Chapter Forty-Two: Syncing Hearts
Hazel's Pov
The clearing smelled of crushed pine and damp smoke, the night air thick and watchful around us. Lucien moved like a shadow between the ancient, gnarled trees, his presence calm, exacting, and impossible to ignore. He wasn't just a teacher anymore; he was the architect of our unification.
"You're not ready for the war ahead unless you can be honest," he said, his voice soft but firm, cutting through the mountain chill. "No masks. No ego. No holding back. Soul-Binding isn't magic if there are secrets left in the dark to rot."
I frowned, my arms crossed tightly over my chest as the wind bit at my skin. "You're making it sound like therapy, Lucien. We have an army of Hollowed and Oni on the horizon. Do we really have time for this?"
Caleb snorted beside me, though his eyes were weary. "You'd love therapy, Hazel. You could finally tell someone how much you hate everyone."
"Not funny," I snapped, though the usual venom wasn't there.
The truth was, I hated this because it demanded a vulnerability I wasn't sure I had left in me. I had built my life on high walls and sharp blades. Lucien was asking me to tear them down while the world was still on fire.
Lucien ignored our bickering. "Stand here." He gestured toward two concentric circles etched into the black dirt, glowing with a faint, rhythmic blue light in the moonlight. "Soul-Binding is the ultimate link between hearts and minds. It is the bridge between power and intent. If one of you lies… if one of you hides a single shadow… the bridge collapses. And you with it."
I felt the Red Wolf's power bristle inside me at the warning. Caleb exhaled a heavy breath, his broad shoulders tensing under his leather jacket.
"Do we hold hands?" I asked, my sarcasm a thin shield for my racing pulse.
Lucien didn't bother answering. He stepped back, letting the ritual circles pulse in a pale, haunting blue. "Place your palms on the symbols. And speak the truths you've buried."
We obeyed. Slowly. Hesitantly.
My hand brushed against Caleb's first. His skin was warm, steady, and grounding. A jolt of electricity shivered through my entire frame, but it wasn't the supernatural surge of the bond. It was just him. The man behind the myth.
"Tell me your fear," Lucien instructed from the darkness.
I swallowed hard, the words sticking in my throat. "I… I'm afraid," I began, my voice tight and small, "that I'll lose myself in the fight. That the Red Wolf will become all I am. That I'll become someone I hate—someone who can't, or won't, stop the killing when the war is finally over."
Caleb's fingers squeezed mine lightly, his touch a silent anchor. "That's not you, Hazel," he murmured.
"I don't know that for sure," I admitted, finally daring to meet his eyes. "Everything in my life has been blood and betrayal. I don't even remember what it feels like to be just me anymore. Without a target. Without a grudge."
He leaned in, pressing his forehead against mine. The contact was electric. "You're not alone in that. You'll never have to find out who you are alone again. I swear it on my life."
I exhaled a shaky breath, the weight of the moment pressing down on me. "And you?" I whispered. "What about your fear?"
Caleb's breath caught, sounding raw and painfully human. "I'm afraid of failing you. I'm afraid of being the weak link that breaks us. I'm terrified that my guilt—over Magnus, over the things I did when I thought I was protecting the pack—will ruin what little trust you've given me. I'm afraid of losing you because of the man I used to be."
I flinched, my heart aching for him. "You're human, Caleb. You're allowed to have a past. You're allowed to be afraid."
He shook his head slightly, his forehead still against mine. "No. Not when our souls are linked. Not when I care this much. About you. About us."
Lucien circled us like a predator assessing a kill. "Now the truth that hurts," he said quietly. "The secret you've never told a living soul."
I hesitated. My throat tightened as if invisible hands were closing around it. Flora was a silent weight at the back of my mind.
"I… I'm terrified of losing Flora," I admitted, the confession feeling like a jagged stone leaving my chest. "Not because I don't trust her, but because she's part of my sanity. And lately… she's been distant. Ignoring me. Punishing me with a silence I don't understand. I feel like I've failed the very thing that makes me powerful."
Caleb's grip tightened, his thumb stroking the back of my hand. "Flora is ancient, Hazel. Sometimes she needs space to process the shifts in the world, just like we do. She hasn't left you. She's just waiting for you to be ready for the next level."
I nodded, desperately wanting to believe him. "And you? What secret is keeping this bond from being a perfect circle?"
He exhaled a long, ragged breath. "I've been scared that if I let myself love you fully… if I let every wall down, I'll break you. That my darkness is contagious. I've been holding back a part of my heart because I thought I was protecting you from it."
I tightened my grip on his hand, my fingers interlaced with his. "Caleb… look at me. You can't break what's already been through the forge. We're flawed. We've survived centuries of being broken. We can survive being honest, too."
The circles beneath our feet flared with a brilliant, blinding light, reacting to the raw truth vibrating between us. Lucien nodded slowly, his silhouette fading into the glow. "Good. This is the beginning. Not just of the Red Wolf's power… but of true trust."
I felt the Red Wolf's energy settle inside me, no longer a turbulent storm, but a vast, calm ocean. The tension that had lived in my shoulders for years finally eased.
Caleb leaned closer, his voice a soft vibration against my skin. "Do you trust me, Hazel?"
I closed my eyes, letting the light of the ritual wash over us. "With everything," I admitted. "Even when I'm scared. Especially then."
The Soul-Binding flared one last time, a pulse of pure, white-hot energy that synchronized our heartbeats into one single, thunderous thrum. For a moment, I could see the real him—the soul that had waited lifetimes for this synchronization.
"End the link," Lucien commanded.
Reluctantly, we pulled our hands away. The energy lingered like a phantom hum against our palms. It was a promise. A tether.
I looked at Caleb. For the first time since the capital fell, I felt… whole. No longer just a girl with a wolf or a soldier with a mission.
"And Flora?" Caleb asked, his eyes searching mine.
"She's still quiet," I admitted, looking toward the dark treeline. "But she's there. She's testing the new strength of the bond. She's waiting for the war."
Caleb nodded, a determined glint in his eyes. "Then we'll give her one. Together."
The night held us in its embrace—two halves of a prehistoric heartbeat, finally synced.
Hazel Thornblood was no longer afraid of the dark. She was the one who brought the light.