SERENA’S POV Thalos struck flint; a small flame curled to life. He nodded to Kael. My mate drew a blade across his palm without flinching and held it over the fire. Red drops fell, and the flame leapt as if it recognized him. “My blood, my bond, my pack be shield and lock,” he said, voice low, sure. The flame deepened, copper to carmine. My turn. I pricked my finger. One bright drop fell, and the little flame flashed white, then red, then lurched to a soot-black heart. A fine thread of smoke rose, thin as a hair, reaching upward like the first line of a net. Thalos’s voice unfurled, ancient words grinding like stones in a river. “By flame that guards and shadow bound, we close the path where hunger wounds. What’s taken twists to ash and night; what’s sought is sealed from mortal sight.” The runes woke dull silver glows traveling the lines, meeting, circling, returning. The temperature dropped. The hairs along my arms lifted. Then the tug. It hooked behind my sternum,
Last Updated : 2025-08-31 Read more