Page 34

THIRTY-FOUR

KAEL

B efore Kael could get her out of that cursed place, a shockwave ripped through the circle—like a blade buried in the earth, twisted hard.

He didn’t see it. He felt it. Like the world itself cracked beneath his feet.

A deafening silence dropped between heartbeats.

Then pain.

His knees hit the stone. Hard. So did hers. His arms barely caught her before she collapsed completely, her weight crumpling into him like something lifeless.

He was in agony but she was screaming . Not aloud. Not with her voice. But through the bond.

It shrieked through every nerve in his body, through every memory and feeling they’d ever shared, and he felt it fracturing, splintering like glass caught in fire.

Not pain, Kael could handle pain. This was something else . This was wrong. Violent. Final.

The magic that once tied them together writhed through his bloodstream like a thing alive and furious , shredding itself from the inside out.

The bond was angry. She’s dying , it howled. And she’s choosing it.

Kael pulled Selene into his arms, arms that shook so hard he could barely keep hold of her.

“Selene,” he rasped, pressing his forehead to hers, as if proximity alone could undo whatever was happening. “Don’t do this. Don’t fucking do this.”

Her body trembled in his arms, cold sweat soaking through her shirt, through his tunic, into his skin. Her chest rose in shallow, painful gasps.

“Stay with me. Please—Selene?—”

Her eyes fluttered open. And even now, even like this , she looked at him like she loved him. Like she still loved him.

Kael’s throat closed.

After everything, after he’d rejected her in front of the court, humiliated her, pretended she was nothing— she was still trying to save him.

“Why,” he choked.

Blood slipped from her nose in a thin line.

“I had to,” she whispered.

He stared, heart hammering against his ribs, violent and helpless. “No. No, no, no. You didn’t.”

She smiled. Gods, that smile—it was barely there, broken and tired and sad. The kind of smile you give someone when you’re already slipping beneath the water, and you know they can’t save you in time.

“What did you do?” he demanded, his voice raw with disbelief.

“I broke it,” she said.

The words didn’t land at first. He blinked. But something inside him did. Something deep in his chest twisted, buckled. The hollow in his soul opened like a chasm.

“No,” he breathed.

Kael felt it, the tear, the rupture where the bond had once burned bright and infinite between them. The second Blood Mark, the one they’d forged in the forest with magic and flesh and love , had been ripped out. Torn free like sinew. Like a piece of his heart .

It was still there, yes—but weak. Scorched. Flickering like a candle guttering in wind.

“You broke the Blood Mark,” he whispered, gutted.

She nodded. Or maybe her head just lolled in his hands.

“To save you,” she breathed. “They would’ve taken us both. The circle... it needed the bond to complete. So I broke it. It unraveled... just enough.”

Her hand lifted. Barely. Weak and trembling and dying . She touched his cheek. And Kael almost shattered.

This woman. This fucking woman .

He’d thrown her aside. Left her exposed. Played the cruelest political game he’d ever enacted—all under the illusion of protecting her.

He’d wounded her with words, silence, distance. And she broke herself apart to save him.

“You should’ve let me burn,” he whispered, voice cracked and hollow.

Her lips curved faintly. “I’d do it again.”

And her eyes… they closed. Her fingers slid from his skin. Her chest rose one last time. Then stilled.

Kael snapped.

“No.”

He stood, fists clenched so tight his nails split skin.

“No!”

Magic surged in his veins, ancient and primal and wrong. His wolf was already trying to force its way out, howling for her, for what they lost.

He staggered back to the center of the shattered ritual ring, where the ground still hummed with corrupted energy. The remnants of the Rising Flame’s spell circle twisted like veins across the earth, still glowing faintly from Selene’s blood.

Kael didn’t know what he was doing. He only knew he couldn’t let her go.

“I invoke the Rite of Reclamation,” he snarled into the dark. “You hear me? You fucking hear me?! ”

The wind didn’t answer.

So he raised his blade, sliced it across his palm, and slammed his bleeding hand down against the ritual stone.

“I challenge fate. ”

The world stilled. Then screamed.

Magic erupted.

The air snapped tight like a drum skin. Light—deep red and shot through with silver—raced across the broken circle, reforming symbols in ancient Fenrir glyphs he hadn’t seen since childhood.

This wasn’t a spell. This was a summoning.

And he knew, somewhere deep in his blood —what it called.

The first Alpha.

The spirit of the Veil-bound bloodline. The founder of House Fenrir. The only wolf who had ever dared to defy the gods and lived to tell the tale.

A shadow rose from the stone. Tall. Cloaked in black. No face. No voice. Just presence.

Kael’s knees buckled under the pressure of it. But he stood.

“She’s dying,” he said. “And I want her back.”

The shadow tilted its head, as if amused.

“She broke the bond,” Kael hissed, “to save me. And I am reclaiming it. I’m calling it back.”

A pause. Then words. Not spoken aloud, but pressed against Kael’s mind like fire against flesh.

"To take what was given back is to pay thrice. Once in blood. Once in truth. Once in soul."

Kael’s voice didn’t shake.

“Take it.”

The shadow moved closer, smoke curling at its edges.

"You will not remain unchanged."

“I already changed the moment I met her.”

"You may lose your throne."

“Fine.”

"You may lose your mind."

“Let it burn.”

"You may lose her, anyway."

That one stopped him. He looked back at Selene. So still. So quiet.

“I’d rather die trying than let her go.”

The shadow lifted its hand.

The circle flared.

Kael screamed in anguish.

It felt like being torn apart from the inside out.

Every piece of him was unmade and rebuilt, the magic clawing through his marrow like fire. His blood boiled. His memories shattered and reformed. His wolf howled, caught between dimensions.

He didn’t know how long it lasted. He only knew it ended with him collapsing beside Selene, coughing blood, shaking. And feeling the bond snap back into place.