Kael’s POV
Silence fell like a sentence.
Only our breathing remained—ragged, painful.
And the slow steps of the lycans, circling us little by little.
They didn’t attack.
They didn’t need to.
They had already won.
I stayed on my feet through sheer will.
There was no energy left.
No bond, no magic, no advantage.
Just me. Just the wolf.
Just the unbearable weight of having lost everything that once made us unstoppable.
Tony lay on the ground. His human body—naked, vulnerable.
The marks of Skadi—
that savage fire that had once sustained him—were gone.
His chest rose and fell slowly. But he didn’t wake.
Zack knelt beside him.
Bloodied hands. Eyes fixed on Tony… and also on me.
Waiting.
The wind carried the scent of scorched earth, dried blood, and fury.
And of Draven.
He di
