The forest held its breath.
Even the wind seemed to hesitate, caught between the pull of the bond and the echo of that chilling voice in my head. Kael’s hand was still outstretched toward me, palm open, waiting. I could feel his wolf pressing through the air — a force both magnetic and suffocating.
Mrs. Hawthorne’s grip on my arm trembled. “Elara, think,” she whispered. “Once you step back into his world, there’s no undoing it.”
Her warning sliced through the fog of instinct. My heart pounded painfully against my ribs as I stared at Kael. His expression was carved from stone — strong, unreadable — but his eyes betrayed him. Beneath the silver fire of his gaze, something softer burned. Something that made my wolf whimper with longing.
I wanted to run to him. To sink into his warmth and
