INICIAR SESIÓNKael’s POVThe stolen rune hit the earth with a sound like a bone snapping.Black-silver light exploded upward from the point of impact, racing along the ancient carvings in the stone circle. The mate bond between Elara and me — fully open for the Warden’s reinforcement ritual — shuddered under the sudden assault. I felt the lock inside the bond crack. Not break. Not yet. But the first fracture had formed, and the entity on the other side slammed against it with pure, triumphant hunger.Elara cried out. Her silver eyes flared wide as the pressure hit her. I locked my arms around her and poured everything I had into the connection, trying to hold the seal closed by sheer force of will.Rowan stood over the glowing rune, laughing.“It is done,” he said. “The key is turning.”Then Lucian moved.Still on his knees, still bleeding from the cut across his temple, my Beta drove his uninjured shoulder upward with every remaining ounce of strength. He struck Rowan’s wrist at the exact moment t
Kael’s POVThe guard’s face was white with panic.“Alpha — Rowan is gone. The cells are open. Two of the night watch are dead. And… he took something from the Warden’s belongings.”The Warden, who had returned only moments earlier to discuss the coming ritual, went completely still. The silver runes on his arms flared once, then dimmed.“What did he take?” I asked.The guard held out an empty leather case. The lining was marked with the same silver symbols that covered the Warden’s skin.The Warden’s voice was low and dangerous. “He took a sealing rune. One of the original fragments used in the first binding centuries ago. It is not merely a tool. It is a key that can weaken any lock created with Warden magic.”Elara sat up beside me, the sheet clutched to her chest. Her silver eyes were wide.“He’s going to use it against the bond lock.”“Yes,” the Warden said. “If he reaches the old ritual grounds and activates the rune before we complete the reinforcement ritual at moonrise, the se
Elara’s POVSleep did not come easily.I lay against Kael’s uninjured side, listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing, feeling the warmth of his skin against mine. The mate bond hummed quietly between us — stronger, deeper, and changed. The silver door that now existed inside that bond was closed, but it was not silent.Just as my eyes began to grow heavy, the voice returned.It was softer than before. Almost gentle. And it came from the other side of the lock.Did you truly believe a single sealing could end me, little vessel?My body tensed. Kael stirred immediately, his arm tightening around me even in half-sleep. Through the bond he felt the spike of my fear.“Elara?” His voice was rough.“She’s still there,” I whispered. “Behind the lock. She’s talking to me.”Kael sat up carefully, wincing as the movement pulled at the wound in his side. The bleeding had slowed, but the dark energy from Rowan’s blade still lingered. He cupped my face with one hand and looked into my silver
Kael’s POVElder Selene’s voice cut through the trees like a blade.“The pack house is under attack — from the inside!”I did not wait for more. I shifted as much as my wounded side would allow and moved, keeping Elara pressed against me. The Warden followed without a word, silver runes still faintly glowing. Lucian and the remaining warriors formed a protective ring around us as we raced back through the forest.Every step sent fresh blood running down my side. The silver blade’s poison still burned, but the mate bond was already working to slow it. I could feel Elara’s worry through the connection, sharp and constant.“You’re losing too much blood,” she said, her silver eyes locked on the wound.“I will live.” I tightened my arm around her waist. “Stay close.”When the pack house finally came into view, the sight stopped me cold.The outer walls were intact. The eastern breach had been sealed. But inside the compound, wolves were fighting wolves. Not shadow creatures — our own. Seve
Kael’s POVThe moment the original entity forced the soul-merge, the world turned inside out.One second I was holding Elara in the middle of the ritual clearing. The next, I was falling.There was no ground. No sky. Only a vast, endless dark that pulled at every part of me. I could still feel Elara’s body against mine, but her presence in the bond was being stretched, thinned, dragged toward something hungry and infinite.The Warden’s silver light was still wrapped around us, fighting to hold the sealing in place, but the entity’s final attack had changed everything. She was no longer trying to take only Elara. She was trying to drag both of us through the gate together — Alpha and vessel, bond and all — so she could consume the connection itself.I locked my arms tighter around Elara and poured everything I had left into the bond.“I am not letting go,” I snarled into the dark. “Do you hear me? You will not take her. You will not take us.”Elara’s voice reached me, thin and shaking
Kael’s POVPain exploded through my side as Rowan’s hidden silver blade sank deep between my ribs.I staggered, blood pouring over my hand. The wound burned with a strange coldness — the blade was not ordinary silver. It carried a fragment of the same dark energy that lived in Elara’s mark.Elara screamed my name.I forced myself to stay on my feet, one arm still reaching for her even as my vision blurred. Rowan pulled the blade free and stepped back, smiling.“You always were too focused on the wrong enemy, nephew.”The Warden moved faster than any wolf I had ever seen. Silver light erupted from the runes on his skin as he slammed both hands forward. A wave of pure force threw Rowan across the clearing. The traitor crashed into the stone circle and did not rise immediately.The original entity hissed, her white hair whipping around her face.“You cannot close the gate while the vessel is still half mine, Warden.”The Warden did not look at her. He looked at me.“Kael Draven. Listen c







