Elara’s POV
The wolf did not move.
Moonlight washed over the clearing, turning the snow pale and ghostlike beneath our feet. Every breath I took felt sharp in my lungs, as though the cold itself had crept inside my chest.
And still those golden eyes watched me.
Not like a predator.
Not like prey.
Like someone waiting.
My heart pounded violently against my ribs.
“No…” I whispered again, though the word felt useless now.
Because the truth stood directly in front of me.
Massive.
Breathing.
Alive.
The wolf was enormous, far larger than any creature I had ever seen in the wild. Dark fur rippled along its shoulders as it shifted its weight, muscles moving beneath the thick coat like living shadows.
But it was the eyes that held me.
Those impossible golden eyes.
Kael’s eyes.
I st
