KAEL'S POV
Her scream ripped through me, shredding bone and marrow. Two voices—hers and the intruder's—clashed in the same throat, echoing against the stone like war drums.
I crushed her wrists in my grip, pinning her trembling body against the cavern wall. Blood smeared where her claws tore my skin, but pain didn't touch me. Only the bond.
Through it, Ayla was fire and ice, a storm barely clinging to itself. Her voice pressed against me, ragged, frantic. "Kael—don't—let—go—"
The First Luna rode her words like a parasite. He will, little wolf. He must. No vessel survives the split.
I bared my teeth, lowering my face until my breath scorched her lips. "She survives because I say she does."
The cavern shuddered. Not just from my fury—something deeper, older, coiled inside the stone. Shadows poured from the cracks, slithering like black veins across the walls, pooling at Ayla's feet.
