Kaelen's POV
I woke up to Zara screaming.
My eyes snapped open. She was pressed against the back of the tree hollow, staring at something outside with pure terror on her face. I couldn't see what—my vision was blurry, my head pounding like someone had hit me with a rock.
"Zara, what—"
"Don't look at her!" Zara grabbed my arm, her fingers digging in hard. "She's not real. She can't be real."
Through the bond, I felt her fear like ice water in my veins. Something was out there. Something that scared her more than the ferals, more than the warriors.
I forced myself to focus and look.
The ghost woman floated just outside our hollow. Pale as death, glowing faintly, smiling with rotted black teeth. I'd heard stories about the Deadwood spirits—souls of those who died here, trapped forever, hungry for life they no longer had.
"Get behind me." I pushed Zara back and positioned myself between her and the ghost. "Don't listen to anything it says."
The ghost's smile widened. "Oh, but she should listen. I have so much to teach the third Marked One. So many secrets about what she really is."
"Ignore it," I told Zara. "Ghosts lie."
"Do they?" The ghost drifted closer. "Did they lie about the first Marked One who died here? About how the clans tore her apart while she begged for mercy? About how her blood soaked this ground and cursed it forever?"
"That's enough!" I growled, but the ghost just laughed.
"Or maybe you want to know about the second Marked One? The one who came fifty years ago?" The ghost's empty eyes fixed on Zara. "She lasted three months before the Dragon Prince burned her alive. She screamed so beautifully."
Zara made a small, broken sound.
The bond flared hot with my rage. "Leave. Now. Or I'll find a way to kill you even if you're already dead."
The ghost studied me with those horrible eyes. Then she smiled. "You really care about her. How sweet. How doomed." She started to fade like smoke. "When the Dragon Prince comes for this one, wolf, will you burn with her? Or will you run like a coward?"
She vanished completely.
Zara and I sat in heavy silence. Through the bond, I felt her trying to control her shaking, trying to be brave. It made something crack in my chest.
"Is it true?" she whispered. "Will a Dragon Prince really come to kill me?"
I wanted to lie. To tell her she'd be safe. But I'd never lied to my pack and she was pack now. "Maybe. Dragons hate prophecies because prophecies threaten their power. If Draven Emberclaw hears about you..." I didn't finish. Didn't need to.
"Then we make sure he doesn't hear." Zara straightened her shoulders, pushing fear aside. "You said you'd teach me to survive. So teach me."
Despite everything—the ghost, the danger, the impossible situation—I smiled. "You're either very brave or very stupid."
"Can't I be both?"
That startled a laugh out of me. When was the last time I laughed? Before my pack died, probably. This human was doing something to me. Breaking through walls I'd built to survive.
Dangerous. She was so dangerous.
But I was bonded to her now. No going back.
"Fine," I said. "Lesson one: your scent will get you killed faster than anything else in this world. We need to mask it."
I led her out of the Deadwood as the gray dawn broke. We didn't talk about the ghost. Didn't talk about Dragon Princes or prophecies. Just focused on immediate survival.
At the edge where dead trees met living jungle, I found what I needed—mud mixed with certain herbs that would hide human scent.
"This will smell bad," I warned.
"Worse than almost drowning? Worse than ghost ladies?"
"Fair point." I scooped up mud and started rubbing it on her arms. She flinched at first, then held still. Trusting me. "The key is getting it everywhere. Hair, neck, behind your ears—predators can smell fear-sweat there."
She wrinkled her nose but let me work. "Why are you helping me? Really? You could have left me to die a dozen times."
I paused, my hand on her shoulder. Good question. Why was I helping her?
"Because you're pack," I said finally. "And I failed my last pack. I won't fail you."
Through the bond, she felt the truth of it. The guilt I carried. The night I wasn't fast enough to save them from the rival clan's attack. How I'd hidden like a coward while they died.
"That wasn't your fault," she said softly.
"You don't know that."
"I know you. Through this bond thing, I can feel who you are. And you're not a coward, Kaelen. You're the guy who dove into a killer river to save a stranger. You're the guy who fought a dozen warriors for me. You're—"
"Enough." I couldn't hear this. Couldn't let myself believe I was anything but a failure. "Lesson two: edible plants versus poison."
I showed her which berries were safe, which leaves could be chewed for water, which roots would kill her in minutes. She absorbed everything like a sponge—asking smart questions, making connections I hadn't expected.
"This red vine looks like the safe blue one," she observed. "How do you tell them apart?"
"The safe one has five leaves. Poison has four."
"Always? Is there a scientific reason or is it just—"
"I don't know the science. I just know what my mother taught me before she died." The memory stung. Everything in my past stung.
Zara touched my arm gently. "I'm sorry."
Lesson three was stealth—how to move without sound, how to use shadows, how to make yourself small and invisible. Zara was terrible at first, crashing through bushes like a drunk bear. But she learned. By the third try, she moved almost silently.
"How are you learning this so fast?" I demanded.
She shrugged. "I was a scientist. We're good at observing patterns and adapting. Plus, you know, not wanting to die is great motivation."
"Most humans would be crying by now."
"I cried in the river. Got it out of my system." She grinned. "Now I'm in survival mode. Ask me to deal with emotions later when things aren't actively trying to eat me."
I found myself grinning back. She was extraordinary. Terrifying and extraordinary.
By midday, I'd taught her basic tracking, how to find water, how to tell if a cave was occupied. She practiced everything with fierce focus, and through the bond I felt her determination burning bright.
"Last lesson," I said as the sun started dropping. "Fire starting. In this world, fire means life or death."
I showed her how to use flint and dried moss. Her first five tries failed. On the sixth, a tiny spark caught.
"I did it!" She looked so proud, so happy about such a small thing.
Before I could stop myself, I ruffled her hair. "Good job, pack-sister."
She froze. "Pack-sister?"
Damn. That had slipped out. But through the bond, I felt it settle into place—right and true. She was pack now. My responsibility. My...
No. Don't think that. Don't feel that.
"We should set up camp," I said roughly. "Night hunting is about to start and you're not ready for that yet."
We found a defensible spot between two boulders. I built a proper fire while Zara gathered the safe berries I'd shown her. Working together felt natural, easy, like we'd done this a hundred times before.
"Kaelen?" she said as we ate. "Thank you. For everything."
"Don't thank me yet. You still might die."
"Always so optimistic." But she smiled.
We settled in for the night, her curled against my side for warmth, the fire crackling between us and the dark jungle. Through the bond, I felt her finally relaxing. Feeling safe.
I should have known better. Should have remembered that safety in this world was always an illusion.
The fire exploded in a blast of heat that sent us both flying backward.
I rolled to my feet, shoving Zara behind me. The flames had turned from orange to bright blue, burning twenty feet high. And in the center of that impossible fire stood a figure.
A man with obsidian scales glinting on his arms and neck. Eyes like molten gold. Power radiating from him in waves that made even me want to bow.
Dragon-kin. No—not just dragon-kin.
A Dragon Prince.
Draven Emberclaw stepped out of the flames like they were nothing, his gaze fixed on Zara with predatory interest.
"Well, well," he purred, voice smooth and deadly. "The Marked One everyone's hunting. And here I thought the ghost was lying." His golden eyes narrowed. "Tell me, little human—do you know what Dragon Princes do to prophecy-bringers?"
He smiled, showing sharp white teeth.
"We burn them until there's nothing left but ash."