Let Them Kneel (kaelani and Julian) novel Chapter 77

Kaelani’s body thrummed with power.

A surge of energy crackled through her like lightning beneath her skin — wild, uncontainable, alive.

For the first time in her life, she didn’t feel inferior.

She didn’t feel helpless.

She felt dangerous.

A low, guttural growl rumbled in her chest — dark and primal. Her wolf… it was there. Breathing. Pacing. Snarling. No longer silent. No longer buried. Her lips parted as the sound vibrated through her, something feral uncoiling in her bones.

So that’s what that feels like.

They had spent her whole life warring within her —

The beast and the lightning in her blood.

The wolf and the other half of her identity.

Each clawing for control.

Each refusing to yield.

But the moment her freedom was threatened…

They stopped fighting.

They rose.

Together.

Her eyes snapped to him — Julian.

Pinned. Restrained. Thrashing beneath the guards trying to hold him down.

Something inside her snapped.

Her wolf surged at the sight of him, a furious, possessive snarl tightening in her throat.

Protect him. Stand by him. Love him. Mate him.

Hers.

Mate.

Kaelani staggered back a step, eyes wide as the word thundered in her head, undeniable and ancient.

And the way he looked at her — wide-eyed, frantic, still fighting despite being pinned — told her he felt it too.

The Elder slowly rose from his seat, the motion deliberate, weighted. His eyes never left Kaelani’s face—more specifically, her unnaturally glowing violet eyes, still radiant with the remnants of her outburst.

His voice cut through the silence.

“What species did you say the girl’s mother was, Alpha Garrick?”

A tense beat. Garrick’s jaw twitched.

“I didn’t,” he said quietly.

The Elder’s gaze sharpened.

“Clearly, she is not fully Lycan. What is her other lineage?”

All eyes shifted to Garrick.

His composure faltered.

He looked at Kaelani—truly looked—and something in his expression cracked —like seeing this side of her had unearthed some long-buried trauma or a nightmare he thought long buried.

Kaelani glanced around the room. They were all staring.

Some with awe.

Most with dread.

His voice dropped to a shaken whisper.

“It’s called dream-walking.”

Kaelani’s gaze found Julian’s once again—and locked.

She was mortified. She was frozen. Breath shallow. Heart in her throat.

He looked equally stunned.

Because both of them knew—without a word spoken—that the dreams they’d shared… the ones that were so vivid they felt like memories…

They hadn’t been dreams at all.

And in that charged, breathless moment, the truth sank in like thunder:

Garrick was telling the truth.

Garrick’s gaze shifted to his twins, a flicker of shame crossing his face before he looked up and continued.

“It was a few days before their birth… when a mysterious woman appeared at our borders. She demanded to speak to me—only me.”

He paused, eyes distant, haunted.

“And when I reached the gates and saw her… I froze. It was her. The woman from my dreams. The one who had visited me night after night—seduced me in the shadows of sleep. I thought she wasn’t real. I thought it had all been in my head.”

His voice trembled, worn by disbelief and guilt.

“She was holding an infant in her arms… and claimed the child was mine. I didn’t want to believe her. But the moment I looked into that child’s eyes, my wolf… recognized her. And when your wolf knows—you know. That kind of instinct doesn’t lie.”

He drew in a shuddering breath, glancing around the room at the skeptical faces watching him.

“She threatened me. Said if I didn’t take the child in, she would lay waste to my land. And I… I believed her. Every word. The power radiating off her—it was unlike anything I’d ever felt. I didn’t know what else to do.”

His voice cracked.