KAEL
I was already packing, boots strapped, blades sheathed, my coat slung over one shoulder as I moved toward the door of my cabin. The cold morning wind snapping around me like it knew I was preparing to break a promise.
Windmere.
The name beat against my ribs like a second heart, I could feel her. Every cell in my body stretched toward that direction, the mate bond pulling like a cord of fire. She was out there, and I wasn’t with her.
I cursed under my breath and adjusted the strap on my sword.
The sun hadn’t even fully risen. Morning mist clung to the edges of the forest, like reluctant ghosts. My wolf paced under my skin, claws prickling, breathe restless.
And then, out of the trees, he came, one of our scouts, stumbling into the clearing with blood staining the front of his l
