Draven’s POV
The moment it spoke, everything changed.
Not visibly.
Not immediately.
But the air shifted.
The balance shifted.
And Aurenya felt it.
I saw it in the way her shoulders stiffened.
In the way her breathing caught.
In the way the bond reacted before she even moved.
Rhydan still held her wrist.
Too tightly now.
Protective instinct turning into restraint.
Kaelor stood slightly behind them, weight shifted forward, ready to move.
None of them noticed the real danger.
Not yet.
The figure wasn’t attacking.
It wasn’t forcing.
It was speaking.
And words were always more dangerous than claws.
“You were never meant to belong to them.”
Aurenya stared at it.
Fear sat clearly in her expression.
But underneath that—
Recognition.
The kind people deny because it terrifie
