Kael's POV
"Move!" I roared, grabbing Lyra's hand and pulling her toward the forest. "Everyone, NOW!"
The sound of the Collectors' army was getting closer—engines roaring, dogs barking, and underneath it all, a mechanical whirring that made my wolf's hackles rise. They had vehicles. Weapons. Technology we couldn't fight.
"Where do we go?" Zara shouted, running beside us in wolf form.
"Anywhere but here!" Finn shifted into his fox, darting ahead to scout the path.
Riven launched into the sky in dragon form, circling overhead. "They're coming from the east! At least fifty vehicles and twice as many hunters on foot!"
Fifty vehicles. A hundred hunters. And we had maybe twenty fighters.
We were going to die.
No. I shook off the thought. We were going to survive. Because Lyra needed me to get her to the Summit, and I didn't fail my responsibilities.
The bond pulsed warmly on my wrist, and I felt her fear through it. Not just fear—terror. She was running on pure adrenaline and willpower, her human body not built for this kind of speed.
"I can't—" she gasped, stumbling. "Kael, I can't keep up—"
I didn't think. I just shifted mid-stride, my wolf form erupting, and grabbed her with my teeth—gently, carefully—by the back of her shirt. She yelped as I lifted her onto my back.
"Hold on!" I sent the thought through our bond, praying she'd understand.
She did. Her hands fisted in my fur, her legs gripping my sides. "Go!"
I ran faster than I ever had in my life. The forest blurred around us. Behind us, Elder Moira was leading the rest of the pack deeper into the territory, splitting up to confuse the hunters. Zara stayed close to my left flank. Finn darted through the underbrush ahead. Riven flew overhead, occasionally breathing fire to cover our tracks.
We were a team. A mismatched, desperate team running for our lives.
"They're gaining!" Riven called from above. "They have some kind of tracking device! It's following your bond mark, Kael!"
Of course they did. The Collectors had been hunting Beastcallers for decades. They'd know about the bond marks. About how to track them.
"Can we break the tracking?" Finn asked, appearing beside us in human form for a moment before shifting back.
"Only if we break the bond," I growled through our mental link. "And that would kill us both."
Through the bond, I felt Lyra's spike of fear. She'd heard that.
"Then we run until they can't follow," she said aloud, her voice shaking but determined. "How far to the Summit?"
"Three days normally," Finn answered. "But at this pace? With them hunting us? We might make it in two if we don't stop."
"Then we don't stop," Lyra said.
A gunshot cracked through the air. A tree beside us exploded in splinters.
"They're in firing range!" Zara snarled.
"Riven!" I called through our makeshift pack link. "We need cover!"
The dragon roared and dove, unleashing a wall of flame behind us. The fire wouldn't hurt the Collectors' vehicles, but it would slow them down. Buy us precious seconds.
We burst through the tree line into an open meadow. Bad. No cover. We were completely exposed.
"There!" Finn pointed with his muzzle toward a rock formation ahead. "The Howling Caves! We can lose them in the tunnels!"
More gunshots. One grazed my shoulder. I felt Lyra flinch, feeling my pain through the bond.
"I'm okay," I sent to her. "Hold on!"
We reached the caves just as a vehicle burst through the flames behind us—some kind of armored truck with a mounted gun on top. The gun swiveled toward us.
"INSIDE!" Riven bellowed, landing at the cave entrance and breathing fire at the truck.
We dove into the darkness.
The cave swallowed us whole. I couldn't see anything. Couldn't hear anything except our ragged breathing and the pounding of my heart.
"Keep moving," Finn's voice echoed. "These tunnels connect to the underground river. If we reach it, we can follow it west toward neutral territory."
"How do you know that?" Zara asked.
"I've smuggled people through these caves before," Finn admitted. "Usually refugees fleeing territory wars. The tunnels are safe if you know the way. Deadly if you don't."
"Comforting," Lyra muttered from my back.
Despite everything, I felt a flash of amusement through the bond. She was keeping her sense of humor even while running for her life. Brave little human.
We ran deeper into the caves, following Finn's lead. The darkness was absolute. I relied on my wolf senses—smell, hearing, the feel of stone beneath my paws.
Behind us, I heard the Collectors entering the caves. Flashlight beams cut through the dark. Dogs barking, getting closer.
"They're still tracking us," I said. "The bond mark—"
"I know," Lyra said quietly. Then, louder: "How do we hide from something that's literally part of us?"
"We don't hide it," Finn said slowly. "We confuse it."
