Everly's POV
I couldn't move.
Water freezing, dark water closed over my head. My lungs screamed for air. My arms flailed, looking for something, anything to grab onto.
I broke the surface with a gasp, choking and coughing. Snow fell into my open mouth. The current pulled at me, trying to drag me under again.
A river. I'd fallen into a river at the bottom of the cliff. "Help!" I screamed, but the wind tore the word away. "KAEL!"
Above me, somewhere in the darkness and snow, I heard growling. Fighting. The wolves were still fighting.
Was Kael alive? Was he winning?
The current spun me around, and my shoulder slammed into a rock. Pain burst through me. I cried out, drinking more water.
I was going to die. Alone in a frozen river on Christmas morning, and nobody would even know.
My fingers brushed against something, a branch hanging low over the water. I grabbed it with both hands, holding on with everything I had. The current pulled hard, trying to rip me away. "Come on," I sobbed through chattering teeth. "Come on, Everly. Move."
I pulled myself along the branch, inch by painful inch, until my feet touched something solid. A rock. Then another. I half-crawled, half-dragged myself onto the snowy bank and fell.
Everything hurt. My clothes were frozen solid. My fingers wouldn't bend. But I was living.
A howl rang through the forest long and mournful.
Kael? Or one of the others?
I forced myself to stand, my legs shaking so hard I almost fell again. I had to find him. Had to know if he was okay.
Even if he was a wolf. Even if this were all impossible and crazy.
He'd tried to save me. That meant something.
I stumbled through the trees, following the sounds of fighting. My feet were numb. I couldn't feel my hands. But I kept moving.
The sounds stopped suddenly.
Silence fell over the trees, heavy and wrong. "Kael?" I called out, my voice weak. "Kael, where are you?"
Something moved in the shadows ahead. A shape, big and dark.
I froze.
The shape stepped into a patch of moonlight breaking through the clouds.
It was him. The silver dog. Kael.
Relief flooded through me so strongly that my knees buckled. "You're alive."
He limped toward me and favored his front left leg. Blood matted his fur in several places. But his blue eyes were alert, focused completely on me.
When he reached me, he shifted.
I'd seen it before, but it still stole my breath. Bones are breaking and reforming. For receding. In seconds, the man stood before me, naked and bleeding. "You're freezing," he said, his voice rough. He pulled off what was left of the blanket he'd been wearing earlier and wrapped it around my shoulders. "You need warmth. Now." "You're hurt," I argued, my teeth chattering so hard I could barely speak. "The others" "Dead or fled. Silas got away." His jaw clenched. "But he won't stop. He'll come back with more." "Why? Why does he want to kill me?"
Kael cupped my face in his warm hands, and that link flared between us again. "Because you make me stronger. The mate bond is the most powerful force our kind has. With you by my side, I'm nearly unbeatable. Without you, I'm vulnerable." "So I'm just a weapon to you?" The words came out bitter. "A tool for your power?"
His eyes softened. "No. You're everything. The bond doesn't work that way; it only forms between souls meant to be together. I didn't choose you because of power. Fate picked us for each other."
I wanted to fight. Wanted to say this was all crazy. But standing there in his arms, feeling his warmth seep into my frozen body, feeling that rightness between us, I couldn't deny it anymore.
Something was happening. Something real. "I need to get you somewhere safe," Kael said. "Somewhere warm. Can you walk?" "I think so."
He kept one arm around me as we moved through the trees. I had no idea where we were going, but I trusted him. That should have scared me more than it did.
After what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, we emerged into a small area. A house sat in the center, barely visible through the falling snow. "Hunting house," Kael explained. "I used to come here before I became king."
He kicked the door open and guided me inside. It was dark and cold, but at least the wind couldn't reach us. Kael found matches and lit a fire in the stone fireplace. Flames sprang to life, making dancing shadows on the walls. "Get out of those wet clothes," he ordered, turning his back to give me peace. "There should be blankets in the chest by the window."
My fingers were so numb I could barely work the buttons. Everything was frozen solid. But finally, I managed to strip down and wrap myself in dusty but dry blankets. "Okay," I said softly.
Kael turned back, and something in his face made my heart skip. Not greedy. Not possessive. Just... worried. Like I actually mattered to him.
