They ran through the night.
Not the controlled pace of their earlier travel—this was desperate, instinctive, survival. Kael led the way, silver eyes scanning the darkness, every sense stretched to its limit. Behind him, Elara struggled to keep up, her human lungs burning, her legs screaming, her marks blazing beneath her clothes.
She didn't complain. Didn't slow. Didn't give in to the terror clawing at her throat.
Because she could feel it too now.
The hunter.
Through the bond, through the seal, through something deeper than either—she felt it. A presence in the darkness behind them. Cold. Ancient. Hungry.
The master.
"He's found us." Dace's voice was tight as they paused at a ridge top. "Somehow, he's found us."
Kael's jaw tightened. "How? We moved in darkness. No fires. No tracks. How could he—"
"The blood." Elara's voice was barely a whisper. "The rogues who attacked me. They took my blood. Before Kael stopped them."
The group went still.
Cassian's face paled. "Blood magic. They can track you with it. From anywhere."
Lyra's hand went to her sword. "Then we can't outrun him. He'll always know where she is."
"Then we fight." Kael's voice was ice. "We find ground we can defend and we—"
"No." Elara shook her head. "We run. We keep running. Because if we stop, if we fight, we lose time. And time is the only thing that matters now." She touched her chest, where the marks pulsed with frantic energy. "The Blood Moon is in five days. If I'm not at the palace when it rises—"
She didn't finish. She didn't need to.
Kael's silver eyes met hers. In the darkness, they burned.
"Then we run." He turned to the group. "No stops. No rests. We move until we reach the valley. Everyone understand?"
Nods all around.
They ran.
---
The forest blurred around Elara.
She wasn't sure how she was keeping up anymore. Her body should have given out hours ago—lactic acid, oxygen debt, simple human limitations. But somehow, impossibly, she kept moving. Kept running. Kept surviving.
The wolf, she realized. She's helping. Pushing me. Keeping me going.
Thank you, she thought toward the warmth in her chest.
Always, came the reply. We do this together.
The bond pulsed with Kael's presence—worried, determined, fiercely protective. He stayed just ahead of her, close enough to catch if she fell, far enough to lead the way. Through their connection, she could feel his exhaustion too, his wounds from the champion fight still healing, his body demanding rest he refused to take.
For you, the bond seemed to whisper. Everything for you.
I know, she thought back. I feel it.
---
They ran until dawn.
By the time the sky began to lighten, Elara was barely conscious on her feet. The wolf inside her had pushed beyond any reasonable limit, but even she had boundaries. Black spots danced in Elara's vision. Her legs moved by instinct alone.
Kael caught her as she stumbled.
"Enough." His voice was rough. "We stop here. Rest. Just for a few hours."
"But the hunter—"
"Is still behind us. But if you collapse, we're all dead." He guided her toward a sheltered grove of ancient pines. "Cassian, Lyra—scout the perimeter. Dace, find us water."
The others moved. Kael lowered Elara to the soft moss beneath the largest pine.
"Sleep." His hand cupped her face. "I'll watch. I'll wake you if anything changes."
She wanted to argue. Needed to argue. But her eyes were already closing, her body already surrendering to exhaustion she couldn't fight.
The last thing she felt was Kael's lips on her forehead.
And the bond, warm and steady, wrapped around her like a shield.
---
She dreamed.
Not of the palace this time. Not of her mother. Not of silver wolves running through moonlight.
Of darkness.
Deep and cold and endless. A void where nothing lived, nothing breathed, nothing hoped. And in the center, a figure—tall, robed, face hidden in shadow.
Little princess, it whispered. Little lost heir. Did you think you could hide forever?
Elara tried to move. Couldn't. Tried to speak. Couldn't.
I have your blood, little one. I have your scent. I have your name. And soon—very soon—I'll have the rest of you.
The figure reached for her.
Hands like bones. Eyes like dying stars. Hunger that stretched across centuries.
Your mother screamed when I killed her. Your father begged. The servants ran and died and ran and died and none of it saved anyone. Do you want to know why?
Elara's marks blazed.
Because they couldn't protect you. Because they failed. Because I am inevitable, little princess, and now—finally—I've found you again.
The hands closed around her throat—
Elara woke screaming.
---
Kael was there instantly. Holding her. Murmuring. Here, I'm here, you're safe, it was just a dream—
But it wasn't. She knew it wasn't.
"He's close." Her voice shook. "The master. He's close. I saw him. I felt him."
Kael's face went pale. "How close?"
"I don't know. But he has my blood. He can track me. And he's—" She swallowed. "He's been hunting my family for two hundred years. He won't stop. He'll never stop."
Kael pulled her closer. "Then we'll make him stop. Together."
"How? He killed my parents. He killed everyone who tried to protect me. What can we possibly—"
"We can fight." His voice was fierce. "We can run. We can reach the palace and break your seal and become what you're meant to be. And then—" His silver eyes burned. "Then we hunt him."
Elara stared at him.
In his eyes, she saw something she'd never seen before. Not just determination. Not just protectiveness.
