KAEL'S POV
Her body convulsed in my arms, silver light searing from the cracks in her skin. I gripped her tighter, terrified she'd slip away, terrified she already had.
"Ayla," I rasped, shaking her gently. "Stay with me. Stay with me."
Her eyes opened—brown for half a heartbeat, then drowned in molten silver. When she spoke, her lips moved, but the words weren't hers.
"We warned you, wolf. She is ours now."
A snarl ripped from my throat before I could stop it. "She's not yours. She's Ayla. Mine."
The glow pulsed, a shockwave thrumming through the stone beneath us, cracks racing outward in jagged veins. Her body arched, her fingers clutching my forearm with unnatural strength.
"She chose. She called us. You cannot hold what does not belong to you."
My wolf raged inside me, clawing, demanding I tear these voices from her if I had to shred the pack itself. I pressed my forehead to hers, ignoring the burn of her heat.
