The chamber was silent but for Ariana’s ragged breaths. Her fingers curled in the sheets, every nerve still sparking with the remnants of her eruption. Across from her, Kael hadn’t moved. He crouched like a predator at rest, golden eyes burning into her with an intensity that held her more tightly than his arms ever could.
“You stopped it,” he said again, voice low and certain, as if repetition might hammer the truth into her bones. “You are not their fear.”
But she couldn’t escape the whispers in her head—Blood Luna. Dangerous. Killer. They echoed louder than his words, louder than the cheers of loyalty he demanded from the pack.
Her hands trembled. She pressed them against her temples, willing the whispers away. But something else slipped through instead.
A flicker. A shiver of sound
