Red swallowed everything.
Not light—
not magic—
but memory.
Blood-memory.
It pulsed through Ysolde's veins with violent intensity, not flowing inside her but out—as if something ancient had been trapped beneath her ribs for years and the Alpha's touch finally cracked the seal.
A voice—no, many voices—whispered through her skull.
Wake. Wake. Wake.
She felt weightless, suspended in a void of crimson mist. Sound distorted. Air thickened. Her pulse became thunder. Her thoughts split like thin glass.
Somewhere beyond the haze, she heard Kael's voice—ragged, furious, breaking.
"YSOLDE—!"
But he sounded far away, muffled by the roaring in her head.
The power surged again, violent enough that her back arched involuntarily. She felt her fingers clawing at the air, trying to grab something solid, something real, something that wasn't the storm ripping her apart.
The Alpha's magic shattered under her outburst. His grip broke. The invisible crush around her lungs disappeared.
The world rushed back all at once.
Snow.
Cold air.
Screaming riders.
The Alpha stumbling backward, eyes blazing with something not fear but recognition.
The bond twisted sharply—Kael's agony slamming into her like a physical blow.
"Ysolde," he rasped, crawling toward her across the snow, leaving a trail of blood.
"Fight—it—don't let it take—"
Her power pulsed, and he was thrown back again, pushed away not by choice but instinct.
"No!" Ysolde screamed as he hit the ground.
"I'm not doing that—I'm not—Kael!"
But her magic didn't listen to her voice.
It listened to something older.
The crimson fog curled around her hands, spiraling up her arms, etching shapes across her skin—symbols, lines, patterns she couldn't read but somehow felt. They pulsed with each beat of her heart. With each breath. With each tear.
The Alpha watched her with a reverent hunger.
"Oh… I knew it," he breathed.
"Your bloodline still lives."
Ysolde's pulse stuttered.
Her lips parted. "What are you talking about?"
The Alpha smiled—slow, sharp, wicked.
"The Old Blood didn't die out," he said softly. "It hid."
He stepped forward, ignoring the crackling red energy sparking at her feet.
"And they warned us: if the Old Blood wakes again, it will destroy or rule every pack on this mountain."
Riders murmured nervously. Some backed away. Others held their weapons tighter.
Ysolde shook her head.
"No. I'm just— I'm just a human—"
"No," Kael growled through clenched teeth. "You were never just that."
Ysolde's heart slammed against her ribs.
Kael dragged himself to his knees, bracing one hand on the ice. "Her blood saved me in the ritual. Her pulse broke the curse. She silenced magic with a single touch. She—"
His breath caught in a groan of pain.
"—she is the last of the crimson line."
The Alpha chuckled.
"Oh, Kael. You don't know the half of it."
He lifted his hand.
"Bring her."
The nearest two riders lunged.
Ysolde didn't move—
Her power moved for her.
A pulse of crimson erupted outward, not explosive but sharp, controlled, like a blade slicing across the world.
Both riders froze mid-stride.
Their armor cracked.
Their eyes widened.
And they collapsed into the snow—alive, but utterly immobilized.
Ysolde stumbled back, horrified.
"I—didn't mean to—"
The Alpha tilted his head.
"That is why the Old Blood was feared. Not because it killed—"
He smiled.
"—but because it could choose who to spare."
Kael roared and shifted, bones contorting, forcing his body to obey even as blood dripped from his mouth. He launched himself at the Alpha—
The Alpha flicked two fingers.
Kael hit an invisible barrier so hard the air cracked with the impact.
"No!" Ysolde screamed, running toward him—
Only to freeze when she saw his jaw slacken, his eyes half-open, his breath stuttering.
He wasn't unconscious.
He was fading.
Ysolde fell to her knees beside him, grabbing his face. "Stay with me. Do you hear me? Stay with me."
Kael forced one eye to focus on her.
"Don't—let him—touch you—"
His voice broke midsentence, pain rippling through him.
"I won't," she whispered fiercely, pressing her forehead to his. "I won't leave you. I swear it."
The Alpha strode closer.
Snow barely crunched under his boots.
The wind shifted around him, like the mountain itself bent its shape for him.
Ysolde rose slowly, stepping away from Kael and placing herself between the Alpha and her king.
"Do not take another step."
"Or what?" the Alpha murmured. "You don't know how to use that power."
Ysolde swallowed hard.
"I'm learning fast."
The Alpha laughed. A genuine, warm, horrifying laugh.
"Oh, Ysolde… you misunderstand."
He lifted his hand toward her face.
"I'm not here to kill you."
Her pulse stilled.
"I'm here," he said softly, "to escort you home."
The wind died.
The air stilled.
Kael choked on a growl. "Don't… listen… to him—"
"Home?" Ysolde whispered.
"Yes." The Alpha stepped closer, his voice low, almost tender.
"To your people. To your birthright. To the throne your ancestors abandoned."
"I don't have a throne."
"You do." He smiled, wickedly gentle.
"And I have spent years searching for the one who could claim it."
Ysolde took a step back.
He continued:
"The crimson line was wiped out because they were the only bloodline able to command magic—and wolves."
He paused.
"And kings."
Her skin turned to ice.
Kael snarled, forcing himself upright despite his shattered ribs.
"Don't touch her—"
The Alpha didn't so much as glance at him.
"You carry the power to rule this mountain," he told her.
"To break Kael's claim. To break every pack's chains. To bend magic itself. And worst of all—"
He leaned close, red eyes burning.
"—you carry the power to choose a king. And once you choose one? Every wolf must obey."
Ysolde's breath hitched.
Kael froze behind her.
The Alpha smiled.
"That is why I want you," he whispered.
"And why Kael fears you."
The bond twisted sharply—pain, shock, something she couldn't name.
Her heart stopped.
Kael… feared her?
She turned, eyes wide, staring at him.
Kael's face fell—utter heartbreak in his expression.
"Ysolde," he whispered, voice trembling with something deeper than pain,
"That's not— that's not what he means—"
The Alpha stepped behind her, close enough that she felt the heat of his breath.
"Then let her choose," the Alpha murmured.
"Right now."
Snow fell in heavy flakes.
Kael stared at her like his world was shattering.
The Alpha waited patiently, as if the outcome was inevitable.
Ysolde's fingers trembled.
Her power pulsed.
And the mountain held its breath.