He sat beside me in front of the fire, close enough that I could feel his body heat. We didn't speak for a long moment, just watched the flames. "Tell me about yourself," he said finally. "The real you. Not just the vet who saves wolves in snowstorms." "There's not much to tell." I pulled the blankets tighter. "I've always loved animals. People are... harder." "Why?"
The question was easy, but the answer wasn't. I'd never told anyone the whole truth. But sitting here with Kael, with death so close behind us, the words spilled out. "My parents died on Christmas. Car crash on an icy road. I was fourteen." My voice cracked. "Everyone said it was just bad luck. Wrong place, wrong time. But I blamed the holiday. If it hadn't been Christmas Eve, if we hadn't been driving to my grandmother's house, if I hadn't begged them to go even though the weather was bad, "It wasn't your fault." Kael's voice was firm. "I know that now. Logically." I wiped my eyes. "But Christmas still feels like the day I lost everything. So I stopped partying. Stopped trying to be part of that world." "You buried yourself in work. In saving others." He understood. I could hear it in his words. "So you wouldn't have to face being alone."
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. "I understand," Kael said quietly. "I became king at twenty-five when my father was killed. I've spent the last eight years trying to be worthy of his memory, trying to be strong for my people. But strength needs distance. Kings can't afford weakness. Can't afford attachments." "Is that what I am?" I asked. "An attachment?"
He turned to face me fully, his blue eyes intense in the firelight. "You're the first person in eight years who makes me feel like more than just a king. Like I'm still just... Kael."
The weakness in his voice broke something open inside me. "I'm scared," I admitted. "Of all of this. Of you. Of what I'm feeling." "I know." He brushed a piece of wet hair from my face. "I'm scared too. The bond makes you a target. Every enemy I have will come for you. And I have many enemies." "Like Silas." "He's just the beginning." Kael's face darkened. "If you come with me to Winterfang, to my kingdom, your life will never be simple again. There will be politics, risk, people who hate you just for being human." "But?" "But you'll also be safe. Honored. And you'll never be alone again." His hand found mine. "I can't promise you easy. But I can promise you'll always matter. Always be valued."
I stared at our joined hands. He's so big and strong. Mine is small and scarred from years of dealing with animals. "What if I say no?" I whispered. "What if I want to go back to my normal life?"
Pain flashed across his face. "Then I'll protect you from afar. Make sure Silas and the others never touch you. But the bond will hurt. For both of us. Like a piece of our souls is missing."
I already felt it. That pull toward him. That warmth when we touched.
Could I really walk away from that? "I need time," I said. "To think. To understand what this means." "Time is something we don't have much of." Kael stood, walking to the window. "Silas will regroup. He'll bring more dogs. Maybe even challenge my right to the throne directly." "Because of me?" "Because of what you represent. Change. A human queen. It threatens everything the old ways stand for." He turned back, his face grim. "There's something else you need to know. Something I felt when you healed me."
My stomach dropped. "What?" "You're not fully human, Everly."
The world stopped. "That's impossible. I'm my parents were human. I'm human." "Your healing touch. The way you settled me when I was dying. The way the bond formed so quickly." He moved closer. "Those aren't human skills. You have wolf blood in you. Distant, maybe. Hidden. But it's there."
I shook my head furiously. "No. No, that's not possible." "Feel it." He took my hand and pressed it against his chest, over his heart. "Feel the truth."
I did feel it. A warmth spreads from my palm, a tingling feeling. And something else, a knowing, deep in my bones, that he was right. "My mother," I breathed. "She always knew when animals were sick. She could calm them with just a touch. I thought it was just a skill, but" It was magic," Kael finished. "Wolf power. Which means someone in your family was one of us."
The cabin door burst inward.
Three wolves burst through, growling and snapping. Behind them, Silas walked in wearing human form, a cruel smile on his face. "Found you," he said. "How sweet. The king and his little pet, all alone."
Kael shifted instantly, putting himself between me and the threat. But I could see he was tired, hurt. He couldn't fight them all.
Silas laughed. "Kill her. Now."
The wolves lunged.
And something inside me, something I didn't know existed, woke up.