The world vanished beneath her feet.
Air tore past Ysolde's face as she plummeted, the cold slicing across her skin like a thousand tiny knives. The scream ripped from her throat but disappeared instantly into the roar of the wind.
Snow. Ice. Jagged stone.
A blur of white and gray and darkness.
She flailed, hands clawing at nothing, mind blank with terror. The cliff walls whipped past her in streaks of color. Her stomach lurched, the force of the fall crushing the breath from her lungs.
Above her—
Kael roared her name.
The sound shook the mountains.
It wasn't human.
It wasn't wolf.
It was the kind of sound a soul makes when it's being torn in half.
Ysolde's fingers scraped the rock—once, twice—then slipped. Her body spun. The wind stole her orientation. Up and down blurred into nothing.
She was going to die.
She knew it.
The drop was too far. The speed too much. No one survived a fall like this.
A flash of silver exploded above her.
Kael dove.
Not climbed.
Not descended.
Dove—straight off the cliff after her, massive body cleaving through the storm with reckless, terrifying abandon. Snow spiraled around him in a vortex as he dove faster, faster, faster—
"KAEL—!"
Her voice shattered in her throat as her body spun again.
He reached for her.
She reached back.
Their fingertips brushed—
then she slipped again, dropping another twenty feet.
Kael roared and shifted mid-air.
Bones cracked.
Fur retracted.
Limbs warped.
The transformation should have been excruciating at such a speed—but he forced it anyway, body contorting violently into his humanoid wolf form, larger than a man but smaller than the beast he was moments ago.
He angled his body downward, diving faster.
The bond inside Ysolde's chest pulsed so violently she choked.
Kael's hand closed around her wrist.
He caught her.
For one breath.
One impossible, miracle breath.
"Hold—on—!" Kael snarled, voice shaking from the strain of fighting gravity itself.
Ysolde's fingers clamped around his forearm, nails biting into his skin. The wind whipped through her hair, burning her eyes, freezing her tears.
Kael dragged her up toward him—
but their combined weight the momentum—
They were still falling too fast.
Kael twisted, pulling her tight against his chest, using his body to shield hers. His claws dug into the cliff wall, tearing through ice as he tried to slow their fall.
Sparks and frost exploded around them.
His claws caught once—
twice—
then slipped.
"Please," Ysolde whispered, voice cracking. "Kael—please—"
He slammed his claws into the wall again, muscles tearing under the force, bones grinding as he forced every ounce of strength into slowing their descent.
Their speed dropped—
barely.
But enough to make impact survivable for her.
Maybe not for him.
Kael wrapped his entire body around hers, shielding her completely, snarling through the strain.
"Ysolde—don't—look—"
They hit the lower slope.
Snow exploded around them like a white detonation.
The impact ripped Kael away from her—his body bouncing across the ice with brutal force. Ysolde tumbled through the snow, rolling until she crashed into a drift so deep she disappeared for a moment.
Pain burst through her limbs as she gasped for breath, her body aching from the fall.
She pushed up with shaking arms, coughing, lungs burning.
"Kael—?"
Silence.
The world had gone eerily quiet beneath the cliff. Only the soft hiss of falling snow moved through the air.
"KAEL!"
She ripped herself from the drift, stumbling across the slope. Her legs barely held her weight, but she forced them forward.
Her eyes scanned the snow—there—
A dark shape half-buried at the base of the rocks.
"No."
Her voice broke.
She ran.
Kael lay crumpled in the snow, blood staining the white beneath him. His body was bent at unnatural angles, shoulders heaving with shallow, ragged breaths. One of his arms was twisted, bone pushing beneath the skin.
Ysolde fell beside him.
"Kael—Kael—look at me—"
His eyes were half-open, glowing faintly, unfocused. His breath steamed the air in weak bursts.
"Y…solde…" His voice was barely sound—just a breath formed into a word.
She grabbed his face, hands shaking violently. "Don't you dare die on me. Don't you dare."
He exhaled, a tremor running through him. "You lived."
His lips twitched into a half-smile, pained but real.
"Good."
Her throat closed. "I'm not the one who matters right now!"
Kael's gaze flicked upward—
Above, on the cliff's edge, shadows gathered.
The Crimson Alpha and his riders peered down at them.
The Alpha's voice carried easily through the falling snow.
"You always fall for the wrong people, little brother."
Kael's growl was a broken sound.
The Alpha continued, tone almost bored—
"Bring her to me. Kill him."
The riders began descending the cliff, not climbing—leaping from ledge to ledge with terrifying speed.
Ysolde's heartbeat thundered.
Kael tried to push himself up—but collapsed, coughing blood into the snow.
"No—Kael—stop—" she pleaded, trying to hold him down.
He snarled weakly, angry at his own weakness, at his body failing him. His hands clawed at the ice, trying to rise again, but his bones were shattered.
"Run…" he rasped. "Run—now—"
"I'm not leaving you!"
"You have to." His voice broke. "If they take you—if the Alpha touches you—I die anyway."
The blood drained from Ysolde's face.
"Then we both die," she whispered fiercely, teeth clenched.
"Because I'm not running without you."
Kael lifted his head an inch, eyes blazing with a mix of fury, desperation, and something rawer—something he couldn't hide anymore.
"You stubborn, impossible girl—"
A spear struck the snow beside them.
Ysolde flinched.
The riders were nearly upon them.
Kael shifted, putting himself between her and the approaching shadows—even though he could barely move.
He was shaking.
Bleeding.
Broken.
And still protecting her.
Ysolde grabbed Kael's hand.
"What do I do?" she whispered. "Tell me—I'll do anything."
Kael's eyes met hers—silver burning through pain.
"Call it."
She blinked. "Call what?"
Another spear hit the snow, closer this time.
Kael's grip tightened around her wrist.
"Your blood," he rasped.
"Call the power the ritual awakened."
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"It's the only thing that can save us."
Ysolde stared at him, heart hammering.
"I don't know how."
Kael leaned forward, forehead touching hers.
"Yes," he whispered, breath trembling. "You do."
Boots hit the snow.
The riders were feet away.
Ysolde closed her eyes—
And the bond inside her erupted.