AYLA'S POV
Snow drifted through the clearing like falling ash, settling over the scorched runes and splintered branches. My hands still trembled, faint silver light pulsing beneath the skin before winking out. I felt hollow.
Kael knelt beside me, his massive frame shadowing me from the icy wind. His golden eyes flicked over my face, searching, calculating—then softening in a way only I ever saw.
"You're bleeding," he said gruffly.
I glanced down. Blood smeared my arm, but it wasn't mine. "Not enough to matter."
"What happened to the bond?" His voice was a low growl, more wolf than man. "I felt it… slip."
"It didn't break." My throat tightened as I forced the words out. "But it's frayed. Weak. Whatever that… thing was—it tried to sever us."
Kael's hand clenched into a fist in the snow. His wolf simmered under his skin, rage vibrating in the air around him.
"She conjured a scentless god," he said, voice cold as steel. "Something that shouldn't exist."
