Seraphina didn't feel the impact, only the rush of air, the violent crack of branches, and Kael's arms locking around her as they plummeted through the darkness.
"Hold on!" he snarled.
"I wasn't planning on letting go!" she snapped back, gripping him instinctively.
They crashed through a thicket, their fall broken by a cascade of roots and moss slick stone. Pain rippled through her, sharp but survivable. Kael landed first, twisting his body so she wouldn't take the hit.
For a moment, they lay tangled together, breathing hard.
The scent of him dark pine, iron, storm hit her like another blow.
Her wolf trembled.
Kael released her abruptly and pushed himself upright. "You're not hurt?"
"Only my pride," she muttered, brushing dirt from her arms. "And my patience."
His jaw clenched, unreadable in the faint red glow seeping from the moon above the ravine.
He looked at her as if seeing something impossible.
Maybe he was.
Because the bond was still there burning between them like a silent flame neither could smother.
Seraphina stepped back. "Don't come closer."
"I wasn't planning to," Kael said… but his voice betrayed him. It dragged low, rough, thickened by the mate pull.
Their wolves strained toward each other, fighting the distance.
The prophecy whispered through her skull again, unbidden.
"Fang and Moon must bleed as one."
Her heart thudded. "Don't tell me you heard that too."
Kael's eyes snapped to hers."You heard a voice?"
Her stomach dropped."Not… just a voice, a prophecy."
He cursed under his breath. "Then this is worse than I thought."
"Worse how?"
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he scanned their surroundings narrow stone walls, a river cutting through the bottom of the ravine, thorn vines curling like living shadows.
"We're in Bloodroot Gorge," he said. "My territory."
Her blood chilled.Shadowfang territory.Enemy land.
"Don't look at me like that," he growled. "If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't have jumped after you."
She opened her mouth, ready with a retortbut froze when she saw the mark on his neck.
A thin crescent moon glowing faintly beneath his skin.
Her crescent, her mark.
"Kael…" she whispered. "Look at your neck."
He touched the spot, eyes widening. The glow pulsed once synchronizing with her heartbeat.
His breathing hitched. "No No, this is wrong. The moon should never"He cut himself off.
She stared at him. "Should never what?"
Kael didn't respond.
Because the ground trembled.
A guttural growl echoed through the gorge… but it wasn't from either of them.
It was massive.Ancient.Hunger filled.
Kael's expression darkened. "Move. Now."
Roots tore open along the cliff wall, spilling loose earth and exposing a cavern mouth a cavern that wasn't there moments before.
A creature crawled out, towering, wolf shaped but twisted, bone plating its spine, black tar dripping from fanged jaws.
A Wraith Wolf.
Seraphina's breath seized."Those were wiped out centuries ago"
"Not wiped out," Kael said, stepping in front of her. "Sealed
Their bond, their forbidden union woke the ancient creature.
The Wraith Wolf howled, a sound so shrill the cliff walls shuddered.
Seraphina drew her blades.
Kael shifted halfway, claws bursting from his hands, eyes glowing like molten shadow.
"Stay behind me," he said.
"I don't take orders from Shadowfangs."
"Tonight," he growled, "you do."
The creature lunged at them with impossible speed
Right as the moon bled brighter.