The forest blurred past in streaks of green and brown, Kael's breath ragged in his throat. Each step sent jolts of pain up his legs, but he gritted his teeth and pushed forward. Blood soaked through his fingers, warm and slick, dripping steadily onto the forest floor as he ran. The copper scent filled his nose, dulling his other senses.
He couldn't hear them anymore, yet bullets kept raining down on him.
One flew passed his head, then another. The third bullet caught him in the thigh, sending him sprawling. His shoulder slammed into a nearby tree, the impact knocking the air from his lungs. Kael dropped to his knees in the mud, each movement sending fresh waves of agony through his body. But his wolf was silent. That was the most terrifying part. Usually, the beast lived right beneath his skin, pacing behind his ribs, ready to burst forth in a whirlwind of fur and carnage.
Now, there was only a void. A cold, suffocating silence had wrapped around his heart the moment the first bullet struck.
With what little strength he had left, Kael turned, lifting his head toward the thick canopy of trees. Leaves filtered the afternoon light into scattered patches of gold and green, but beyond them, the sky stretched empty and indifferent. He wanted to see who would be responsible for his death. His amber eyes scanned the shadows between the branches, searching for movement, for anything at all.
But there was nothing.
Only the faint sound of cars rushing past on the highway somewhere in the distance, their engines humming like insects.
He hadn't gotten very far at all.
Fuck. Is this how I die, he thought.
Something had called to him, a whisper he couldn't place, tugging at his wolf until he'd followed it straight into gunfire.
His fingers clenched around the wound, trying to stem the bleeding, and the metal taste of it coated his tongue. Kael's jaw tightened as darkness crept from the edges of his vision.
When another bullet tore through his skin, striking just over where his heart was. The impact lifted him slightly off the ground before gravity claimed him again.
Everything went black.
For a moment it felt like he was floating in space. There was no pain, only the faint lingering scent of something floral that had drawn him closer to the human world in the first place.
Jasmine.
He'd caught that same fragrance yesterday morning, drifting in through the window.
It felt like an unmeasurable amount of time had passed where he was engulfed in this strange calm, before Kael faintly heard distant voices, he couldn't make out what they were saying, but they were there.
Somewhat far away.
Suddenly the pain returned in full force and he grunted, dragged violently from the dreamlike void.
The agony burning through his chest was unimaginable—unlike anything he had ever experienced. It forced his eyes open with a weak scream. His vision swam, but he could faintly make out Aeron, his Alpha, holding him down with crushing force. Kael was sure his shoulders would snap at any moment.
But the pain didn't matter. Not when his wolf was screaming inside his skull, not when the metallic tang of his own blood filled his mouth with every laboured breath.
Kael tried to speak, to ask what had happened, but only blood bubbled from his lips.
Kael's vision flickered between Mirela's dark face and the glowing blade in her hand. Her ritual scars seemed to pulse in the dim light filtering through the cabin.
"What are you—" His body convulsed beneath Aeron's grip, his back arching off the bed, cutting his words shut as something foreign surged through his veins. It wasn't his wolf, this was something else entirely, something that felt dangerously close to possession.
"No, no, no," he croaked, thrashing against the invisible restraints, when his head snapped to the side and his amber eyes met a familiar pair like his. "Lyra?" Kael's voice came out small, nothing like the warrior he was.
"Yes, Kael. It's me," she said quickly, moving closer towards him. "Everything is going to be okay."
Kael's hand twitched against the blanket and Lyra reached for it, instinctively, but the moment her fingers brushed his skin he jerked away with a weak shake of his head.
"No—don't." His breath came in ragged bursts. "It burns, Lyra… gods, it fucking burns." The words tore out of him in a desperate whimper. "Make it stop."
Lyra's chest tightened so sharply it stole her breath. She looked up at Aeron, tears already blurring her vision. Watching her brother like this, helpless, shaking, breaking apart in front of her, felt like someone driving a blade straight through her ribs.
"Aeron…" Her voice cracked.
Then she forced herself to look back at Kael, cupping the side of his face with trembling fingers. "Kael, listen to me," she whispered, though her words shook. "You're going to be okay. Do you hear me? Mirela is here… she's going to fix this. She'll make it stop."
But Kael barely seemed to hear her. "Please," he rasped, his voice small now, fragile in a way Lyra had never heard before. "Lyra… please make it stop, it burns." Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cold seeping into his bones.
The presence inside him writhed, seeking purchase in his mind. His wolf snarled in confusion, unable to comprehend what was happening. Kael's vision doubled, then tripled, colours bleeding together until everything became a haze of motion and sound.
Lyra turned toward Mirela, panic finally breaking through the fragile control she'd been clinging to.
"Mirela," she said, the desperation naked in her voice, "whatever you're going to do—do it now. Please."
The red steel reflected in Mirela's glasses as she stepped closer, positioning herself beside Aeron. As she carefully pressed the heated blade directly over Kael's heart, forcing it down with all the strength she had.
Kael's scream tore through the cold night, his wolf howled inside him, wild and terrified, clawing to break free.
Then his body finally gave out, and darkness folded over him like a shroud, pulling him under. He didn't fight it. Couldn't, even if he'd wanted to. For a moment, he was at peace.