Fire in the Veins

Everything felt too fast.

Kael’s words were still in the air — not Kael, Kaelion, last son of the Lycan throne — when my whole chest just went boom, like BOOM-BOOM-BOOM and suddenly it was all fire, fire everywhere.

I couldn’t even scream. My wolf did it for me, howling so loud in my head I thought my skull would crack open.

And then it was all silver.

Silver light on my arms, silver on the ground, silver everywhere and I was so hot and I thought this is it I’m burning alive I’m actually going to catch fire.

“Lena!”

Kael grabbed me, and wow he was strong, too strong, I couldn’t even move if I wanted to. His claws dug into my arms — not enough to hurt but enough to make me stop thrashing.

“Breathe!” he shouted, and it was so loud it cut through the sound of my wolf screaming. “Hold it together, little wolf!”

Little wolf.

Why did that make me want to cry?

“I CAN’T!” I screamed back, because I really, really couldn’t. My chest was too tight and there was too much fire and I couldn’t get it out and I wanted it OUT, OUT, OUT—

“Yes, you can!” Kael’s face was so close, his silver eyes glowing, his breath hitting my face. “Look at me! Focus on me!”

And I did, because what else could I do, and for a second it felt like we were glued together, like the fire in me was looking at the fire in him and they were fighting, pushing against each other until mine got tired first.

And then—

The fire stopped.

It just sank back into me like someone had poured a bucket of cold water over my head, leaving me shivery and sticky and a little sick.

I was pressed up against Kael’s chest, breathing so hard it hurt, and I swear I could hear his heart beating too.

Thud-thud. Thud-thud.

Like maybe he was scared too.

He didn’t let go right away, and I didn’t either, because if he let go I thought maybe I’d just fall over and melt into a puddle right there.

Then finally I stepped back, almost tripping because my legs felt like they weren’t mine anymore.

The ground around us was burned black. Totally black. Like a ring.

Kael looked at me like… I don’t know. Like I was a monster. Or a miracle. Or both.

“That,” he said very softly, like he didn’t want to scare me more, “is what lives in you.”

I wanted to throw up.

“It nearly killed me,” I said, because it did, I was this close to dying.

“No,” Kael said, tilting his head just a little. “It nearly owned you. You fought it. You won.”

It didn’t feel like winning. It felt like something crawling under my skin, waiting.

I opened my mouth to say so but then—

Hoooowwwllll.

Everything froze.

That wasn’t my wolf. That was real.

Kael’s head snapped toward the sound so fast I thought his neck might snap.

“Rogues,” he said, and he sounded different now. Scary different.

Another howl came, closer, and then another one, from the other side.

“Oh no,” I whispered, but Kael was already moving, claws out, muscles rippling like he’d been waiting for this.

“Stay close,” he told me, and I nodded even though my legs felt like jelly.

Then yellow eyes appeared in the trees. Two. Four. Eight.

One rogue stepped out, teeth bared, drool dripping onto the dirt.

Kael smiled, all teeth.

“Good,” he growled, like this was fun for him.

“Let them come.”