POV: Kael
The moment Aria’s scream shattered the night, I felt it—deep and jarring, like something tearing loose inside my chest.
I had been halfway through a dream I couldn’t remember, drenched in sweat and confusion, when the echo of her pain dragged me upright. My wolf snarled, claws scratching just beneath my skin, and for the first time in years, it wasn’t just rage or restlessness.
It was fear.
Something had happened.
And it had happened to her.
I didn’t stop to throw on a shirt or shoes. I shifted halfway, my wolf’s instincts leading me, and tore through the trees toward the Dreaming Woods. I hadn’t stepped foot there since I was sixteen, when my mother made me swear never to return. The woods weren’t part of our training grounds, our rituals, or even our scouting routes. They
