ween waking and oblivion. She was vaguely aware of movement-arms a

n't und

eath her soul, the way her skin had burned with a light that wasn

a Ka

m his pack and had disappeared into the wastelands

st, then why did hi

-

breathing. Her scent tangled around his mind like a binding spell-lavender, pine, and somethi

had fo

had fo

ught extinct since the Great Divide. Kaelen hadn't seen those sigils since the nig

cross the flesh of this br

ma

d one. After his exile, he'd accepted that the Goddess had

soft or warm like the stories said. No, theirs came like

i

it, not with reverenc

his arms. Her f

voice was crac

of an overhanging cliff face. The moon was st

aid, his voice deep

ered open, and h

ment, neither

" she said finall

. "And neither

ldn't have interfered. Dren will

an eyebrow.

ickering behind her exhaust

now what

ffened.

so she could see the trut

between them

ering. "I didn't shift. I felt it, but I d

your wolf is bound. Something sealed it wh

d, startle

igil. Someone locked your wolf away to keep you powerless. But t

long while. Then, quietl

voice like thunder on the horizon.

-

at followed

lands-neutral territory no pack dared to claim. The air was colder here, sh

tle. Slept even less. But she

ond tugged at her like an ache behind her ribs,

refused t

long surviving t

ound again and again, forced her to tap into instincts she didn't know she had. When her fists ble

ed once when she fell for the third time during a disa

this bond means anything to me? I nev

nched, nost

like he wanted to tear the t

ack. "Good. Anger

-

he edge of a frozen stream,

t recogni

eyes. They were no longer just brown. Now they shimmered faintl

glimpse the sigil on her back in the reflection. It glowed faint

with her finge

y," Kaelen said quietly be

new his presence like

e?" she asked w

t answer

your wolf will rise. And when she does, every Alp

s hard. "And whi

ssion did

hing in t

aid finally. "I

hit her li

ee

r given her th

en know me,"

rage. I know the way your wolf clawed the earth

pped c

ve killed

Not in fear. In somet

ack. "If this

not the bond that makes me w

hed between them,

. "I don't nee

le was all w

-

day, sh

ntrolled. It

ing, vision blurring, and the sensati

t hap

silver-blue-stood trembling in the snow a

the seal,"

rising from her throat. It

hadows of the forest,

ow R

were alre