Chapter 19: The Return
The descent from the Aethon spires was a silent, grim affair. Corvus flew them down, his grip impersonal and efficient. The hopeful curiosity that had marked their arrival was gone, replaced by the heavy weight of a desperate mission.
Riven, infuriatingly, had simply vanished as he had appeared, leaving only a lingering scent of cherries and ozone and a world-altering proposition.
When Corvus deposited them at the edge of the Silvermane territory, he gave Astra one last, long look. "The Aethon will fortify the skies around the Shattered Glen. We will be your shield. You must forge the sword. Do not fail, Human."
With a powerful beat of his wings, he was gone, a dark speck against the sun.
The moment her feet touched the familiar earth, a wave of relief so potent it made her dizzy washed over her. And then, he was there.
Kaelen emerged from the tree line at a dead run. He didn't stop, didn't slow. He crossed the distance in a heartbeat and swept her into his arms, crushing her against his chest. His entire body was trembling.
You're safe. You're here. The words weren't spoken, but flooded through the bond, a torrent of fear, relief, and a love so fierce it stole her breath.
"I'm here," she whispered into his neck, clinging to him, breathing in the scent of home.
He pulled back just enough to cradle her face and kiss her, and this kiss was nothing like the first. It was not a claim or a farewell, but a reunion. It was deep, tender, and filled with a vulnerability he never showed anyone else. It was the kiss of a man who had faced the very real possibility of a world without her in it.
Lykos tactfully looked away, a small, knowing smile on his face.
When they finally broke apart, Kaelen's eyes searched hers. "I felt it. That... cold. That nothingness. What happened up there, Astra?"
She told him everything. The sentient Rot, the faceless general, the Seer's vision, and finally, Riven's insane solution. She watched the emotions play across his face—shock, fury, disbelief, and finally, a grim, resigned acceptance.
When she finished, he was silent for a long time, his arms still wrapped tightly around her.
"So," he said, his voice a low rumble. "To save the world, I must share you with the fox. And the bird." The jealousy and possessiveness in the bond were a hot, sharp sting.
"It's not about sharing, Kaelen," she said softly, placing a hand on his heart. "It's about uniting. It's about taking the thing that makes us strong—our bond—and using it to make everyone strong. It's the ultimate extension of what we started here. Turning one pack into an alliance."
He knew she was right. She could feel the logic warring with his deeply ingrained instincts. The Wolf Alpha did not share his mate. But the Wolf Alpha would also burn the world to save his pack. And this was the only way to save it.
He let out a long, slow breath, the fight draining out of him. He rested his forehead against hers. "I hate this."
"I know," she said. "Me too."
"But I hate the thought of that Rot touching you even more." He pulled back, and his ice-blue eyes were filled with a new, determined fire. "So. How do we tame a fox?"
The plan was set in motion. The first step was the most dangerous: opening communications with the Boar-Tusk tribe. They were the immediate, terrestrial threat, and their strength would be crucial—or their corruption, disastrous.
Astra, Kaelen, and a full contingent of Silvermane warriors approached the agreed-upon neutral ground—a rocky plain between their territories. The Boar-Tusk Alpha, Grom, was already there, surrounded by his own brutish warriors. He was a mountain of muscle and tusks, his small eyes blazing with hatred.
"This is a trick, Silvermane," Grom snarled. "You come to beg for mercy?"
"We come to offer you a chance to survive," Kaelen responded, his voice cutting through the tension. "A threat is coming that makes our squabble look like pups fighting over a bone."
Grom laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "More lies!"
Then, Astra stepped forward. She held up her hand, and using a trickle of energy from her bond with Kaelen and a suggestion from the System, she projected the Seer's vision of the Shattered Glen and its corrupted guards into the air between the two factions.
The Boar-Tusks stared, their jeers dying in their throats as they saw the twisted, monstrous forms of their own kind—corrupted boar-men with tusks of obsidian and eyes of void—prowling the blighted land.
"That is the enemy," Astra said, her voice ringing with conviction. "It doesn't want your territory. It wants your very essence. It will turn you into that. And it is coming."
She met Grom's shocked gaze. "We can fight each other and all become slaves to that hunger. Or we can stand together. The choice is yours."
The Boar-Tusk Alpha looked from the horrifying vision to Astra's determined face, to Kaelen's grim one. The calculus of power in the Beastworld had just been irrevocably shattered. The first brick in the foundation of the alliance had been laid, not in friendship, but in shared, utter terror.