He stopped running, and we all skidded to a halt in a larger cavern. Water dripped somewhere nearby. The air smelled like minerals and earth.
"What are you thinking?" Riven asked, shifting to human form.
"Blood magic," Finn said, and I heard the grimace in his voice. "I hate using it, but it's our only option. If Lyra can share her bond mark's signature with all of us, the Collectors' tracker won't be able to tell which one of us is the real Beastcaller."
"That's brilliant," Zara said.
"That's dangerous," I corrected. "Sharing bond signatures can damage the original bond. It might sever our connection entirely."
Through our bond, I felt Lyra's spike of fear—not for herself, but for me. She didn't want to lose our connection.
Something warm spread through my chest. She cared. This human girl who I'd known for barely two days actually cared about keeping our bond intact.
"We don't have a choice," Lyra said. "If we don't confuse the tracker, they'll catch us. Tell me what to do."
Finn knelt beside her as I shifted to human form and helped her down from my back. "You'll need to cut your palm and press it against each of ours. The bond mark will share its signature through your blood."
"Will it hurt?" she asked.
"Yes," Finn said honestly. "But not as much as a silver bullet."
Lyra pulled out a piece of glass from the cave floor—probably broken off from some old smuggler's lantern. Without hesitating, she cut her palm. Blood welled up, dark in the dim light.
"Ready," she said, her voice steady despite her shaking hands.
One by one, she pressed her bleeding palm against ours. Finn first, then Zara, then Riven, and finally back to me.
When her blood touched my hand, power surged between us. The bond mark flared bright purple, and suddenly I felt everyone—Finn's cunning mind, Zara's fierce loyalty, Riven's ancient grief, and Lyra's burning determination to survive.
We were connected. All five of us. A temporary pack bound by her blood.
"It worked," Finn breathed. "We all have her signature now."
"Then we split up," Riven said. "Draw them in different directions. Make them choose who to follow."
"No," I said immediately. "That leaves Lyra vulnerable—"
"I'll stay with her," Finn cut in. "Kael, you're the strongest fighter. You need to draw the main force away. Zara, go north. Riven, circle back and burn their vehicles. I'll take Lyra through the underground river to the Summit."
Every instinct screamed at me to refuse. To keep Lyra close. To protect her myself.
But through the bond, I felt her agreement with Finn's plan. She trusted him. And she needed me to trust him too.
"Fine," I said, the word tasting like poison. "But if anything happens to her—"
"It won't," Finn promised.
Flashlight beams appeared at the cavern entrance. Dogs howling, getting closer.
"Go!" Finn grabbed Lyra's uninjured hand and pulled her toward a side tunnel. "NOW!"
I ran the opposite direction, with Zara at my side and Riven taking to the air through a hole in the cave ceiling.
The Collectors burst into the cavern seconds later. I heard their confusion as their tracker showed five different signals, all moving in different directions.
"Split up!" someone shouted. "Follow all of them!"
Perfect. We'd divided their forces.
I burst out of the caves into moonlight and ran west, drawing at least twenty hunters after me. Behind me, gunshots rang out. Trees exploded. The ground churned from vehicle treads.
Through the bond, I felt Lyra getting farther away. The connection stretched thin but didn't break.
She was with Finn. She was safe. She had to be safe.
I ran for hours, leading the hunters on a wild chase through the forest. Every time they got close, I'd dodge behind rocks or through rivers, using every trick I'd learned in twenty-nine years as Alpha.
Finally, as dawn broke, I'd lost them. I collapsed in a hollow tree, breathing hard, my shoulder wound bleeding sluggishly.
Through the bond, I reached out to Lyra. Are you okay?
Silence.
Lyra?
Still nothing.
Panic seized my chest. I focused harder on the bond, pushing through the distance and the exhaustion.
LYRA!
A flash of sensation hit me—cold water, darkness, Finn's voice shouting, something grabbing her ankle and pulling her under—
Then the bond went completely silent.
Not severed. Just... empty.
Like she wasn't there anymore.
I shot to my feet, ignoring the pain, and ran. Ran toward where I'd last felt her. Ran like my life depended on it.
Because hers did.
I found the underground river entrance just as the sun fully rose. Finn was there, soaking wet, his face pale with panic.
"Where is she?" I roared. "Where's Lyra?"
"The river," Finn gasped. "Something was in the river. Something that shouldn't exist in Feralys. It pulled her under and I couldn't—I tried to grab her but—"
He didn't need to finish.
Lyra was gone.
And the bond was silent.