KAEL POV
Thalia's heart stops.
I feel it through the bond—one moment it's beating weak and fast, the next there's nothing. Just terrible, empty silence.
"NO!" I grab her shoulders. "Breathe! Your heart stopped—BREATHE!"
Myra shoves me aside and presses her ear to Thalia's chest. Three seconds of horrible silence. Then—
"There!" Myra gasps. "It started again. But Kael, this is the third time. Her body's failing. She can't take much more."
"Then fix her!" I roar, and my wolf surges so close to the surface my eyes must be glowing. "You're the best healer in five territories—FIX HER!"
"I can't fix what I don't understand!" Myra snaps back, unafraid. She's known me since I was a cub. "Her body is rejecting the healing. It's like she's fighting herself from the inside."
The bond pulses between us, and suddenly I understand. I can feel Thalia's thoughts, dim and confused: Why fight? Everything's gone. Cassius won. My research is stolen. I have nothing left. Maybe dying is easier.
"She's giving up," I say, horrified. "She wants to die."
"What?" Rykan steps forward. "How do you know—" Then he sees the glowing marks on my chest. "The soul bond. You can feel her thoughts."
"She's not thinking clearly. The pain and betrayal are drowning her." I grab Thalia's hand again, and the bond flares bright. "Thalia! Listen to me. You don't get to quit. Not in my den. Not while you're under pack protection."
No response. Her heartbeat stutters again.
Panic claws up my throat. If she dies, I die. The soul bond will drag me down with her. But that's not what terrifies me.
What terrifies me is that I don't care about dying. I care that she's suffering.
"There has to be a way to reach her," I growl. "Some way to pull her back."
Myra bites her lip. "Soul bonds work both ways. If you can feel her thoughts, maybe she can feel yours. You could try... pushing your will through the connection. Commanding her to live."
"Will that work?"
"I've never seen a soul bond form in my lifetime," Myra admits. "The old stories say bonded pairs could share strength, share healing, even share life force. But it required both to want the connection."
"She's unconscious. How can she want anything?"
"Her soul isn't unconscious," Myra says quietly. "Reach for it, Alpha. Make her feel why she should live."
I close my eyes and focus on the bond. It's like a silver thread connecting my heart to hers, pulsing with our shared heartbeat—except hers keeps trying to stop.
I push my thoughts down the thread: Thalia. Wake up. Fight.
Nothing.
You told me that man stole your research. Your life's work. Are you really going to let him win? Let him kill you and get away with everything?
A flicker. Like a candle flame in darkness.
That's right, I push harder. He threw you away because he thought you were weak. Convenient. Easy to break. Prove him wrong. LIVE.
The flame grows stronger. I feel her consciousness stirring, confused and hurting.
Why? Her thought whispers back through the bond. Why does living matter? Everything I built is gone. Everyone I trusted betrayed me.
Then build something new, I send back fiercely. You survived a dimensional rift that should have torn you apart. You survived landing in the most dangerous world in existence. You're stronger than you know, Thalia. But you have to choose to be strong.
I'm so tired, she whispers. It hurts so much.
I know. I squeeze her hand tighter. I know it hurts. When my parents were murdered and I was beaten and left to die, I wanted to give up too. The pain was too much. But I chose to survive. I chose to get back up and take back what was mine. You can make that choice too.
You lost your parents? Her thought holds surprise and sympathy. I'm sorry.
Don't be sorry. Be angry. I open my eyes and stare at her pale face. "Be angry that someone hurt you. Be angry that he thought he could throw you away. Use that anger to LIVE."
Thalia's eyes snap open—fully green now, no silver glow. She gasps in a huge breath, and her heart pounds steady and strong through our bond.
"That's it," Myra breathes. "Whatever you did, keep doing it."
Thalia stares at me, tears streaming down her face. "You felt my thoughts," she whispers. "How?"
"Soul bond," I tell her simply. "When your heart stopped, somehow we connected. I can feel you now. Your pain. Your fear. Your will to survive."
"I don't understand—"
"Neither do I." I brush tears off her cheek before I can stop myself. "But you're alive. That's what matters."
She looks down and sees the glowing silver marks on her collarbone through the bandages. Her eyes widen. "What are these?"
"Pack marks. Soul bond symbols." I show her the matching marks on my chest. "We're connected now. Your heartbeat is my heartbeat. Your life is tied to mine."
"That's impossible." But she touches the marks gently, and I feel the contact through the bond like she's touching my bare skin. "We just met."
"The Moon Goddess doesn't care about logic," Rykan mutters from the corner.
Thalia's hand trembles as she traces the silver wolf symbols. "So if I die..."
"I die," I finish. "Within days, according to the legends."
I expect her to panic. To be angry that I've bound us together without permission. Instead, she looks at me with those green eyes full of understanding.
"You saved my life knowing it would tie you to me," she says softly. "Knowing I might die anyway and take you with me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because you have honor." I say it simply. "Because someone threw you away and you deserved better. Because my wolf recognized something in you that I can't explain."
She closes her eyes, fresh tears leaking out. "I'll try not to die and take you with me."
"Good. Because I have plans that don't involve dying this week."
A tiny smile touches her lips. Then her face goes pale. "Kael... I feel strange. Hot. Like something's burning under my skin."
Myra leans forward, concerned. "Where?"
"Everywhere." Thalia gasps. "The marks—they're burning—"
The silver symbols on her collarbone suddenly blaze bright, so bright we all have to shield our eyes. Power floods through our bond, raw and ancient.
"What's happening?" I demand.
"The bond is settling," Myra says, awed. "Sealing itself permanently. This is the critical moment—if her body rejects it, you both die. If it accepts..."
"If it accepts?" I growl.
"Then she becomes something new. Part human. Part connected to wolf clan magic." Myra grips my arm. "No one knows what that means. It's never happened before."
Thalia screams as the marks burn brighter. Her body arches off the bed. Through the bond, I feel her agony—but also something else. Something changing. Growing.
Power.
The light explodes outward, flooding the room. When it fades, Thalia collapses back onto the furs, unconscious again.
But her heartbeat is strong. Steady. And through the bond, I feel her body healing at impossible speed—bones knitting, wounds closing, strength returning.
"By the Moon Goddess," Rykan whispers.
Thalia's broken arm straightens itself with audible cracks. Her bruises fade. Color returns to her cheeks.
She's healing like beastkin now.
"The bond gave her our regeneration," I breathe. "She's still human, but—"
"But she has wolf clan abilities now," Myra finishes. "And you, Alpha?"
I look down at my hands. I can feel it—Thalia's consciousness humming at the edge of my thoughts. Her emotions. Her memories. Her brilliant, strategic mind now accessible through our connection.
"I have her intelligence," I realize. "Her way of thinking. It's like seeing the world through two sets of eyes."
"A perfect soul bond," Myra says with reverence. "You give her strength. She gives you wisdom. The Moon Goddess has blessed you both."
"Or cursed us," I mutter.
Because now we're bound forever. If she hates me for this, we're still stuck together. If enemies discover we're soul bonded, they'll target her to destroy me.
And somehow, I still don't regret it.
Thalia's eyes flutter open one more time. She looks directly at me, and I feel her gratitude through the bond like warm honey.
"Thank you," she whispers. "For not letting me quit."
Then she falls into true sleep—peaceful, healing sleep.
I sit back, exhausted. "Everyone out. She needs rest."
Myra and Rykan leave quietly. Alone with my bonded mate, I finally let myself relax.
Then I hear it.
Howls in the distance. Not my pack—enemy clans.
And they're coming this way.
Fast.