Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 161 - Chapitre 170

Aria knew the pack’s scent, the way it spread across a group of wolves who had lived and hunted together. She recognized the familiar presence of its members, even through the changes brought by their wolf forms. The details of their bodies were enough to confirm what her senses had already told her. Her father’s wolves had found her. Her paws pressed harder into the earth. She had been watching for an attack from the trees, expecting to face an unknown enemy. She had prepared herself to defend Mira against whoever had struck Kael. She had not expected to turn and find the pack she had once known gathered in front of her. And yet, there they stood. Their hostile posture left little room for comfort. They had not approached with lowered heads or cautious steps. They had not waited at a distance to discover what had happened in the clearing. They had gathered at its edge, positioned to move against the wolves before them. Against her. Aria’s gaze moved from one wolf to th

The battle raged around them, the sounds of growling and snapping teeth filling the trees, while Aria’s glowing fur flashed through the chaos and Kael fought his way toward the wolf he refused to leave behind. The clearing had become a maze of moving bodies and churned earth. Wolves crashed together near the trees, broke apart, and collided again before either side could gain enough ground to breathe. Dirt clung to their coats. Blood marked the soil beneath their paws. Every time one wolf stumbled, another rushed into the opening, forcing the fight to shift in a new direction. There was no longer a clear line separating the two packs. Kael’s wolves had spread throughout the clearing, fighting to prevent the enemy from surrounding them. Some held the ground near the trees, meeting each advancing wolf before it could slip behind their formation. Others moved through the centre, breaking up attacks and forcing the enemy to turn away from Mira. The enemy pack continued to press forward

The love he had buried his heart in had never been real. Kael stood facing Aria’s father, his red eyes burning beneath the shadow of his lowered brow. The sounds of the battle continued around him—growls, snarls, the thud of bodies hitting the earth—but something inside him had gone strangely quiet. Elira. Her name dragged through his mind, pulling memories behind it that he had spent years holding close. He remembered the first time she had smiled at him, the way she had tilted her head as though she found his silence amusing. He remembered her fingers brushing his when she passed him a cup, the warmth of her shoulder against his, the soft sound of her laughter in the rooms that had felt unbearably empty after his parents died. He remembered the nights he had sat awake beside her, unable to sleep, his grief too heavy to put into words. She had never demanded that he explain himself. She had simply stayed. Or so he had believed. His claws pressed into the soil. She never loved

Aria struggled to lift her eyelids. They seemed impossibly heavy, and when she finally managed to open them a fraction, the light above her struck her eyes like a blade. She squeezed them shut again. She gathered what little strength she had and slowly opened her eyes once more. The world emerged in fragments. A pale ceiling. Blurred shapes moving somewhere beyond her line of sight. The faint scent of herbs, clean linen, and something sharp that caught in the back of her nose. Her head rested against a pillow that felt too soft beneath her skull, yet even the slight pressure of it seemed to aggravate the ache throbbing behind her eyes. She blinked. Once. Then again. The room swam before her, its edges refusing to settle. She could hear quiet footsteps and the rustle of fabric, but none of it made sense yet. She tried to turn her head toward the voice beside her, only to discover that the smallest movement sent a sharp pulse of pain through her neck and shoulders. A hand closed

She couldn’t understand his silence. On the battlefield, he had been fierce and decisive, moving without hesitation when danger threatened those around him. Even when he had been injured, he had continued fighting. Now, he stood a few steps away from her bed, watching her with an expression she had never seen on him before, yet he wouldn’t say a single word. Aria’s fingers curled weakly into the bedsheet. Beside her, Mira shifted in her chair. She had been watching the two of them with a quiet, troubled expression, but when Kael’s attention moved toward the small table where the food had been left, she seemed to remember what he had asked her to do. “I’ll get something for you to eat,” she murmured to Aria. Aria barely registered the words. Her eyes remained fixed on Kael. Mira rose carefully, mindful of the space beside the bed, and moved toward the table. She lifted the cover from the tray, revealing a bowl of food and a glass of water. The faint sound of the cover being set