Keera bolted toward the back of the ridge, snow spraying beneath her boots. She didn't shift—couldn't. The ritual had drained too much from her. But she moved fast, fueled by desperation and fury.
Kael didn't give her more than three seconds.
His claws tore through the ground as he launched after her, the storm parting around his massive form. Snow hissed under the heat of his breath. The curse glowed faintly across his fur—an echo of the violent power still simmering under his skin.
Ysolde staggered, catching herself against the ice. The connection between them thrummed like a drumbeat beneath her ribs—heavy, insistent, alive. She felt Kael's pursuit like a physical pull, a thread tightening with each murderous stride he took.
Not fear.
Not hatred.
But something raw, primal, unyielding.
Claiming.
Keera skidded over the ridge and disappeared behind a jagged formation of stone. Kael followed with terrifying speed, a shadow and a storm made one.
Ysolde forced her legs to move. She followed them, stumbling over broken runes and corpses, breath clouding in wild bursts. Her body felt wrong—too light, too aware, too connected to him.
The ridge opened into a narrow pass, the walls steep and glimmering with frost.
Keera's voice echoed sharply through the corridor:
"Stay back! I command you—!"
Kael answered with a roar that shook shards of ice loose from the cliffs.
Ysolde rounded the bend just in time to see him crash into Keera.
He pinned her against the stone with one massive paw, claws digging into her cloak, slicing through fabric. Keera's breath left her in a strangled gasp as the impact jolted her entire body.
Kael's fury radiated off him in waves so powerful Ysolde felt it physically, like heat rolling across her skin.
Keera tried to speak, but Kael lunged closer, his jaws closing inches from her throat.
"You hurt her," he growled, the words twisted through his monstrous form, deep and distorted.
"You bled her. You bound her. You tried to break what is mine."
Keera spat blood onto the snow. "She's nothing. A human. A mistake your father would have drowned at birth."
Kael's claws tightened.
The stones beneath her cracked.
Keera gasped, choking on her own breath. Still, defiance flared in her crimson eyes.
"You think binding yourself to her will save you? She'll be the end of you."
Kael's growl was low and lethal.
"I'll take my chances."
He slammed her against the stone again. Snow fell from the ledges above.
Keera coughed, pain twisting her face. Still she managed to smile—unhinged, triumphant.
"You can't protect her," she whispered. "Not from my Alpha. Not from what he wants."
Kael froze.
His claws didn't loosen, but his eyes narrowed, silver sharpening to a blade's edge.
Keera sucked in a shaking breath and continued, voice cracking:
"The Crimson Alpha ordered the ritual. He wants the girl alive. He wants her power—her bloodline. And he will tear your entire kingdom apart to get her."
Ysolde's breath hitched.
Bloodline.
The word pulsed through her mind, heavy and unfamiliar.
Kael didn't look back at her, but she felt the tension in him tighten, coil, sink deeper.
Keera laughed despite the blood on her lips.
"And when he comes for her, you'll fail. You always fail, Kael. Your entire reign is a failure—your mother died for it, remember?"
Kael moved before Ysolde could even process the words.
He slammed Keera into the wall so hard the stone split down the center, cracks racing outward in a spiderweb of violence. Keera's scream echoed into the sky.
"Say her name again," Kael snarled, voice shaking with a rage Ysolde had never heard before.
"Say one more word about my mother—"
Keera spat blood at his face.
"Failure," she whispered.
A fatal mistake.
Kael's jaws snapped forward.
Ysolde jolted, heart stopping—
—but Kael angled at the last second, his teeth sinking into the stone beside Keera's head instead of her throat. The impact sent shards of ice spraying, slicing Keera's cheek.
He didn't kill her.
Not yet.
He leaned close, breath steaming against her face.
"You're not dying today," he growled.
"Not until I tear from you every secret about who ordered her taken."
Keera's eyes widened in real fear now.
Good.
Kael dragged her off the wall and threw her into the snow. Keera hit with a grunt, rolling until she came to a stop. Blood stained the ground where she landed.
Kael stepped toward her—
—but Ysolde's voice cut through the cold.
"Kael."
He froze instantly.
He turned.
His massive form towered over her, blood and snow clinging to his fur, breath still heaving from the fight. His eyes, though—his eyes locked onto her like she was the only steady point in the world.
Ysolde swallowed, breath visible in trembling clouds.
"You need to stop."
Something flickered across his eyes—pain, frustration, instinct warring with control.
He stepped closer to her. The snow melted beneath each footfall. His head lowered until he was level with her face, breath washing over her in hot waves.
"You think I should leave her alive?" he rumbled.
"She has answers," Ysolde said. "If the Crimson Alpha wants me—if this is bigger than the ritual—we need her."
The bond pulsed again.
Kael's gaze softened by a fraction.
"She hurt you."
The way he said it—raw, quiet, dangerous—sent a shiver down her spine.
"I'll live," Ysolde whispered. "But we won't get answers if you rip her throat out."
He growled under his breath but didn't argue.
Behind them, Keera tried to crawl away.
Kael turned his head sharply.
He took one heavy step toward her—
Ysolde reached out and touched his fur.
His entire body shuddered under her hand.
Slowly, Kael stilled.
Keera froze too, stunned.
Ysolde didn't understand what she had done—only that the bond inside her pulsed in response to her touch, calming the violent surge in him like smoothing a raging storm.
Kael's eyes closed briefly—one second, maybe two—like he was grounding himself in her presence.
Then he straightened, turning back toward Keera.
"You're coming with us," he said, voice low as a blade sliding from its sheath.
Keera spat on the snow. "I'll die before—"
"You'll come," Kael interrupted, "or I'll break every bone in your body and carry you."
Keera fell silent.
Kael moved toward her—
—and then the ground trembled.
All three froze.
A distant howl rolled across the mountains.
Not wild.
Not pack.
Royal.
Deep. Ancient. Commanding.
Kael stiffened.
Ysolde felt the bond pull tight inside her chest.
Keera smiled—bloody, triumphant, chilling.
"He's coming," she whispered.
"Our Alpha. And he wants the girl."
Kael snarled.
The howl echoed again—closer this time.
The Crimson Alpha was on his way.
And he was not alone.