Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 46

Julian absorbed every word, his countenance unreadable—but something flickered behind his eyes. For the first time, he looked away.

Kaelani set the broom aside, her voice calmer now. “That pack taught me everything I needed to know about your kind,” she said. “Especially the ones born thinking the world owes them something.”

Julian’s eyes pulled back to her, something raw breaking through his composure as if her words had struck a nerve he could not ignore. “If you had belonged to my pack, you would’ve been treated better.”

Kaelani let out a short, humorless laugh. “But I don’t. And since I don’t, I guess that gave you the right to treat me like everyone else has.”

That landed. The silence that followed pressed thick between them. Guilt flashed across Julian’s face before he could bury it.

“I think you need to leave now,” she said quietly, turning away.

“Kaelani,” he started, voice rough, “about that morning—”

“Don’t.” She didn’t look at him. “You don’t want to say it, and I sure as hell don’t want to hear it. Just go. And do me a favor—don’t come back.”

He hesitated. “I thought you were finally starting to come around,” he said, the words low, defensive. “This is the most you’ve ever said to me.”

She turned then, eyes hard as stone, every word clipped with precision. “You think because you show up here digging up a past I’ve spent years trying to bury that suddenly we’re what—best fucking friends?”

Her voice rose, trembling with something that wasn’t just anger. “What are you looking for, Julian? Someone new to blame for rutting me because I unknowingly went into heat?”

Julian’s jaw tightened. “I’m not here to blame anyone and I’m not blaming you. I know it wasn’t your fault.”

A brittle laugh sputtered out, jagged with pain she tried to mask as she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. “Oh, thank you for saying that. Really.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Maybe now I can finally sleep better at night knowing you don’t blame me.”

He dragged a hand through his hair, the sound of his exhale rough and uneven. A frustrated laugh broke from him. “Why do you have to be so damn difficult all the time?”

“Hey, I never asked you to keep showing up.” She stepped closer, tone dropping. “You’re the one who can’t stay away. Why do you keep coming here? What do you want from me?”

Her words came faster, sharper—each one hitting like a slap. “Do you need me to absolve you? To tell you I’m fine so you can stop feeling… guilty? Do you think I’m barely hanging on, that I can’t eat or sleep because of you?”

Her eyes burned through him, every word a cut to the bone. “I don’t think about you at all, okay? You mean nothing to me.”

Julian’s throat worked, but no sound came. It took everything in him to keep his face still, to cage the wolf clawing at his insides.

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