Kael did not sleep. The forest had long since fallen silent, the distant calls of night creatures fading into the background, but his mind refused to quiet. He stood at the edge of the clearing where he had first seen her—where everything had shifted. Where something impossible had happened. His hand flexed at his side; he could still feel it.
The moment he touched her, the surge, the recognition, the bond. It hadn’t made sense; it still didn’t, and yet—His wolf paced restlessly beneath his skin, agitated in a way Kael had never experienced before. Find her. His wolf urged. Kael clenched his jaw. “No.” The word left him in a low whisper. He turned sharply, walking back toward the pack house with long, controlled strides. The patrol wolves he had sent out earlier were already returning. “S
