Rayne POV
The packhouse was quiet, but it wasn't the comforting silence I'd grown up with over the years there. It was the kind of silence that creeps in after a storm, thick and suffocating, as if the world is holding its breath.
I couldn't stop thinking about Kael and the other day. His eyes, the unnatural way the mist had responded to him, the subtle but undeniable shift in his demeanor. And Mateo's words kept echoing in my mind like .
"That wasn't the Kael you think you know or you have taken as a mate."
I shook my head, trying to push the doubts away. Kael had saved me, protected me. Whatever Mateo thought he knew, it didn't change what I'd seen with my own eyes or at least, what I wanted to believe.
The dim light of my room flickered, drawing my attention. I frowned, staring at the bulb. It flickered again, then went out completely, plunging the room into darkness.
My breath hitched at this point,my chest hitting hard.