LOGINWitch POVThey arrived together.For a moment—just a moment—I consider the possibility that I miscalculated.Not the outcome.Never that.But the path.Because Kael was supposed to come first.Driven by rage.By instinct.By the need to hunt.Elara was supposed to follow later.Pulled.Desperate.Weakened by distance.Separated.Easier to break.Easier to shape.Instead—They stand on the ridge above me side by side.Bond intact.Child awake.My lips curve slowly.“…interesting.”The Veil hums beneath my feet, responding to my awareness. The runes carved into the stone flare faintly, black and silver lines twisting through the ancient circle like veins beneath skin.Moonhallow is awake.More awake than it has been in centuries.And yet—It is not fully mine.Not yet.I lower my gaze, focusing.There.The bond.Three threads.Kael.Elara.The child.Intertwined.Stronger now than when I last touched it.That should not have happened.Distance should have strained them.Fear should have
Kael POVThe forest changes the moment Elara rides beside me.Not because the road grows safer.Not because the Witch’s shadow retreats.Because the bond settles.The moment I lift her onto the horse in front of me, the strain that had been clawing at my chest finally eases. My arm wraps around her waist, my hand settling low and firm across her middle, and beneath my palm the restless pulse of our pup steadies into something warm and watchful.Mine.Ours.Together.For one brief, impossible breath, the world feels right again.Not safe.Never that.But right.Elara leans back into me, not weakly, not like someone asking to be held up, but like someone choosing exactly where she belongs. Her hair brushes my jaw every time the horse shifts, carrying her scent up into the cold morning air—wild grass, smoke, silver magic, and something sweeter now beneath it all.Our child.My wolf presses closer beneath my skin, calmer than he has been since dawn.Family.“Yes,” I murmur so quietly only
Elara POVThe forest feels too still after the attack.Not quiet.Still.Like everything around us is listening for the next tear in the world.I sit on a fallen log just off the road because my legs won’t quite trust me yet. One of the guards insists it’s only for a moment, only until everyone regroups, only until we know whether the Veil-touched creatures are truly gone.I let him say it.I let them all pretend this can still be managed with ordinary words.Regroup.Breathe.Hold position.As if any of that matters after I felt the world split open.As if any of that matters after I nearly let the Veil answer my child.My hands won’t stop trembling.So I keep them pressed over my stomach, as if I can steady both of us that way.“It’s okay,” I whisper, though I don’t know whether I’m speaking to the baby or myself.The warmth beneath my palms is faint now. Not frightened. Not searching.Just tired.My wolf lies wrapped tightly around our pup, guarding, listening, refusing to let anyt
Kael POVI feel it before the scream.Before the scouts react.Before the forest even changes.The bond snaps tight.Violently.My breath catches mid-stride as the horse beneath me jerks its head, sensing the shift in me before I even speak.“Elara.”It isn’t a question.It’s instinct.Pain spikes through my chest—not physical, not mine—but close enough that my vision blurs for a split second.My wolf surges forward, claws scraping against bone, desperate to break free.Pup.Something is wrong.Badly wrong.“Stop!” I bark.The command rips through the column instantly. Hooves grind into dirt, armor clinks as wolves freeze in place. Ronin turns sharply ahead, eyes already searching for the source of whatever I felt.“What is it?” he demands.I don’t answer.I can’t.Because the bond—It’s not just stretched now.It’s tearing.The sensation hits like a blade dragged across something vital.Raw.Unstable.Dangerous.My hands tighten on the reins hard enough to make the leather groan.“El
Elara POVThe moment I step outside the fortress walls… I know I’ve crossed something I can’t go back from.The air feels different out here.Not safer.Not freer.Just… real.The kind of real that reminds you the world doesn’t bend for your fear.My horse shifts beneath me, restless, sensing my tension—or maybe something else. The guards Ronin assigned ride ahead and behind me, six wolves in total. Not a full unit.But enough to move fast.That was the point.Get to Kael.Close the distance.Fix the bond.Fix whatever started to break when he left.I tighten my grip on the reins, glancing back once at the fortress shrinking behind us.This is the first time I’ve ever chosen to leave.Not been sent.Not been traded.Not been pushed aside.Chosen.My wolf hums low with approval.Mate waits.“Yes,” I whisper.The warmth beneath my hand pulses faintly in agreement.Our pup.Steady.Waiting.We ride hard for hours.The forest thickens quickly beyond the outer ridge, trees growing taller a
Elara POVThe decision doesn’t come all at once.It builds.Slow.Steady.Unavoidable.Like the warmth beneath my heart.I haven’t left the window since Kael rode out.The mist has long swallowed the last trace of the army, the courtyard now quiet except for the steady movement of guards and the distant sounds of preparation that still echo through the fortress.They think the danger has passed.That the threat is out there now.With him.They’re wrong.My hand rests against my stomach, fingers splayed gently over the place where the warmth lives.Where our pup lives.It pulses softly beneath my touch.Not frantic anymore.Not searching the way it did when Kael first disappeared beyond the walls.But not fully settled either.Waiting.Always waiting.For him.I swallow slowly.“I felt you reaching for him,” I whisper.The warmth answers.A soft flicker.Yes.My wolf shifts, her presence calm but firm.Not meant to be apart.“I know.”The words come easier now.Because I do know.I fel
RoninThe night air is wrong.I’ve patrolled these forests since Kael was barely old enough to shift. I know every path, every deer trail, every Wildwood gust. But tonight the trees whisper with something colder.Something watching.I tighten my grip on the double-edged knife sheathed against my th
KaelThe scream shatters the hallway.Sharp. Raw. Terrified.Her voice.My body reacts before thought catches up.One moment I’m in the corridor just outside the war room, speaking with Lucian about border rotations.The next—I’m running.No—not running.Shifting.Fur ripples down my spine, claws
ElaraKael doesn’t let go of me, even when Myri tries to fuss with poultices and herbs.Even when Ronin pokes his head into the healer’s wing, sees my tear-stained face pressed against Kael’s throat, and immediately backs out without a word.Even when the torches burn low and the room empties.He h
KaelProphecy.I’ve hated that word my entire life.“Prophecy” is what wolves say when they want to pretend destiny excuses cruelty. When they want to pretend suffering is noble. When they want to pretend that pain was chosen for them, rather than inflicted.But tonight—Tonight the word feels like







