Dawn comes slow, bleeding through the forest like a wound that won't close. The rain has stopped, but mist curls between the trees, thick and silver. My body aches in places I didn't know could ache, yet the pain is wrong sharper one second, gone the next.
I sit up and find the blood on my arm already fading to pale scars. Wolves heal fast, but not this fast. The rogues' cuts should have taken days. My breath catches.
The bond.
I close my eyes and reach inward. The link hums, quieter now, like a heartbeat muffled under water. When I touch it with my mind, warmth surges through me heat that isn't mine. For a heartbeat I see flashes that don't belong to me: stone walls, torches, the shadow of a man pacing, hand clenched at his chest. Kael.
His pain slides through the bond like smoke. I jerk back, gasping, the world tilting for an instant before the vision fades.
"Stop," I whisper. "I don't want this."
But the connection doesn't listen. It never does.
I push to my feet, shaking the numbness from my hands. The ridge rises ahead, dark and jagged, and somewhere beyond it waits the old watchtower I'd been searching for. If I can reach it, maybe I'll have walls between me and the ghosts of last night.
The climb takes hours. The path winds upward through slick roots and half-buried stones. My wolf wants to run, to scent the wind for Kael, but I keep her locked down. Every time I let her surface, the bond grows louder.
By the time I reach the top, the sun's nothing more than a pale coin behind clouds. The tower stands crooked against the sky, ancient, half-collapsed, covered in ivy. An old border outpost from before the Owlblood unified the territory.
I push the door open. The hinges scream in protest. Dust motes drift through the shaft of light that cuts across the floor. Inside, the air smells of damp stone and old ashes.
It's perfect.
I drop my cloak near the cold hearth and sink down, exhaustion dragging at my limbs. My wolf curls up inside me, quiet for once. For the first time since the ceremony, the world feels still.
Until the dreams start.
At first, it's only warmth then his voice.
"You shouldn't have run."
Kael's words echo in the dark, rough and low. I turn, and he's there, the storm still clinging to his hair, moonlight bleeding along his jaw. His eyes hold the same conflict they did that night: rejection in his mouth, need in his hands.
"You said it was over," I whisper.
"It's never been over."
The dream shifts, heat flooding through me. His hand brushes my cheek, then trails down my throat to the faint glow of the mark he left. The bond flares, too bright to bear.
The dream shatters.
I wake gasping, the scent of him still thick in the air though I'm alone. My skin burns where his hands had been. The bond hums louder, alive, predatory. Somewhere far away, Kael must have felt it too our shared weakness looping back on itself.
"Goddess," I breathe. "What are you doing to us?"
No answer. Only the creak of the tower timbers.
I push to my feet and wander to the window. The forest spreads out below like an ocean of green shadow. In the distance, the faint outline of Owlblood's territory walls glimmers under the fading mist.
Home, and not home anymore.
A sharp ache twists in my chest, half memory, half bond. Kael's emotions bleed through again: anger, guilt, something darker he won't name. It hits me so hard I stagger, catching myself against the wall.
"Stay out of my head," I hiss, though I know he can't hear.
Or maybe he can. Because the bond pulses once, in defiance.
By afternoon, hunger drives me out to search the edges of the ridge. I find a stream and drink, trying not to think about how the water reflects my eyes, too bright, flecked with silver like Kael's. The bond is changing me.
A rabbit darts across the rocks. I move faster than I should be able to, catching it cleanly. When I lift my hands, I realize I didn't even shift my claws. The strength surging under my skin isn't entirely mine anymore.
I roast what little meat I can and sit in the fading light, chewing mechanically. The food tastes of ash.
As the sun dips, the forest grows restless. My wolf's ears twitch at every sound. Then, through the hush, comes a new one, a distant, low howl.
Not Kael's.
But his pack.
The Owlblood are out tonight. Searching.
I freeze, pulse hammering. If they find me, Kael will know immediately. The bond will lead him straight here.
I back into the shadows of the tower, every sense straining. The howls fade east, away from me, but my heart keeps racing. I don't want him to find me yet, not until I can look him in the eye without the bond tearing me apart.
Night falls fully. The forest glows faintly silver, every leaf touched by moonlight. The bond hums louder now, synced to the lunar pull. I feel the shift rising in me, my wolf pushing forward with a hunger I can't control.
I strip off my cloak before it tears and step into the moonlight. The change ripples through me, bones reshaping, fur spreading like dark silk. The first breath as a wolf fills me with fire and cold air.
Everything sharpens, the scent of moss, the heartbeat of a rabbit underground, the faint echo of Kael's aura miles away.
He's awake. Watching the same moon.
For one heartbeat, our minds brush. Not a vision this time, just feeling, raw, unguarded. He's angry, but underneath that burns something heavier. Regret.
The bond thrums between us, alive and hungry.
I turn my muzzle to the sky and howl, not for him, not for forgiveness, but for myself. For the bond that won't die and the freedom I mean to take back.
The sound echoes off the cliffs, wild and defiant.
When silence returns, I shift back, breathless. The mark on my neck glows faintly in the dark, silver light fading slowly until it's only a bruise again.
I sink to the floor of the tower, heart still racing. The bond is stronger than ever, feeding off our shared denial.
Somewhere out there, Kael feels it too.
And I know sooner or later the bond will drag us together again.
Ohh well.