ログインSomething inside me loosens. And before I can think better of it, I lean up on my toes and kiss his cheek. Not flirty. Not romantic. Just grateful. Warm gratitude blooming through my chest in a way I didn’t expect. “Thank you,” I whisper. “He realized he could torture me through the bond since
I blink at Raph’s last remark, because surely I misheard him. My wolf? Broken? That’s not possible. Lycan wolves don’t just break like cheap clay pots dropped by a toddler. But the look on his face says he’s serious, and that makes me sputter like I just swallowed half the stream behind us. “What?
Silence. Then something clicks in my mind. A realization I should have pieced together sooner. “Wait,” I say slowly. “Your mate… is the Wolf King?” Tears slip from her eyes again, and she nods. “Yes. The Wolf King is my mate. But he is not my king. And he never will be.” Her voice shifts—bitter
I move quietly—well, I think I’m quiet. But compared to Pearl, I might as well be stomping through the forest like a drunken ogre wearing pots and pans. She glides ahead of me, barely bending a blade of grass, as though the forest parts for her. Maybe it does. With her golden hair and soft footfalls
For a long moment, neither of us spoke. The wind whistled. My breath came ragged and fast.Then Gaia said, almost too casually, “You have blood on your face.”“Pretty sure that’s not mine,” I said, wiping at it and smearing it worse. “Better?”“You look like a toddler who lost a fight with a jam jar
The iron bridge loomed ahead like the skeleton of something ancient and forgotten; its rusted ribs stretching across a gorge where a thin river whispered far below. The metal moaned as the wind crossed it, an old, uneasy sound that made the hairs on my neck rise. I’ve heard spirits cry quieter than







