. His vision was blurred. His entire world had narrowed to the one fact that was crushing him.
She was alive.
She had come back.
And she hated him.
The ground beneath them trembled suddenly. The entire temple shook. Stone columns wobbled. The crowd screamed. But Kael barely registered it. The earthquake inside him was far more violent than anything happening in the physical world.
He caused this.
His cruelty three years ago had created this version of her. The broken girl in the temple had been soft. Hopeful. She'd believed in fated mates and second chances and love. He'd destroyed all of that in a single moment.
Now she was something else entirely. Something dangerous. Something that made even the strongest Alphas want to kneel. Something that glowed with power and wore vengeance like armor.
And it was all his fault.
The realization hit harder than her rejection had. He didn't just lose her three years ago. He drove her away. He made her into something that would hate him. He created the enemy that had just walked into his temple and broken him without touching him.
"We need to go after her," Kael heard himself say. His voice didn't sound like his own. It sounded destroyed. Broken.
"My King," Garrett said carefully. "That might not be wise right now."
But Kael was already moving. He pushed through the crowd, trying to get to the temple doors. Trying to get to her. Trying to do something, anything to fix this.
Theron grabbed his arm.
"Kael, she needs space. She came back to hurt us. If you push now, you'll only push her further away."
Kael wanted to rage at him. Wanted to throw him across the temple. Instead he just stood there, shaking, feeling his entire kingdom crumble around him.
Garrett managed to get him out of the temple and back to his chambers. Kael didn't remember the walk. Didn't remember climbing the stairs. Didn't remember telling everyone to leave him alone.
But suddenly he was alone, and it was worse than being surrounded by thousands.
He fell onto his bed still wearing his ceremonial clothes. His golden eyes stared at nothing. His wolf paced inside him, desperate and howling. Every second that passed felt like a year. Every moment without her was agony.
She was out there somewhere. Alive. Real. Hating him.
The reality of it kept hitting him over and over. He'd survived three years of her absence because he could convince himself she was dead. Could tell himself the Shadowlands had killed her. Could pretend that she was beyond suffering.
Now he knew the truth. She'd been alive this whole time. Surviving. Growing stronger. Becoming something magnificent while he wasted away in his chambers.
What had happened to her out there?
The question tormented him. Three years in the Shadowlands. She had no wolf. No pack. No protection. How did she survive? Who found her? Who taught her that magic? Where did that power come from?
He had to know. Had to understand what she'd become and why.
Garrett came with food that night.
Kael didn't eat it. Just stared at it until Garrett took it away.
The Beta came again the next morning with news about the kingdom. Alphas were arguing. The gathered crowds were panicking. The ceremony had been disrupted and no one understood what had just happened.
Kael didn't care.
He only cared about Iris.
By the second night, Kael had made a decision. Feeling sorry for himself wasn't going to work. Sitting in his chambers wasn't going to work. He had to find her. Had to understand what had happened. Had to make her listen to him.
The other Alphas might be content to wait and see what she wanted. But Kael had lost three years already. He wasn't going to waste another second.
He called for Garrett.
His Beta appeared immediately, always loyal, always present.
Kael looked at him, and his voice came out sounding like something ancient and dangerous.
"Find her. And find out what happened to her in those three years. Everything."
The command in his voice made the air vibrate. Made Garrett instinctively straighten and submit to the order.
"Yes, my King," Garrett said quietly. "And what will you do?"
Kael stood, his golden eyes burning with determination that hadn't been there before.
"I will prepare myself to prove I deserve her. I will become worthy of the mate I rejected. And I will make sure that when I find her, she understands that I didn't just lose her in that temple three years ago."
He paused, his voice dropping lower.
"I found her again. And I'm never letting go."