LOGINThe growl continued rumbling from Caierre's chest long after the clearing had fallen silent. Every soldier stood frozen. Every hunter. Every horse. The sound seemed to vibrate through the earth itself. It wasn't merely anger. Caierre could feel the difference. The wolf wasn't reacting the way it normally did when threatened. There was no hunger in this rage. No desire to hunt. No excitement at the thought of bloodshed. This was something else entirely. Protectiveness. Possessiveness. Fear. Not fear for itself. Fear for Alvar. The realization unsettled Caierre almost as much as it unsettled the soldiers surrounding him. The wolf wanted Alvar safe. Desperately. Violently. The creature would tear apart anyone who stood between them if it had to. That should have comforted him. Instead, it only made him more aware of how little control he actually had. Because every day the line between his emotions and the wolf's emotions became harder to distinguish. At first he co
The growl continued rumbling from Caierre's chest long after the clearing had fallen silent.Every soldier stood frozen.Every hunter.Every horse.The sound seemed to vibrate through the earth itself.It wasn't merely anger.Caierre could feel the difference.The wolf wasn't reacting the way it normally did when threatened. There was no hunger in this rage. No desire to hunt. No excitement at the thought of bloodshed.This was something else entirely.Protectiveness.Possessiveness.Fear.Not fear for itself.Fear for Alvar.The realization unsettled Caierre almost as much as it unsettled the soldiers surrounding him.The wolf wanted Alvar safe.Desperately.Violently.The creature would tear apart anyone who stood between them if it had to.That should have comforted him.Instead, it only made him more aware of how little control he actually had.Because every day the line between his emotions and the wolf's emotions became harder to distinguish.At first he could tell the differenc
Caierre did not understand why the wolf was afraid.That realization bothered him more than Lady Morwen's appearance.The creature feared almost nothing. It had charged armed warriors without hesitation. It had torn through trained fighters as if they were made of paper. It had faced silver weapons, fire, and overwhelming numbers without showing the slightest sign of concern.Yet the moment Lady Morwen appeared, something changed.The wolf became restless.Uneasy.Almost cautious.Caierre felt the emotion clearly through the tangled mess their minds had become.Morwen noticed it too.Of course she did.The woman seemed to notice everything.She sat calmly atop her horse while soldiers spread out behind her. None of them rushed forward. None of them raised their weapons. They simply waited, watching him with wary expressions.The hunters who had cornered him moments earlier looked relieved by the arrival of reinforcements.Caierre felt the exact opposite.His instincts screamed at him
Caierre's heartbeat accelerated as the hunters continued spreading through the trees. There were six of them now, maybe more hidden farther back among the shadows. They moved carefully, weapons raised and eyes fixed on him, clearly aware that one wrong move could get them killed. The sight should have reassured him. It should have reminded him that they feared him.Instead, it only made him feel worse.Because they were right to be afraid.The wolf paced restlessly inside his mind, watching the hunters the same way a starving predator watched wounded prey. Every movement they made seemed to draw its attention. Every nervous glance. Every tightened grip around a weapon. Every heartbeat.Caierre could hear those heartbeats.That was the part he hated most.He shouldn't have been able to hear them.Not from this distance.Not this clearly.Yet each pulse echoed inside his ears like a drum.The wolf loved it.The creature drank in every detail with eager anticipation.One of the hunters s
Alvar knew they were close.The certainty had settled into his bones hours ago and refused to leave. Every step through the forest strengthened the feeling. The mate bond remained damaged, far weaker than it had once been, but it was still there. Every now and then emotions slipped through the connection like water through cracked stone, brief flashes that vanished almost as quickly as they appeared.Fear.Exhaustion.Confusion.And beneath all of it, the constant presence of the wolf.Alvar had stopped trying to convince himself otherwise.Something impossible had happened that night in the clearing. Whether it was the curse, the mate bond, or something far older than either of them, the result remained the same. Caierre was carrying the burden that should have belonged to him.The thought haunted him.He had spent years learning how to survive the madness. Even then, there had been nights when he nearly lost himself completely. Caierre had been thrown into that nightmare without war
Adrian had not slept in two days.Not because he lacked the opportunity. His warriors had stopped several times throughout their journey, making camp whenever exhaustion threatened to slow the march. Fires had been lit. Watches had been assigned. Food had been prepared. The men under his command had rested whenever they could.Adrian had done none of those things.Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the same thing.A lake stained with blood.An ambush that should never have happened.A trap that had been carefully planned.The memory lingered like poison.Someone had known where Alvar was going.Someone had known exactly when to strike.That realization bothered him more than the attack itself.The enemy had not acted blindly.They had known too much.And that meant one thing.There was a leak.The thought followed him as he rode at the front of the column. Behind him, warriors from several smaller packs marched through the forest, their armor glinting beneath the afternoon sun. Som
Caierre remained hidden among the rocks overlooking the valley long after darkness settled across the land.The army below had become a sea of flickering lights. Campfires burned throughout the encampment, casting long shadows between rows of tents while soldiers moved through the camp carrying sup
Alvar knew the village would haunt him for a long time.Even after they left it behind and continued following the trail, the images refused to leave his mind. Burned homes. Blood-soaked streets. Bodies lying where they had fallen. The destruction had looked fresh, as though the village had only re
Caierre did not remember leaving the village.One moment there had been screams, smoke and chaos. The next there had only been silence, and now he was running through the forest with no clear destination in mind. His massive paws tore across the earth while trees blurred past on either side of him.
Alvar did not sleep.The forest had long fallen silent after Caierre disappeared into the darkness, yet every time he closed his eyes, he saw those crimson eyes staring back at him. He saw blood dripping from black jaws. He saw the moment recognition had surfaced through the madness before being sw







