I found the photographs by accident.
A box under the bed in Kael's room his room, our room now. I'd been looking for a blanket, something warm against the autumn chill. Instead, I found memories.
Photographs. Dozens of them.
Kael as a boy. Maybe five or six, standing with a woman who had his eyes. His mother, I realized. She was beautiful soft where he was hard, gentle where he was fierce.
Kael as a teenager. Brooding, intense, already carrying the weight of something heavy.
Kael as a young Alpha. Standing with an older man his father, probably. The resemblance was striking.
And then, at the bottom, a photograph of a woman.
Not his mother. Someone else. Young, pretty, with dark hair and a sad smile.
I was still holding it when Kael found me.
"Elena."
I looked up. His face was unreadable, but through the bond I felt it—pain. Old pain, carefully buried.
"Who is she?"
He crossed the room slowly. Sat beside me on the bed.
"Her name was Mira."
"Was?"
"She died. Ten years ago." He took the photograph from my hands, looked at it. "She was supposed to be my mate."
The words hit like a physical blow.
"What?"
"The Moon sent her to me. I felt the bond. She felt it too." His voice was flat. Controlled. "But she was human. Like you. And she couldn't handle it."
"What happened?"
He was quiet for a long moment.
"She ran. The bond overwhelmed her. The pack, the power, the expectations it was too much." He set the photograph down. "I searched for her for months. When I finally found her, she'd" He stopped. Swallowed. "She'd taken her own life. Couldn't live with the bond pulling at her. Couldn't live without me. Couldn't live at all."
I couldn't breathe.
"Kael"
"I blamed myself. For years, I blamed myself. If I'd been gentler. If I'd given her space. If I'd let her go instead of chasing—" He shook his head. "But the bond doesn't let you let go. It just keeps pulling. Forever."
I thought about the fever. About how close I'd come to losing myself. About how easy it would have been to give up.
"Is that why you waited?" I whispered. "With me? Why you were so patient?"
"Yes." He met my eyes. "I couldn't lose another mate. Couldn't watch another woman destroy herself because of me. So I waited. Let you come to me. Let you choose."
I touched his face.
"I did choose. I choose you. Every day."
"I know." He leaned into my touch. "That's why you're different. That's why this works."
We sat there for a long time.
Holding each other. Letting the silence heal old wounds.
"I'm sorry," I finally said. "That you went through that. That you carried that alone."
"I wasn't alone. The pack helped. Jax, Sasha, the elders." He kissed my forehead. "But it never really went away. Until you."
"Me?"
"You healed something in me. Just by being here. Just by staying." He pulled back, looked at me. "You're the strongest person I know, Elena Vance."
"Elena Stone," I corrected quietly.
He went still.
"What?"
"Elena Stone." I met his eyes. "If I'm your mate if I'm your Luna I should have your name. If you want that."
His eyes flared gold.
"You want my name?"
"I want everything with you. All of it." I touched his face. "The good and the hard. The past and the future. All of it."
He kissed me then. Fierce and desperate and full of hope.
"Yes," he breathed against my mouth. "Yes, Elena Stone. Yes."
That night, we burned Mira's photograph.
Not in anger. In peace. A small ceremony in the clearing, just the two of us.
"Thank you for loving him," I whispered to the flames. "Thank you for being part of his story. I'll take it from here."
Kael's arm wrapped around me.
"She would have liked you."
"I would have liked her."
We watched the smoke rise, carrying Mira's memory to the Moon.
Then we walked home together.