Aria's pov…………..
The darkness swallowed everything—but it didn’t take me.
Not fully.
Not yet.
A thin thread of consciousness held me to the realm, to my body, to him. Kaelen’s warmth—his wolf’s massive weight pressed against my broken side—kept the last piece of me tethered.
I couldn’t move.
But I could feel.
His heart, pounding too fast.
His breath shuddering against my neck.
His fur bristling with terror, conflict, rage.
The wolf trembled violently, whining low in his chest, a sound that shattered something inside me. He wasn’t just fighting the darkness.
He was fighting himself.
“Ka… e… len,” I breathed, though my voice sounded like a ghost’s whisper.
His entire body stiffened.
Slowly, painfully, he lifted his head from my chest. His muzzle hovered inches above my face. Hi
