Nova's POV
Nova's legs give out.
She drops onto the cot before her knees actually buckle. Kael is still standing there, watching her like she is a puzzle he is trying to solve. But Nova is not a puzzle. She is a girl who had a life two days ago. She is a girl who was worried about paying rent, not learning she is the last survivor of a murdered family.
"Silvercrest," she whispers. The word tastes like poison. "I don't understand. My grandmother never told me any of this. She said I was abandoned. She said I was human."
"Maybe she did not know. Maybe she was protecting you." Kael's voice is steady. Logical. Everything she is not right now. "But it does not change what you are."
Nova forces herself to look at him. His ice-blue eyes give nothing away. He is the enemy. She knows this now. He is part of the world that murdered her family. Yet her body still responds to him. Her heart still races when he is close.
It is disgusting.
"Let me go," she says.
"No."
"You do not understand. I will disappear. I will leave the city and I will never shift again. I will find somewhere far away and I will live quietly and no one will ever know I exist. I can make this go away."
Kael laughs. The sound is bitter and cold and makes Nova feel small.
"You cannot make this go away," he says. "Your power does not work like that. It will keep growing. Every full moon it will get stronger. Every time you get angry or scared or emotional, it will push against your control." He steps closer. "You cannot hide what you are. It is written in your blood. Written in the way other wolves respond to your presence."
"Then I will kill myself before I hurt anyone." The words come out harsh and desperate. "Better that than this."
Kael's expression changes. Something flickers across his face that might be pain. "No."
"You have no right to tell me what I can and cannot do with my own life."
"I do." His voice drops lower. More intense. "Because you are under my protection. Because my pack has sworn to keep you alive. And because my wolf would never forgive me if I let you do that."
Nova stares at him. The way he said it. The raw honesty in those words. It confuses her more than anything else has confused her in the last forty-eight hours.
"I had a life," she says instead. Her voice is breaking. "I had a job. I had a tiny apartment with peeling paint. I had a jar with two hundred dollars in it. I was saving for art school. I wanted to paint. I wanted to create something beautiful and now I am locked in a cage and you are telling me I am a weapon."
"You are not a weapon." Kael sits next to her on the cot. The closeness makes her skin heat but she is too exhausted to care anymore. "You are a girl who deserves to live. That is all."
"So I have to stay here forever?"
"For now, yes."
"How long is that?" Nova looks at him. "Tell me how long you are going to keep me locked in this stone box."
Kael is quiet for a long moment. Long enough that Nova knows he is about to say something she does not want to hear.
"Word about your shift has spread to every pack within five hundred miles," he says finally. "The Council will want answers. Alpha Darius Ironclaw will want to eliminate you. Others will want to claim you as a weapon. Until I figure out how to navigate all of that without getting you killed, you stay here."
"And how long will that take?"
"I do not know yet."
"Days?"
He does not answer.
"Weeks?"
Still nothing.
Nova feels panic rising in her chest like water in a drowning pool. "Tell me. Please just tell me how long."
Kael turns to face her fully. His ice-blue eyes lock on hers and she sees the truth there before he even speaks. The truth she does not want to accept.
"It could be weeks," he says quietly. "It could be months. It could be years. Until I decide if you are safe to release, you stay here."
The words hit her like a physical blow.
"Years?" Nova stands up, backing away from him. "You are going to keep me in a cage for years?"
"If that is what it takes to keep you alive, yes."
"That is not protection. That is prison." Anger is burning through her fear now. Hot and sharp and pure. "You cannot do this. I did not choose this. I did not ask for any of this. One day I was a normal girl and the next day my entire life was taken from me and now you are telling me I might spend years locked in this cell and you think that is acceptable?"
Kael stands too. He is tall enough that he towers over her. Tall enough that she has to tilt her head back to see his face. And there is something in his expression that makes her pause.
"I know it is not fair," he says. "I know none of this is your fault. But fair does not keep you alive. Fair does not matter when the Council is hunting you. Fair does not protect you from wolves who would use your bloodline to wage war."
"So what, I just accept it? I just live in this cage and pretend everything is fine?"
"You learn to survive. You grow stronger. You prepare for the world outside these walls because eventually, you will have to face it."
Nova shakes her head. "You are lying. You are going to keep me here forever because I am useful to you. Because I am some kind of weapon you can control."
"No." Kael steps toward her. His voice is rough now. Raw. "You are my responsibility. And I do not take that lightly."
There is something in the way he says it. Something that makes Nova's wolf sit up and pay attention. Something that sounds like honesty. Like he actually means it. Like he actually cares.
But caring does not change the fact that she is trapped.
"I want to go back to my apartment," Nova whispers. "I want to go back to work. I want my grandmother back. I want my life back."
"I know."
"You cannot give me any of that."
"No." Kael's hands clench into fists. "I cannot. I can only keep you alive and hope that someday you understand why I am doing this."
Nova sinks back onto the cot. The weight of it is crushing her. The weight of being powerless. The weight of not knowing when this will end. The weight of being trapped by something she cannot fight.
She looks up at Kael. He is still standing there, watching her with those impossible eyes.
"Do I at least get to leave this cell?" she asks. "Or am I going to spend years staring at stone walls?"
"You will train. You will learn to control your power. You will have access to the fortress library and dining hall and training rooms." His expression softens slightly. "You will not be in a cage. You will be a prisoner with freedom of movement."
It sounds like a small thing. But somehow it feels like the difference between drowning and being rescued.
"And if I try to run?"
"You will be brought back. And my wolves will be less gentle about it the second time."
Nova nods. She understands. She is not free. She might never be free. But she will be alive. She will have to accept that.
"Okay," she says quietly. "I will cooperate. I will train. I will do whatever you need me to do. Just please tell me there is an end to this. Please tell me that someday I get to leave."
Kael looks at her for a long moment. Then he speaks the words that will haunt her for the rest of the night.
"That depends on whether you can learn to survive what you are. Because if you cannot control your power, if you cannot master what is inside you, then yes. This is where you will stay forever. This fortress will become your grave."
He turns and walks toward the cell door.
"Wait," Nova calls out. "Kael. Why does it matter to you? Why do you care if I survive or not?"
He pauses at the threshold. He does not turn around when he answers.
"Because my wolf has decided you are mine. And my wolf is never wrong about these things."
Then he is gone, leaving Nova alone in her cage with the understanding that her imprisonment has just become permanent.