The moment he said he would stop me, something inside me refused to step back.
The words did not echo, and they did not rise in anger, but they landed with a weight that settled deep, pressing against the part of me that had just awakened, testing it, measuring it, as if waiting to see whether it would retreat or stand.
Kael’s presence did not soften, and it did not pull back, because the space between us shifted into something sharper, something defined not by the bond, but by opposition.
“You will try,” I said. The words came calmly. And the moment they left me, the system reacted. The network pulsed hard, the balance shifting as if something central had just been challenged in a way it could not ignore.
Kael’s gaze darkened instantly. My wolf stirred, but this time she did not push
