The scream tore through Kael's chest without warning.
He staggered in the council chamber, one hand slamming into the stone table as pain exploded through his ribs, sharp and breath-stealing. The elders froze mid-argument. Papers scattered. Guards reached for weapons, unsure what threat had struck their Alpha.
Kael barely heard them.
The bond burned.
Not the dull ache he had lived with since Elara left. Not the distant throb he had trained himself to ignore. This was violent. Sudden. Alive.
"She's alive," he rasped.
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
Elder Thorne frowned. "Who?"
Kael straightened slowly, forcing control back into his limbs. His jaw tightened. "Dismissed."
The room emptied fast. No one argued when his voice sounded like that.
When he was alone, Kael dragged in a deep breath and pressed his fist against his chest. The pain pulsed again, then steadied into something worse than agony.
Awareness.
The bond was no longer fading.
It was awake.
Three years earlier, Elara had crossed the pack border and vanished like smoke. Searches had turned up nothing. Nobody. No blood. Just absence. Kael had told himself that silence meant death. It was easier that way.
Now the bond told him otherwise.
"She lived," he muttered.
And wherever she was, she was strong enough for the bond to find him again.
The Frostveil region lay far from Silver Fang territory, hidden behind mountains and old magic. Snow dusted the high ridges even under the sun. The air smelled cleaner there, sharper, untouched by pack politics.
Elara moved through the Frostveil market with steady steps, a woven basket tucked against her hip.
"Slow down," a small voice complained.
Elara smiled and slowed instantly. "You were the one who wanted to come."
Mira huffed, tiny arms crossed over her chest. She walked beside Elara, dark curls bouncing with each step. Her eyes, silver and too aware for her age, scanned everything with calm interest.
"I wanted berries," Mira said. "Not people."
"That's unfortunate," Elara replied lightly. "People tend to exist."
A few wolves nodded respectfully as they passed. Some smiled at Mira. Others bowed their heads slightly toward Elara. She noticed it without reacting. Respect had become familiar here, earned quietly over time.
"Mother," Mira said suddenly, tugging at her sleeve. "Your heart is loud."
Elara paused.
"What do you mean?"
Mira tilted her head, listening to something only she could hear. "It's shouting."
Elara's chest tightened. She placed a hand over her heart instinctively, steadying her breath.
"It's nothing," she said. "Just tired."
Mira frowned, unconvinced, but nodded anyway.
They reached their small stone house near the edge of the Frostveil territory. It wasn't large, but it was solid. Warm. Safe.
Rowan waited near the door, arms crossed, his expression tense.
"You felt it too," Elara said before he could speak.
Rowan nodded. "The air shifted. Old magic stirred."
Her fingers curled slightly. "The bond woke up."
"That can only mean one thing," Rowan said carefully. "He knows you live."
Elara looked down at Mira, who was now crouched near the doorway, drawing shapes in the dirt with her finger. The symbols glowed faintly before fading.
Elara's stomach clenched.
"Inside," she said softly.
Mira obeyed without question.
Rowan watched her go. "She's stronger every day."
"I know."
"And dangerous," he added.
"So am I," Elara replied.
Kael did not sleep that night.
He stood on the balcony of the Alpha house, staring out at land that felt suddenly smaller. The bond pulled, a steady ache now, directional. Not enough to show him where she was. Enough to tell him she was far.
"She hid from me," he said quietly.
No. She survived without him.
The realization hurt more than the bond itself.
A guard approached carefully. "Alpha, Lyra asks—"
"No," Kael snapped.
The guard fled.
Kael closed his eyes. Images flashed behind his lids, unbidden. Elara's calm face. Her steady voice. The way she had walked away without begging.
She had been pregnant.
The thought struck him hard, sharp enough to steal his breath.
"No," he said aloud.
But the bond pulsed once, slow and heavy.
Confirmation.
Kael gripped the railing until stone cracked beneath his fingers.
A child.
His.
Elara woke before dawn, heart racing.
The bond burned faintly, like a warning ember. She sat up slowly, pressing her palm to her chest, breathing through it.
"Still there," she murmured.
Mira stirred beside her. "He's loud again."
Elara brushed curls from her daughter's face. "Go back to sleep."
Mira yawned, but her eyes stayed open. "Is he angry?"
"No," Elara said. "He's confused."
Mira considered that. "That's worse."
Elara smiled faintly.
When Mira slept again, Elara rose and dressed quietly. She stepped outside, letting the cold air clear her head.
Rowan joined her moments later. "You're leaving Frostveil territory."
"I'm not running," Elara said. "But I won't let him reach Mira unprepared."
Rowan studied her. "He was your mate."
"He was my mistake," Elara replied calmly.
Rowan nodded once. "Then we prepare."
Kael stood at the Silver Fang border by noon.
The runes carved into the boundary stone glowed faintly as he approached, responding to the Alpha blood in his veins. He stopped inches from it.
Beyond lay land he did not control.
For the first time in his life, power did not follow him.
"Elara," he said, voice low.
The bond answered with a dull ache.
She did not.
Kael straightened slowly.
"She crossed this once," he said. "And lived."
He turned back toward his pack, decision settling heavy in his chest.
He would find her.
Not as an Alpha.
Not as a commander.
But as the man who had broken something precious and lived to regret it.
Far away, Elara stood on Frostveil's highest ridge, Mira's small hand clasped in hers. She felt the bond tug, steady and insistent, like a distant drum.
She did not turn toward it.
She tightened her grip on her daughter's hand and stared forward, eyes calm, spine straight.
The Luna he rejected had returned.
And she wasn't his anymore.