KAEL POV
The black marks on my chest were spreading.
I could feel them crawling under my skin like living insects, consuming the golden bond marks Zara had given me. Each pulse sent corruption deeper into my body, and through our connection, I felt her terror matching my own.
"Kael, I'm so sorry!" She reached for me, but I jerked away.
"Don't touch me!" The words came out harsher than I meant, but I couldn't help it. My wolf was howling in panic, fighting the darkness trying to take over. "You've done enough damage."
Her face crumpled, and guilt crashed through the bond so violently it made me stumble. She felt like she was dying inside, and because of this cursed connection, I felt it too.
Lysandra laughed, the sound echoing off the cave walls. "Oh, this is delicious. The mighty Alpha brought down by a human girl who can't control her own power."
"Shut up," I snarled, but my voice was weak. The corruption was making me dizzy, making my vision blur at the edges.
"Make me." She stepped closer, jade eyes gleaming. "Or better yet, kill the girl. Break the bond before the corruption kills you both. It's your only chance."
Through the bond, I felt Zara's resignation. She actually thought I should do it. Thought she deserved it after what just happened.
My wolf whimpered. Can't hurt mate. Won't hurt mate.
But the black marks were crawling up my neck now, and I could feel my mind getting foggy. If I turned Feral, I'd kill everyone in my pack. Everyone I'd sworn to protect.
Finn burst into the chamber, his eyes wild. "Kael! The pack is gathering at the council stones. They heard what happened. They're demanding—" He stopped, staring at my corrupted marks. "Oh gods. It's already spreading."
"I know." I forced myself to stand straight even though my legs shook. "Call everyone. Full pack assembly. Now."
"Kael, you can barely stand—"
"Now!"
He ran, and I turned to Zara. She was crying silently, black marks covering both her arms now. She looked small and broken and terrified.
Part of me wanted to comfort her. The other part wanted to scream.
"Can you walk?" I asked roughly.
She nodded, not meeting my eyes.
"Then come. If we're dying, my pack deserves to see what killed us."
The pack council stones were ancient—massive rocks arranged in a circle under the open sky. My entire pack had gathered, over sixty wolves in various forms. Some fully shifted, others half-human like me. All of them staring at Zara like she was a demon crawled up from hell.
Maybe she was.
Finn stood at the head of the circle—my Beta, my second-in-command, my closest friend. His amber eyes locked onto mine, and I saw his fear. Not for himself. For me.
"Alpha," he said formally, using my title instead of my name. Bad sign. "Your pack demands answers."
I pushed Zara forward into the center of the circle. She stumbled but caught herself, her black-marked arms wrapped around her body like she could make herself disappear.
Through the bond, I felt her shame. Her self-hatred. Her desperate wish that she'd died in that temple collapse instead of coming here.
Focus, I told myself. Your pack comes first.
"This human forced a bond with me," I announced, my voice carrying to every wolf present. "She activated ancient Tamer magic and marked me without permission or ritual."
Angry growls rippled through the circle.
"And now," I continued, showing them my corrupted chest, "she's infected our bond with Feral corruption. Whatever she touched, she spread the curse to me."
The growls turned into snarls. Several wolves shifted fully, their fangs bared.
"Witch!" someone shouted.
"Demon!"
"Curse-bringer!"
Zara flinched at each word, tears streaming down her face. Through the bond, I felt each insult hit her like a physical blow.
Finn stepped forward, and I'd never seen him look so cold. "The law is clear, Kael. Forced bonds are forbidden. Spreading corruption is an act of war. The punishment for both is execution."
"I know the law." My voice came out flat.
"Then you know what must be done." Finn's jaw clenched. "Kill her. Break the bond. Before you turn Feral and destroy us all."
The pack howled their agreement, a sound that shook the night sky.
I looked at Zara, really looked at her. She wasn't fighting. Wasn't arguing. She just stood there accepting their judgment, accepting that she deserved to die.
Through the bond, I heard her thought: Do it. Please. I don't want to hurt anyone else.
My wolf howled in agony. No! Can't! She's ours!
