AYLA'S POV
Kael's face blurred through the haze—his mouth moving, voice drowned by the pulse in my veins. Every heartbeat was thunder. Every breath burned like frostfire.
The power didn't feel like mine anymore. It crawled under my skin, a living thing, whispering in the Moon Tongue—the same words I'd heard from the Watchers. Balance restored. Shadow remembered.
"Kael…" I reached for him, fingers trembling. "I can't—control it—"
He caught my wrists, grounding pressure against the storm in my chest. "Then let me."
"No!" The word tore out too loud. Sparks flared between us. "If you touch me, it'll kill you!"
He shook his head, stubborn as ever. "Then we die together."
The bond flared. Heat. Light. Memory. My mind filled with flashes of us—his hand on my back the night we escaped the dungeon, his laugh in the Outlands rain, the way his wolf had bowed when mine rose from the temple.
