Chapter 2 A LOVE WITHOUT DOUBT

Eliana woke up to the smell of coffee.

For a second, she thought she was dreaming. Then she remembered the message, and sat up too fast, her heart already pounding.

She grabbed her phone. No new messages. Just the same one from last night, still sitting there where she hadn't deleted it after all.

Unknown: You should ask him where he goes after he leaves you.

She stared at it for a long moment. Then she heard the knock - soft, like someone trying not to wake her.

Not even eight o'clock on a Saturday.

She dragged herself out of bed, pulled on a sweater, and opened the door with her hair still a mess.

Kael stood there with a paper bag in one hand and two cups of coffee in the other.

"Good morning."

"It's eight o'clock."

"I know. I brought breakfast."

"You could have texted first."

"Then it wouldn't be a surprise." He lifted the bag. "I got the cinnamon rolls you like. From that place near the bridge."

Eliana tried to stay annoyed. It didn't last.

"You're lucky I like cinnamon rolls."

"I'm lucky you like me too."

"Debatable."

He laughed and kissed her cheek as he walked past her. He moved around her small kitchen like he had been there a hundred times. He found the plates without asking and set the rolls out while she sat at the table with her coffee, still half asleep.

She left her phone on the counter, face down, and tried not to look at it.

"Where's Mira?" he asked.

"Her sister's place. She won't be back until tomorrow."

"So I have you all to myself."

"For now."

He sat across from her and watched her take the first bite of her roll.

"What?" she asked, her mouth full.

"Nothing. I like seeing you like this."

"Messy and tired?"

"Real." He shrugged. "Everyone I see all day is trying to impress me. You just show up and don't care what I think."

"I care a little."

"A little," he agreed.

She kicked his foot under the table. He caught her ankle with his own, and for a while they sat like that, not saying much. It felt easy. It always did when they were alone.

When they finished eating, Eliana went to get dressed. Kael stayed in the kitchen. Through the thin wall, she heard him on the phone, his voice low and calm.

"No. Tell them I'll look at it Monday... No, not today. I said not today."

She stood very still in her bedroom, the message from last night flickering through her mind. Ask him where he goes after he leaves you.

By the time she came back out in jeans and a loose shirt, he had put the phone away.

"Everything okay?"

"Council again." He smiled like it was nothing. "They can wait. I told them I'm busy."

"Doing what?"

"Spending the day with my girlfriend. If she'll let me."

Eliana crossed her arms and pretended to think about it. "I suppose I could fit you in."

"That's generous."

"I'm a generous person."

He stood and pulled her into a hug. She leaned against his chest. He smelled like pine, soap, and something warmer underneath - the scent she had always thought of as his.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"Anywhere. As long as it isn't a meeting."

"Deal."

---

They spent the morning at the market near the river, walking slowly between the stalls. Eliana stopped at every table with candles or handmade soap. Kael carried the bags without complaining.

At one stall, an old woman was selling little silver charms. Eliana picked up one shaped like a crescent moon and turned it over in her fingers.

"That's pretty," Kael said.

"It's too expensive."

"It's not."

"It is for what it is."

He took it from her before she could put it back, paid the woman, and slipped it into her palm.

"Kael."

"You liked it."

"You can't just buy me things whenever I look at them."

"Why not?"

"Because then I'll never stop looking."

He grinned. "That's the plan."

She shook her head, but she put the charm in her pocket and kept her hand over it for the rest of the walk.

Around noon, they stopped at a small café with tables outside. Kael ordered for both of them without looking at the menu. He already knew what she wanted.

Eliana noticed, and something warm settled in her chest. Not many people paid that much attention to her.

"Can I ask you something?" she said while they waited.

"You always say that right before you ask something big."

"It's not big."

"Go ahead."

"Your family. Your father and everyone. I've never really met them. Not properly."

Kael's smile stayed in place, but he took a sip of water before answering.

"They're busy people."

"I know. But I'm your girlfriend. At some point, I should probably meet your father."

"You will."

"When?"

"Soon." He reached for her hand. "I just want to pick the right time. My father isn't an easy man, Eliana. If he meets you at the wrong moment, he'll find a hundred reasons to be difficult. I want it to be when I can protect you from that."

"Protect me?"

"From his opinions." He laughed softly. "He has a lot of them."

Eliana thought about it. It made sense. She had heard enough about the Alpha to know he was strict and old-fashioned. If Kael wanted to wait for the right time, she could understand that.

"Okay," she said.

"Okay?"

"As long as it's not forever."

"It won't be forever." He lifted her hand and kissed it. "I promise."

She believed him. Why wouldn't she? He had promised her only the night before, and he had meant it. She could tell.

When the food came, they talked about other things. Kael told her about the time he and his friends got lost in the northern woods as teenagers and had to spend a night in a hunting cabin that smelled like old socks.