But my pack was right. If the corruption spread, if I turned Feral, I'd kill them all. Every wolf who trusted me. Every pup playing at the edges of the circle. Every elder who'd raised me.
I drew my claws, each one sharp enough to slice through bone.
Zara closed her eyes, waiting.
Just one strike. Quick and clean. End this nightmare before it got worse.
I raised my hand—
"Wait!" Ryder's voice cut through the chaos. The young wolf pushed through the crowd, carrying something wrapped in cloth. "Before we execute her, you need to see this!"
He unwrapped the cloth, revealing ancient carved stones covered in symbols that matched Zara's marks exactly.
"I found these buried near where the Feral attacked," Ryder panted. "They're Tamer artifacts, thousands of years old. And look—" He pointed at the symbols. "These marks aren't corruption. They're absorption runes. Tamers didn't spread the Feral curse. They absorbed it. They pulled corruption out of others and took it into themselves to cure them."
Silence fell over the pack.
I stared at the stones, then at Zara's black marks, then back at the stones.
"You're saying she didn't infect me," I said slowly. "She tried to cure the Feral and absorbed its corruption instead?"
"Exactly!" Ryder's eyes blazed with excitement. "The ancient texts say Tamers were healers, not spreaders. They sacrificed themselves to cure others. That's why they vanished—they absorbed too much corruption and it killed them!"
Through the bond, I felt Zara's confusion. She didn't know any of this. Didn't understand what her power really did.
"So the black marks..." I touched my chest where corruption crawled.
"Are the Feral's corruption, not hers," Ryder finished. "Which means if we can flush it out before it sets, you might both survive."
Hope flickered in my chest for the first time since this nightmare began.
But Finn shook his head. "Even if that's true, she still forced a bond. The law—"
"I'll face the Council," I interrupted, surprising everyone including myself. "Tomorrow at dawn. Let them judge whether she lives or dies. But until then, she's under my protection as my bonded mate."
The pack erupted in argument. Some agreed. Most didn't.
Finn stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Kael, if you're wrong about this, if she really is spreading corruption, you'll doom us all."
"I know." I looked at Zara, who was staring at me like I'd grown a second head. Through the bond, I felt her disbelief that I was defending her. "But my wolf won't let me kill her. And maybe... maybe there's more to this than we understand."
"You're risking everything for a human who trapped you."
"I'm risking everything for answers." I turned back to my pack. "Assembly dismissed! Everyone back to your dens. Tomorrow the Council decides our fate."
Slowly, reluctantly, the pack dispersed. But I felt their fear. Their anger. Their certainty that I was making a fatal mistake.
Maybe I was.
Zara approached me carefully, like I might change my mind and strike her down. "Why did you stop? You should have killed me."
"Probably." I grabbed her wrist, studying the black marks. They were still spreading, but slower now. "But Ryder might be right. If you really did absorb that Feral's corruption instead of spreading it, then maybe you can push it back out."
"I don't know how!"
"Then you better learn fast. Because if those marks reach your heart before dawn, you'll die. And the bond will kill me too." I released her wrist. "Come on. We're going to find a healer who might know how to save us both."
"Kael..." Her voice cracked. "Thank you. For not killing me."
Through the bond, I felt her gratitude, her relief, her desperate hope that maybe she wasn't a complete monster after all.
"Don't thank me yet," I muttered, leading her away from the council stones. "You're still facing execution at dawn."
We walked in tense silence until we reached the healer's den at the edge of pack territory.
Old Mara opened the door, took one look at our corrupted marks, and went pale.
"Get inside. Quickly." She pulled us through the doorway, her wrinkled hands shaking. "Before anyone sees."
"You can help us?" Zara asked hopefully.
Mara stared at her marks for a long moment. When she finally spoke, her voice trembled.
"Child, these aren't just absorption runes. They're also amplification marks." She looked at me with ancient, knowing eyes. "Every Feral she tries to cure will make her stronger. But if she absorbs too much corruption before learning to purge it..."
"What?" I demanded. "What happens?"
Mara's next words turned my blood to ice:
"She won't just turn Feral. She'll become the first Feral Tamer in history—powerful enough to corrupt every bonded beastman in the world with a single thought."