Maren's POV
The bond won't stop screaming.
It's been three hours since the ritual. Three hours since I tied myself to Kael forever. Three hours since the Council left with their threat hanging over us like a sword.
And the bond won't. Stop. Screaming.
Not with words. With feelings.
Kael's feelings, pouring into me like a flood I can't control.
Guilt. Fear. Rage at himself. Exhaustion so deep it feels like drowning.
And underneath it all buried so far down I don't think he knows I can feel it absolute terror that he's going to get me killed.
I stumble away from the sanctuary's main clearing, away from the wolves celebrating our victory, away from the noise and the questions and the eyes that follow me everywhere.
I need quiet.
I need air.
I need to think.
The forest at the sanctuary's edge is dark and cool. I lean against a tree, close my eyes, and try to breathe.
The bond pulses. Warm. Insistent. Alive.
Forever, it whispers. This is forever.
I know, I mutter to the empty air. I was there.
Talking to yourself already?
I spin.
Ronan stands ten feet away, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised. That's not a good sign.
How long have you been following me?
Since you left the clearing. He steps closer. You looked like you were about to either throw up or pass out. Figured someone should make sure you didn't do both.
I glare at him. I'm fine.
You're a terrible liar.
And you're a terrible spy.
His mouth twitches. Almost a smile. Fair.
We stand in silence for a moment. The forest rustles around us. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howls not Kael, someone else, just singing to the moon.
You didn't have to do it, Ronan says finally.
Yes, I did.
No. You didn't. His voice is flat. Matter-of-fact. You could have let the Council take him. Could have walked away. Saved yourself.
And let two hundred wolves lose their home? I shake my head. I'm not that person.
Maybe you should be. He leans against the tree next to mine. Self-preservation isn't a weakness, Maren. It's survival.
Is that what you did? When you joined Kael?
Something flickers across his face. Pain, maybe. Or memory.
No, he says quietly. I did exactly what you just did. Threw myself into something I didn't understand because I thought I could save someone who didn't want to be saved.
The words hang between us like smoke.
What happened? I ask.
She died. He says it without emotion. Without anything. Because I wasn't strong enough to protect her. And Kael had to watch me fall apart.
My throat tightens. I'm sorry.
Don't be. It was seven years ago. He looks at me. But I learned something from it. The bond a real bond, a completed one it doesn't make you stronger. It makes you vulnerable. It gives you something to lose.
I already lost everything, I say.
No. You lost things you could live without. His grey eyes so much like Kael's bore into mine. But now? You're bonded to someone two hundred wolves depend on. Someone the Council wants dead. Someone who's been running from his past for eighteen years and still doesn't know how to stop.
Are you warning me or threatening me?
Ronan almost smiles. Warning. Kael is the best alpha I've ever followed. He's fair. He's loyal. He'd die for any wolf in this sanctuary without hesitation.
But?
But he doesn't know how to let someone in. Ronan's voice softens slightly. He's been alone for so long, he's forgotten what it feels like to need someone. And now the bond is forcing him to need you. That scares him more than the Council. More than Serath. More than death.
I think about the terror I felt through the bond earlier. The guilt.
Why are you telling me this?
Because in three days, you're walking into a room with the man who destroyed Kael's childhood pack. The man who killed his mother. The man Kael has spent eighteen years avoiding because he knows that if they're ever in the same room, one of them will die.
My blood runs cold. Serath killed Kael's mother?
Ordered it, anyway. Ronan's jaw tightens. Kael was twelve. He watched it happen. Watched the Council soldiers drag her out. Watched them He stops. Shakes his head. You need to understand what you're walking into. Serath won't just try to invalidate your claim. He'll try to break Kael. And the bond means when Kael breaks, you break too.
Then I won't let him break.
You think it's that simple?
No. I push off the tree. But I think giving up is worse.
Ronan studies me for a long moment. Then he does something unexpected.
He smiles.
A real one this time.
You're either very brave or very stupid, he says.
Can't I be both?
With Kael? You'll have to be. He straightens. One more thing. The bond it's going to start showing you things.
What things?
Memories. Dreams. The parts of Kael he keeps locked away. Ronan's eyes darken. Don't tell him you can see them. Not yet. He needs to learn to trust you first. And trust doesn't come easy for him.
Why not?
Because everyone he's ever trusted has either died, betrayed him, or left. He starts to walk away, then pauses. Don't be the next one.
He disappears into the shadows.
Leaving me alone with the bond humming in my chest and Ronan's words echoing in my head.
The bond is going to start showing you things.
As if summoned by the thought, something flickers at the edge of my vision.
Not here. Not now.
Somewhere else.
A memory.
Not mine.
Kael's.
I see a small cabin. A woman with kind eyes. A boy with grey eyes and dark hair, maybe twelve years old, hiding in a corner.
Soldiers burst through the door.
The woman screams
I slam my eyes shut, gasping.
The memory vanishes.
But the echo of it remains. The terror. The helplessness.
The absolute certainty that nothing will ever be safe again.
Kael felt this, I realize. This is what made him.
The bond pulses agreement.
And I understand, suddenly, why he's so terrified of needing me.
Because everyone he's ever needed has been taken away.
I have to find him. Have to tell him
What? That I saw his worst memory? That I know his pain?
No.
Ronan was right.
Trust first.
I start walking back toward the sanctuary
And freeze.
Because standing in the middle of the path, calm as death, is a woman I've never seen before.
She's beautiful. Ethereal. Her hair is white as snow, her eyes like frozen silver. She wears a dress made of moonlight and carries a staff carved from bone.
And she's smiling at me.
Hello, Ember carrier, she says. Her voice sounds like wind through winter trees. I've been waiting for you.
Who are you?
Someone with a message. She tilts her head. About the bond you just completed.
My stomach drops. What about it?
It's broken, she says simply.
What?
The ritual. You performed it wrong. She steps closer. You used blood and salt and fire. But you forgot the most important part.
What part?
Her smile widens.
Permission from the Moon Goddess herself.
The world tilts.
What are you saying?
I'm saying the bond isn't real. Her eyes gleam. Not yet. Not until the Goddess accepts it. And she has three days to decide.
But everyone saw the light the gold
Oh, the magic worked. The connection formed. She waves one hand dismissively. But whether it stays? That's up to her. And she's... particular about who she blesses.
Why are you telling me this?
Because in three days, when you stand before Councillor Serath, he will test the bond. He will push it. Try to break it. And if the Goddess hasn't accepted it by then She leans closer. it will shatter. And when it does, both of you will die. Slowly. Painfully. As punishment for trying to cheat fate.
I can't breathe.
How do I get her to accept it?
The woman's smile turns cold. That's the question, isn't it? She starts to fade, turning translucent. You have three days, Ember carrier. Three days to prove you're worthy of the bond you claimed. Three days to make the Goddess believe your love is real.
But I don't love him!
Then I suppose Her voice echoes from everywhere and nowhere. you'd better learn fast.
She vanishes completely.
Leaving me alone in the forest with the horrifying truth:
The bond that's supposed to save us might be the thing that kills us.
And I have three days to fall in love with a man who doesn't know how to be loved.