KAEL'S POV
Her words clung to me like blood on steel.
She's not gone.
I could still hear it in her voice, the fracture beneath the whisper. Ayla lay against me, her pulse steady, her breath warm, her body alive—yet the claim was a blade pressed to my throat.
The First Luna had touched her, carved her from the inside out. And now she dared to linger?
Not while I drew breath.
My wolf slammed against the bond, teeth bared, demanding action. Rip it out. Burn her. Tear down stone and sky until nothing is left but her, whole and ours.
I clenched my jaw so tight it hurt. I wanted to. Moon damn me, I wanted to. But Ayla's eyes—stormlight silver and fragile as glass—held me in place.
She was still Ayla.
Still mine.
