Kaelen's POV
The feral's neck snapped in my jaws like a dry twig.
I dropped its body and spun toward the back tunnel where two more circled for another attack. Blood dripped from the gash on my shoulder but I ignored it. Pain was nothing. Protecting the human—Zara—that was everything right now.
My alpha instinct had never screamed this loud before. Not even when my pack was slaughtered.
The ferals attacked together. I met them with claws and teeth, letting my wolf side take over. They were bigger but I was smarter. Faster. Angrier. One went down with its throat torn out. The other I slammed into the cave wall so hard I heard bones crack.
Silence.
I shifted back to mostly human form, panting hard. Five ferals dead. But where was—
"Zara!" Her scent trail led to the side passage. The one that went to the river cliff. "No, no, no."
I ran. My feet barely touched stone as I raced through the narrow tunnel. She wouldn't have jumped. She was smart enough to know the river would kill her.
Unless she had no choice.
I burst out onto the rocky slope and my heart stopped. Claw marks scraped the edge where she'd been standing. Below, the river churned violent and white. No body. No blood on the rocks.
My wolf howled inside my head. Find her. Find her NOW.
I dove off the cliff without thinking.
The river tried to kill me too. Current like iron chains dragged me under. I fought to the surface, scanning desperately. There—downstream, something pale against dark water. I swam harder than I'd ever swum, my injured shoulder screaming.
Please don't be dead. Please.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her to the bank. She was limp. Not breathing. Blue lips. Those strange glowing marks had gone completely dark.
"No." I flipped her onto her back and pressed on her chest like I'd seen healers do. "Breathe, human. That's an order."
Nothing.
I tilted her head back and breathed air into her lungs. Once. Twice. Pressed her chest again. "Come on, Zara. You're too stubborn to die. I know you are."
She coughed. Water sprayed from her mouth. Her eyes flew open—those warm honey eyes that had looked at me without fear when every sensible creature feared me.
"Kaelen?" Her voice was barely a whisper.
Relief hit me so hard I almost collapsed. "You jumped off a cliff."
"Had to." She coughed again. "Feral was going to eat me. Seemed like a better option."
I didn't know whether to yell at her or laugh. This tiny human had survived things that would kill most warriors. "You're insane."
"Yeah, well, you're talking to a dead woman who woke up in a murder forest, so insane is kind of my new normal." She tried to sit up and winced. "Did you get hurt? I heard you fighting—"
"I'm fine." The fact that she was worried about me when she nearly drowned made something crack in my chest. Something I'd kept frozen since my pack died. "Can you walk?"
"Maybe? Everything hurts but nothing feels broken." She looked down at herself and groaned. "Lost the hide you gave me. Sorry."
I shrugged off my vest and wrapped it around her. It hung huge on her small frame but covered the important parts. "Keep it. You're going to need it."
"Why? Are we going somewhere?"
"Far away from here." I helped her stand, keeping my arm around her waist when she wobbled. "Your scent is all over this area now. Every predator within ten miles will be hunting you by nightfall."
Her face went pale. "Oh. That's bad."
"Very bad." I started leading her along the riverbank, away from my cave. Away from everything I knew. "We head north toward the Deadwood. Most creatures avoid it because—"
I stopped dead.
Serpent-kin scent. Fresh. Recent.
"What's wrong?" Zara asked.
I crouched and examined the mud. Boot prints. Scaled impressions where someone knelt. And there—disturbed earth where something had been dragged.
No. Not something. Someone.
"This is where you crawled out of the river." My voice came out like gravel. "Someone found you before I did."
Zara's face went even paler. "The snake man."
I whipped around to stare at her. "What snake man?"
"Scales. Silver eyes. He grabbed me and said something about a Serpent Lord paying for a Marked One." She hugged herself. "I thought—I was so confused and tired—I thought maybe I dreamed it."
Cold rage flooded my veins. "Soren's men. They took you to him?"
"I guess? I don't remember much after he picked me up. Then I woke up choking on water with you hitting my back."
I cupped her face, forcing her to meet my eyes. "Did he hurt you? Touch you?"
"No. He just carried me and said creepy things about keeping my fingers." She frowned. "Wait. If he took me, how did I end up back in the water?"
That was the question, wasn't it?
I followed the tracks away from the river. They led twenty feet into the jungle then just... stopped. Like whoever made them vanished. But there were signs of a struggle—broken branches, disturbed leaves. And blood. Green blood that could only come from serpent-kin.
"Someone attacked them," I said slowly. "Took you from Soren's scout and threw you back in the river."
"Why would anyone do that?"
"I don't know. But we need to move. Now." I grabbed her hand and started running.
We made it maybe half a mile before I smelled them. Multiple scents. Wolf-kin, bear-kin, hawk-kin. At least a dozen warriors moving fast through the jungle. Tracking us.
I pulled Zara behind a massive tree trunk and covered her mouth with my hand. She tensed but stayed quiet. Smart girl.
The warriors passed close enough that I could hear their conversation.
"The bear chief wants the Marked human alive," one growled.
"Thorne's going to kill her anyway. Why bother capturing?"
"Because he wants to do it publicly. Make an example. No Marked Ones means no prophecy. No prophecy means the clans stay separate like they should."
They moved past and I finally breathed again. Zara's eyes were huge and terrified in the shadows.
"They want to kill me because of these marks?" she whispered.
"Yes." I couldn't lie to her. "The prophecy says a Marked One will either unite the clans or destroy them. Most chiefs think it's safer to just kill you before you can do either."
"That's insane! I don't want to unite or destroy anything! I just want to go home!"
"There is no home. Not anymore." I grabbed her shoulders gently. "You're stuck here, Zara. And the only way you survive is if you let me teach you to fight. To be strong. To be pack."
Tears filled her eyes but she blinked them back. "Okay. Teach me."
Something howled in the distance. Then another. And another. A dozen voices rose in hunting song.
They'd found our trail.
I pulled Zara close, her heart hammering against my chest. "Whatever happens, stay with me. Don't run off alone again."
"I won't. I promise."
The howls got closer. I could run—I was fast enough to escape. But carrying Zara? We'd never make it.
Which meant I had to fight. Against a dozen warriors. While protecting a human who couldn't defend herself.
We were going to die here.
Unless.
I looked down at the marks glowing faintly on Zara's skin. The bond marks that supposedly granted power to those who connected with Marked Ones.
My grandfather used to tell stories. Legends of warriors who bonded with Marked Ones and became unstoppable. Strong enough to fight armies.
I'd always thought they were just stories.
But what if they weren't?
"Zara," I said quietly. "I need you to trust me."
"I do trust you."
"Good." I took her hand and pressed it against my chest, right over my heart. "Because we're about to do something that can't be undone."
Her marks flared bright blue. Heat radiated from her palm into my skin.
And I felt something snap into place between us—like chains wrapping around both our souls, binding us together forever.
The bond.