Eliana laughed so hard she had to put her fork down.

---

After lunch, they walked to the little bookshop where Eliana worked on weekdays. It was closed, but she had a key. She wanted to show him the new window display she had put together.

"It's good," Kael said, standing outside with his hands in his pockets. "I like the lights."

"Mr. Haldane said they were too bright."

"Mr. Haldane doesn't know anything."

"He owns the shop."

"He still doesn't know anything."

She laughed and leaned her shoulder into his arm.

He looked down at her, and his smile faded into something softer.

"What?" she asked.

"You're good at making things beautiful," he said. "I don't think you know that."

Her cheeks went warm. "It's just a window."

"It's not just a window."

She didn't know what to say, so she stood on her toes and kissed him. He kissed her back, one hand at her waist, right there on the sidewalk with people walking past.

She didn't care.

When they pulled apart, he rested his forehead against hers.

"I could do this every day," he said quietly.

"Then do it every day."

"I'm trying."

He said it easily. She was still smiling too hard to notice that he answered a little too fast.

---

The sun was going down by the time they reached the edge of the forest outside town. This was the place Eliana loved most. The trees were tall and thick, and the air smelled like wet earth and leaves.

"Do you want to run?" Kael asked.

"Right now?"

"Why not? Nobody comes out here this late."

She hesitated, then smiled. "You'll lose."

"You always say that."

"Because it's always true."

He laughed and pulled off his jacket. She did the same. They walked deeper between the trees until the road disappeared from view.

Eliana closed her eyes and let her wolf rise. She felt the familiar pull beneath her skin, the stretch and shift of her body, then the cool ground under her paws. Her fur was pale gray, almost silver in the fading light.

Kael's wolf was bigger. Darker. Black, with a lighter patch on his chest. He stood beside her for a moment and bumped his head against hers.

Then she bolted.

She heard him behind her - branches snapping, his breath heavy as he tried to catch up. She was faster in the twisting parts of the forest, where she could duck under branches he had to go around. He was stronger on the open ground.

They raced like that for a long time, each taking the lead, then losing it again.

At last, they reached the small clearing by the stream. Eliana slowed and stopped, panting. Kael nearly crashed into her. He nudged her side, and she nipped at his ear. The two of them tumbled onto the grass in a tangle of fur and legs.

They stayed there, wolves side by side, until it was fully dark.

Eliana had never felt so peaceful. Her wolf was quiet. Kael's warmth pressed against her side, and the stars came out above the trees.

She wished the night would never end.

---

Later, back in human form and wrapped in the jacket Kael had brought for her, Eliana sat on a fallen log by the stream. Kael crouched at the water, splashing his face.

"You cheated," he said without turning around.

"I did not."

"You took the shortcut by the oak tree."

"That's not cheating. That's knowing the forest."

"That's cheating."

She laughed. "You're just a bad loser."

He looked back at her over his shoulder, water dripping from his jaw.

"I'm only a bad loser when it's you."

"Why?"

"Because I want to impress you."

"You don't have to."

"I know." He dried his hands on his trousers and came to sit beside her. "That's the strange part."

She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around her.

For a while, neither of them spoke. The stream moved softly over the rocks.

"Kael?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you happy?"

He turned to look at her. "Right now?"

"In general."

He took longer to answer than she expected.

"With you, yes," he said finally. "I'm happier than I've ever been."

"That's not what I asked."

"I know." He kissed the top of her head. "But it's the true answer."

She didn't push. She assumed he meant his family and the pressure from the council. She didn't know there was another kind of weight behind his words. She only knew she was warm, and tired, and did not want to move.

---

It was almost midnight when he drove her home. Her apartment was dark, and Mira's shoes weren't by the door.

Kael stopped on the front step and looked at his phone. His face tightened for a second before he put it away.

"I have to go."

"Now? It's midnight."

"I have an early meeting. I should have been home an hour ago."

"Home?" she said, tilting her head.

"The pack house," he said quickly. "I stay there most nights. You know that."

"Right. Sorry. I forgot."

She didn't forget. She just didn't want to ask again.

"It's fine." He smiled and cupped her face. "Thank you for today."

"Thank you for breakfast. And the charm."

"Wear it."

"I will."

He kissed her, slowly this time. When he finally let go, he stayed close.

"Goodnight, Eliana."

"Goodnight."

She watched him walk back to his car. He turned once to wave before getting in, and she waved back like she always did.

Inside, she took the little silver moon from her pocket and set it on her nightstand. She looked at it for a long time before turning out the light.

She thought about how he had held her at the shop. How he had laughed in the forest. How he had said he could do it every day.

She had no doubt that he meant every word.

And the strange thing was, he did.

He just never told her the rest of it.

---

Across town, Kael pulled into a driveway he had not mentioned to Eliana. The house was dark except for one light in the upstairs window.

Someone was waiting up for him.