Kael’s POV
When her body went limp in my arms, the forest seemed to exhale.
For a fraction of a second, everything slowed; the wind, the falling snow, even the pulse of power that had just torn through the territory. The bond between us settled beneath my skin like something alive and breathing, no longer wild, no longer raging, but steady. Permanent.
She had not been taken.
She had chosen.
That distinction mattered more than the council would ever understand.
I adjusted my hold on her, lifting her fully into my arms as the cold seeped into the clearing once more. Her head rested against my shoulder, her breath warm against my throat, her pulse strong and even. She was not fragile. She was not fading.
Her body was stabilizing.
Whatever had awakened inside her was not dying down. It
