KAEL'S POV
Darkness had a sound. It was her name.
"Ayla."
Over and over — whispered, screamed, begged — until it didn't sound like her anymore, but something breaking beneath my ribs.
I didn't remember when the light stopped. Only that it left me hollow. My body was heavy, my wolf thrashing in chains I couldn't see. I could smell her — silver and honey and pain — but I couldn't reach her. The corruption had teeth now. It had me.
"She's mine,"it whispered. "She always was."
"No," I snarled into the dark. "You don't get to touch her."
"You already did."
The voice wasn't a stranger anymore. It was wearing my tone. My heartbeat. My hunger. Every word echoed like it came from inside my bones.
"She's not yours," I said. "Not even mine. She's—"
"what you can't protect."
That stopped me cold.
Images bled through the dark: Ayla in chains. Ayla's blood on my hands. Ayla turning away, whispering Rylan's name instead of mine. Every nightmare I'd buried cracked open.
