Caelan's POV
The scream cut through the night like a knife.
I was already running before my brain caught up. That wasn't just any scream.
That was Lucien. My wolf pushed me faster through the dark forest. Branches whipped my face as I crashed through the trees toward the old garden.
The mate bond was going crazy in my chest, pulling me forward like a rope.
Something was very wrong. I burst into the clearing and stopped dead.
Lucien was hanging in the air, wrapped up in black vines like a spider's dinner. His eyes were closed.
Blood dripped from cuts all over his arms and legs. And Aisla... She was floating three feet off the ground.
Her hair moved around her face like she was underwater. Her eyes glowed bright silver, no longer human.
"Aisla!" I shouted. She turned to look at me, and I almost stepped backward. This wasn't my sweet, shy mate.
This was something else. Something strong and angry and dangerous.
"Hello, Caelan," she said. Her voice echoed like she was talking from inside a cave.
"Come to stop me too?" "I came to help you." She laughed, but it sounded wrong. Cold.
"Help me? Like your brother helped me? By trapping me and trying to control me?" I looked at Lucien again. He was barely moving.
"Let him go, Aisla. Please. He's your mate too." "Is he? Because mates are meant to protect each other. Not scare each other." Her silver eyes got brighter.
"Not hurt each other."
The black branches tightened around Lucien. He moaned in pain but didn't wake up. My heart was breaking. This was all wrong. The bond between us felt twisted now, like something beautiful had been poisoned.
"You're right," I said quietly. "He was wrong to scare you. We've all been wrong about a lot of things."
"Have you?"
"Yes. We've been trying to fit you into our world instead of asking what you want." For just a second, the silver in her eyes flickered. I saw a flash of the real Aisla underneath all that power.
"What I want doesn't matter," she whispered.
"The Council wants me dead. Your father wants me gone. Even you three can't decide if you want me or not."
"I've always known what I wanted," I said, taking a step closer.
"You." "Don't lie to me." "I'm not lying. From the time I felt our bond, I knew you were mine. My other half. The part of me I didn't know was missing."
Another flicker in her eyes. The vines around Lucien relaxed just a little.
"Then why didn't you fight for me?" she asked.
"When the Council said I was dangerous, why didn't you stand up to them?" The question hit me like a punch to the gut. Because she was right. I hadn't fought hard enough.
"I was scared," I admitted.
"Not of you. Of losing you. I thought if I was careful, if I didn't push too hard, maybe we could find a way to make this work without anyone getting hurt."
"Well, congratulations. Someone did get hurt anyway." She motioned to Lucien, and the vines squeezed tighter again. "Aisla, stop. You're going to kill him."
"Maybe that's what needs to happen. Maybe the only way to end this is to get rid of everyone who wants to control me."
"You don't mean that."
"Don't I?" But I could see through our mate link that she was lying. Deep down, she was afraid of what she was doing.
The power was using her as much as she was using it. I did the only thing I could think of. I walked straight toward her.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Coming to get you." The black weeds started growing around my feet, trying to grab me. But I kept going.
They wrapped around my feet, my legs, my arms.
The burning pain was amazing. But I didn't stop. "Caelan, don't!" She sounded scared now, not angry.
"I can't control it!" "I know. That's why I'm coming to help you." I was only a few feet away now.
The plants were covering most of my body, burning my skin everywhere they touched. But I could see her face clearly. She was crying.
"I can't stop," she sobbed.
"I want to, but I can't. It's like something else is controlling me."
"Then let me help you take control back." I reached out with my free hand and touched her face.
The moment our skin touched, everything changed.
The mate bond burst between us, stronger than it had ever been.
But this time, instead of just feeling her emotions, I could feel her power too. It was like being hit by lightning.
And I understood. She wasn't trying to hurt us. The power was feeding off her fear and anger, getting stronger every time she felt threatened.
It wanted to protect her, but it didn't know the difference between real danger and imagined danger. "It's okay," I whispered.
"I've got you." I wrapped my arms around her, ignoring the way the dark energy burned my skin. Slowly, we sank to the ground together.
"I'm so scared, Caelan," she cried against my chest. "I know. But you're not alone anymore.
I'm right here." The silver light around us began to fade.
The black plants withered and died, freeing Lucien. He crashed to the ground but was still breathing. Aisla's eyes returned to their normal brown color.
"What have I done?" she whimpered, looking at Lucien's unconscious form.
"You protected yourself the only way you knew how," I said. "But now we're going to find a better way." I helped her stand up on shaky legs. She was tired from using so much power.
"The Council is going to kill me when they find out about this," she said.
"No, they won't. Because they're not going to find out."
"Lucien will tell them." I looked at my brother. He was hurt but not dead.
"Lucien loves you. He won't say anything that could get you in trouble."
"How do you know?" "Because I know my boys. And I know that under all his anger and pride, he cares about you just as much as I do." She looked up at me with those beautiful brown eyes.
"Caelan?"
"Yeah?" "Thank you for not being afraid of me."
"Never," I promised. "No matter what happens, I will never be afraid of you."
And then, because I couldn't help myself, because I'd been wanting to do it since the day I met her, I kissed her. Her lips were soft and warm against mine.
The mate bond sang between us, filling me with warmth and light and perfect happiness. When we broke apart, she was smiling.
The first real smile I'd seen from her in days.
"I love you," I whispered.
"I love you too." But our moment was broken by the sound of footsteps crashing through the forest.
"Someone's coming," Aisla said, fear creeping back into her voice. I listened carefully. Multiple people. Moving fast.
"Hide behind that tree," I told her.
"Don't let them see you."
"What about Lucien?"
"I'll handle it." She kissed me quickly one more time, then disappeared into the darkness just as three figures burst into the clearing. Alpha Thorne. Elder Mora. And Elaria. They stopped when they saw me kneeling next to Lucien's unconscious body.
"What happened here?" Alpha Thorne commanded.
"Lucien fell out of a tree," I lied easily.
"Hit his head pretty hard." Elder Mora was looking around the clearing with sharp eyes. I could see her taking in the dead plants, the burned ground, the leftover smell of power in the air.
"Where is she?" Elaria asked.
"Who?"
"Don't play dumb, Caelan. We know Aisla was here. I can smell her." My heart started beating faster. If they found her now, after what had just happened...
"I haven't seen Aisla," I lied again. But Elder Mora was already moving toward the tree where Aisla was hidden.
And that's when I realized we were in more trouble than I'd thought.
Because Elder Mora wasn't just looking for Aisla.
She was tracking the magic.