POV: Kael
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I stood at the edge of the ravine long after Aria had collapsed in my arms.
The sun was rising behind me, casting long shadows across the forest floor, but I didn’t feel its warmth. Not when the woman I loved lay barely conscious inside the healer’s den. Not when the bond tethering us buzzed like a frayed wire, alive and wrong at the same time.
Her blood still stained my shirt. I hadn’t changed. Couldn’t. The scent anchored me, grounded me—but it also gutted me.
Because this was my fault.
She did this for us. She tore open the veil, fractured her wolf, faced whatever nightmare had taken root in our bond… and I’d just stood there. Watching.
She was slipping away, and I couldn’t stop it.
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I replayed the moment a thousand times in my head.
Aria kneeling in the sigils, h
