The wolves who followed Nia reached the geothermal root cellar. Kaelen's loyalists stayed in the upper halls until black ice sealed the stairs behind them.
Snow-wraiths moved through the failed barrier. The emergency link carried evacuation calls, broken orders, and the defenders counting down the last elders.
Kaelen came to me through the mate bond, where he thought no one else could hear.
*“Elara. My love. I knew you would survive. You were always the strong one.”*
His tone had changed. He used the soft voice he once saved for the few nights when he wanted something from me.
*“Selene was a political performance. The Southern Elders expected me to keep her close. None of it was real. You were always the one I wanted.”*
I pictured his blue-white fire dying, Selene wrapped in my pelts
