Evaline:
Kieran’s gaze could have frozen fire.
I had mostly seen him being calm, kind, and warm. Still, there were monts where he wasn’t so calm and kind... rare monts. But this was different. His arms were folded across his chest, the light from the tall study windows cutting sharp lines over his jaw, making him look more immovable than the stone walls around us.
"No," he said flatly, the single word leaving no room for argunt.
But of course, I argued.
"Kieran, I’m not asking for much. I just want access to the archives in the old headquarters. That’s it. I’m not asking to interrogate suspects or run after leads or-"
"Evaline." My na cracked like thunder when he cut off. His voice wasn’t raised, but it was heavy, commanding, the kind of tone that made every bone in my body still against its will. "You are not stepping one foot inside those archives. Not now. Not ever."
I flinched, not from fear but from the sheer finality of it.
"I’m not a child," I pushed back, though my voice felt thin against the steel of his. "I’m your mate. I have a right to help... whether it’s for you, for Rowan, or just myself. These are soul death cases. We keep waiting and waiting, but whoever is behind this is still out there. Elder Nicholas-"
"Elder Nicholas is none of your concern," he snapped.
That one stung.
I stepped closer, refusing to let him shut out, but his arms stayed locked across his chest, a wall between us. His eyes pinned , unblinking, and for a mont I hated how calm he looked while I was trembling with urgency.
"You think I’ll just sit here and wait until it’s one of us?" My voice broke, the words rushing out. "Until it’s soone dear to lying empty in the woods sowhere?"
Sothing flickered in his expression, sothing dark and dangerous, but still he didn’t move. "That’s why you won’t be involved. Because if you are, you’ll make yourself the next target."
"I don’t care about -"
"I do." His voice was sharp enough to cut.
The silence after that hit harder than any slap.
I stared at him, my chest rising and falling too fast, while his jaw was tight enough to snap. He was trying to end the conversation, I knew that tone, that posture. He thought if he stared long enough, I would drop my eyes, fold, give in the way everyone else did around him.
But I wasn’t everyone else.
"Kieran," I whispered, trying a different angle. I touched his arm, brushing my fingers against the solid muscle. "I’m not asking to put myself in danger. I just want to read through old accounts. There could be patterns in those records, connections no one’s thought to look for. You are all so focused on the recent cases that you have forgotten these cases started centuries ago."
His gaze softened for half a heartbeat, but then he shook his head, stepping back so my hand fell away.
"You think I haven’t considered that?" His tone was quieter now but no less firm. "I have n already digging through what we can find. Whatever details exist are already being looked at. You won’t change anything, Evaline. All you’ll do is put yourself in a position where you can be noticed. And once you are noticed..." His jaw tightened. "I won’t allow it."
Won’t allow it.
The words struck a raw nerve. I wasn’t his prisoner. I wasn’t the wolfless trash my father once declared to be. I wasn’t the girl Damian had kept under his boot.
I was his mate. His equal.
"Do you even hear yourself?" I demanded, my voice trembling with the heat I could no longer hold in. "You are talking as if I’m your subordinate. As if I’m a soldier who answers to your command. I’m not. I am bound to you the way you are bound to , and that bond-"
"-is exactly why I’m putting my foot down," he ground out, cutting off again. "Do you think I can’t feel your fear through it? Your worry? Every ti you push into sothing dangerous, you drag with you. All of us. And I won’t let you risk that. Not for dusty ledgers in a forgotten room."
My breath caught. The mate bond. He was using it as an anchor, as a shield.
But I could use it, too.
I stepped closer, so close I had to tilt my head back to hold his gaze. My fingers brushed against his wrist again, tentative, before sliding up his arm. The warmth of him bled into my skin, steady, grounding.
His breathing hitched, almost imperceptibly, and I knew he felt it... the way the bond pulled, tugged, longed to be fed by more than words.
"Kieran," I murmured, softer now, letting his na slip like a plea, like honey. "Please. Let help. Let be more than soone you have to protect. We are stronger when we work together, and you know it."
His eyes darkened, his throat working as if he were fighting himself. For a mont, I thought I had won. For a mont, the bond between us thrumd so loud I could almost hear it.
But then he pulled away, sharp and decisive, breaking the contact.
"No," he said again, even harsher than before. "Don’t use the bond to manipulate . It won’t work. This isn’t about strength or weakness. It’s about keeping you alive. And if that ans you hate for it, so be it."
The words knocked the air from my chest.
For a long mont, I couldn’t speak. I just stared at him, my hands curled into fists at my sides, my throat tight with a storm I couldn’t swallow.
Finally, I turned away.
"If you won’t take there," I said, my voice low but laced with steel, "then I’ll go on my own."
That made him stiffen. I didn’t look at him when I spoke the next words, but I knew he was watching like a hawk.
"The choice is yours, Kieran. Either you stand beside ... or you stand in my way. But I am going to that archive."
The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on.
I didn’t wait for his answer. I walked out, closing the door harder than I ant to, my pulse thundering in my ears.
One of us needed to give in... and it sure wasn’t going to be . Not this ti.
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