A heavy silence settled between them before Kaldrek shifted once more. He would not leave Evelyne to face this alone. Not when every instinct in him screamed to follow her.
Outside, he surged forward, his paws striking the frozen earth in a steady, relentless rhythm, the wind slicing through his fur like a blade. He listened carefully, tracking the surefooted cadence of her movementscarving through the stillness of the night. He followed the sound across the barren landscape until finally, he found her.
The breath caught in his chest, stolen by the sight before him.
Even beneath the crimson haze of the blood moon, her golden-brown fur caught the light, glowing with a brilliance that no darkness could touch. Evelyne wove through the skeletal trees with effortless grace, each movement fluid, instinctive, and sure. Like this life, this unrestrained freedom, had always been hers to claim. She did not hesitate. She did not look back. She ran as if she had waited her entire life for this moment. She was breathtaking, a creature born to be wild and untethered, never meant to be bound by silks or the heavy expectations of a courtly life.
An hour passed in quiet pursuit before Kaldrek finally reached out, sending his thoughts gently into the bond between them.
Evelyne. We need to head back to the others.
There was a brief silence, and he wondered if she had heard him. Then, her voice brushed against his mind, warm and soft.
Soon.
***
As he reached the tunnel, the gathered pack turned toward him, relief and exhaustion etched into their faces. Kaldrek shifted back, muscles tightening against the cold, and accepted the blanket one of the pack members rushed to drape over him. His gaze swept the group, landing on Cillian, who sat beside Alaric, both of them battered but alive. Lorena and Heidara crouched beside them, tending to Alaric’s wounds, their soft murmurs of comfort filling the tense air.
Heidara spotted Kaldrek and ran toward him, her eyes darting anxiously past him, searching for someone else.
“She’s coming,” he murmured.
Heidara threw her arms around him, clutching him tightly. “I was so worried,” she whispered, her voice thick with concern.
Beyond her, Kaldrek caught sight of Nathan and Reyna, who sat collapsed into each other, overwhelmed by grief. Reyna sobbed against Nathan’s shoulder, her body trembling with the rawness of her pain. She had lost her mate, and there was no greater agony for a wolf. It was a wound that never truly healed, a hollowing of the soul that never fully closed. Nathan, his own sorrow etched into the way his arms gripped her, had lost a brother. They clung together, bound by shared loss and the unbearable ache of separation.
Kaldrek wanted to go to them, to offer his strength, but he knew better. Nothing could touch the depth of a bond shattered by death. Not now. Not yet.
He swallowed hard, forcing down the knot tightening in his chest. Vaelora was gone. Cillian was safe. And Evelyne… Evelyne was a wolf.
The realization still rattled him. His mind reeled back to the first days after they captured her, when he had visited daily, searching her golden eyes for any trace of darkness or deception. There had always been something else, something buried just beneath the surface. A scent. Faint, wild, elusive.
He had leaned in closer, trying to catch it and name the animalistic thread coiled around her essence. She had smacked him for it, furious and defiant.
At the time, he had told himself he imagined it. That it could not possibly be real. But the night had stripped away every certainty he had ever known, leaving his world spinning. Still, nothing, not the ambush, notthe bloodshed, not even Vaelora’s death, had stunned him as profoundly as watching Evelyne shift before his eyes.
As if drawn by the force of his thoughts, she returned. Kaldrek moved without hesitation, grabbing a cloak and stepping toward her as her body prepared to shift back.
Everything inside him went still when her human form reappeared, golden-eyed and wild. The force of her scent slammed into him so hard it nearly buckled his knees. It encircled him, lush and consuming, a heady mix of sweet jasmine, rich sandalwood, and the lingering heat of spiced honey. It filled every part of him, carved into his very bones, and he knew with terrifying clarity that he never wanted to breathe anything else for as long as he lived. Only this. Only her.
Their eyes met, and in that instant, something primal shifted inside him, something inescapable. A magnetic pull yanked him toward her, so strong it stole his breath, wiped away all thought.
The scent. The pull. Every instinct, every part of him roared with one word.
Mate.
Chapter 50
The shift had been unlike anything Evelyne had ever experienced. It was agonizing, overwhelming, and yet profoundly real. Pain and fear tangled with something far more potent, a wildness buried deep within her that had finally broken free. Every nerve in her body sparked to life, every sense sharpened beyond anything she had ever known. It was terrifying. It was exhilarating. And for the first time, she felt complete.
This was who she was meant to be. A wolf. A part of something greater than herself.
For twenty-three years, the truth had been hidden, stolen from her bloodline, erased from memory. The Duskwoods, forgotten. But from what pack? What lineage? And how had Kaldrek been able to speak inside her mind?
The thought of him made her want to scream, rage and frustration twisting inside her so violently it felt like they might tear her apart. He had kept too many things from her, things that mattered. She couldn’t understand why. That fury had burned hot when she’d first shifted. Part of her had wanted to knock him to the throne room floor and let her wolf tear into him for the pain he had caused.
But then his calm, husky voice had slipped into her mind, and the anger had dulled, replaced for a fleeting moment by something warmer. Comfort. Connection.