Rage.
Cold and deep and absolutely focused.
He's angry, she realized. Not for himself. For me. For what was taken from me. For what's trying to take me now.
The marks on her chest flared.
He's worthy, her wolf whispered. He's so close to worthy.
But not yet.
Not yet.
---
They moved again at dusk.
Four hours of restless sleep had helped—a little. Elara's legs still ached, her lungs still burned, but the black spots had faded from her vision. She could run. She would run.
The others moved in formation around her. Kael ahead, clearing the path. Cassian and Lyra flanking, watching for threats. Dace behind, covering their tracks, reading the ancient landmarks that guided them toward the valley.
"How much further?" Lyra asked as they paused at another ridge.
Dace consulted the stars. "Two more nights. Maybe three, if we have to keep stopping."
"We can't keep stopping." Elara's voice was firm. "The master's gaining. I can feel it."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Then we don't stop. We run through the day if we have to. We reach that palace or die trying."
Die trying.
The words hung in the air.
No one argued.
---
The second night was worse.
The terrain grew rougher—rocky outcroppings, steep ravines, forests so dense they had to slow to a walk. Elara's body screamed with every step. Her marks pulsed with heat, with warning, with the certain knowledge that something was behind them.
Closer now. Always closer.
Kael stayed near her, his hand often on her arm, her back, her waist—touching, reassuring, claiming. Through the bond, she felt his exhaustion, his pain, his desperate determination.
And something else.
Love.
Not the frantic obsession of before. Not the possessive instinct of a wolf protecting what's his.
Love. Quiet and deep and absolutely certain.
He loves me, she thought wonderingly. He doesn't understand why. Doesn't know what I am. But he loves me.
The realization nearly brought her to her knees.
If he loves me—if it's real—then maybe—
Maybe he's worthy.
Maybe the seal will break and I'll survive and we'll—
A howl split the night.
Not wolf. Something else. Something that made the hair on her arms stand up and her blood turn to ice.
The hunter's hounds.
---
"Run." Kael's voice was sharp. "Now."
They ran.
The forest became a blur—trees whipping past, branches slashing at their faces, the ground treacherous beneath their feet. Elara didn't think. Didn't plan. Just ran, her wolf pushing her faster, harder, further than any human should be able to go.
Behind them, the howls grew closer.
Something was gaining on them. Something fast. Something hungry.
"Kael!" Cassian's voice was urgent. "There's too many. We can't outrun them all."
"Then we fight." Kael's eyes found Elara. "You keep running. Don't stop. Don't look back. The palace is that way—" He pointed. "Dace will guide you. We'll hold them here."
"No." Elara grabbed his arm. "I'm not leaving you."
"You're not leaving me. You're surviving." His voice was fierce. "You're reaching that palace and breaking your seal and becoming what you're meant to be. And then—" He pulled her close, kissed her hard and desperate. "Then you come find me. Alive."
"Kael—"
"Go." He pushed her toward Dace. "Protect her with your life."
Dace nodded once. Grabbed Elara's arm. Pulled her into the darkness.
Behind them, the howls grew louder.
And then the fighting began.
---
Elara ran.
Tears streamed down her face. Her chest burned—not just from exertion, but from the bond, from Kael's pain, from the sounds of battle she couldn't see but felt with every fiber of her being.
He's hurt, the bond screamed. He's fighting. He's—
A pulse of warmth.
Alive. Still alive. Keep running.
I'm coming back, she thought toward him. I swear I'm coming back.
I know.
The bond went quiet.
Too quiet.
Kael?
Nothing.
KAEL?
Still nothing.
Elara's steps faltered. Her heart stopped.
"Keep moving!" Dace's voice was sharp. "If you stop, his sacrifice means nothing!"
Sacrifice.
The word was a knife in her chest.
But Dace was right. If she stopped—if she let this moment destroy her—then everything Kael had done meant nothing.
She ran.
---
The night stretched into forever.
Elara lost track of time. Lost track of distance. Lost track of everything except the burning need to move, to reach, to survive.
Dace stayed with her. Silent. Determined. Occasionally checking behind them for pursuit that never came.
The others held them, she realized. Kael held them.
But at what cost?
The bond remained silent.
She didn't know if that meant he was dead. Or unconscious. Or simply too far away to reach.
She didn't know anything except the running.
---
Dawn broke over a valley shrouded in mist.
Elara stumbled to a halt at the ridge top. Below her, the mist swirled and eddied, hiding whatever lay beneath. But through it, she could see something—a gleam of white, a flash of silver, the suggestion of towers reaching toward the sky.
"The palace." Dace's voice was awed. "We found it."
Elara stared at the mist-shrouded ruins.
Home, something whispered. Come home.
But she couldn't feel joy. Couldn't feel relief. Couldn't feel anything except the silence where Kael's presence should have been.
I made it, she thought toward the bond. I made it to the palace.
Please be alive.
Please.
No answer.
Just silence.
And the mist, waiting to swallow her whole.
---
End of Chapter 14🐺