Page 157 of A Sunwoven Ascent

One by one, the Noskari crashed into him, their mist-like bodies passing through his as though each left a piece of itself buried in his soul. There was no pain, not truly. Only cold. Endless, numbing cold, spreading through him until his limbs no longer obeyed, until even the will to fight began to disappear.

No. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t—

The darkness settled into him and rooted itself.

Claimed.

His eyes snapped open.

The Solwyn’s power still roared through his blood, but it was no longer his alone. The shadows released him, and Kaldrek rose slowly from the ground as the Noskari bowed before him. Every one of them.

Immense, tainted power surged through him.

No bond.

No restraint.

Only strength and hunger for more.

“Rise,” he commanded.

They obeyed.

A rustle broke the silence, and a familiar wolf stepped into the grove. Kaldrek turned his head slowly.

“Holden,” he said, calm as still water. The wolf lowered at once, a quiet whimper slipping from him as he backed away, but the sound found no mercy in Kaldrek. Whatever guilt or affection should have answered remained out of reach, buried beneath the cold, distant amusement curling through him as he smiled.

“Don’t look so sad, my friend. The second-in-command usually inherits the alpha rank.”

The cruelty should have horrified him. Instead, it felt effortless. Clean. As if every softer thing inside him had been scraped hollow and filled with power instead. Dark, intoxicating power. He let it carry him as his body dissolved into shadow, unraveling into mist that curled through the trees. The Noskari followed as one, slipping into the dark behind him. They would return, and next time, they would not be stopped.

***

Evelyne’s knees nearly buckled.

The bond, which had always pulsed with his strength, his fire, his certainty, went ice cold. A tide of black water seemed to surge through it, flooding her chest and stealing the air from her lungs. Her vision blurred. Her pulse stumbled. This was not pain. Pain would have been kinder. This was emptiness, a terrifying void swallowing everything she knew of him.

“Kaldrek!” Her scream tore free, raw with panic, though no one around her could know why. “Something’s wrong!” she cried, turning toward anyone who would listen. “Something is wrong with my mate. I need to help him.”

Her chest burned with heartbreak, her stomach twisting around the hollow ache spreading through the bond. She should have gone with Holden. Why had she listened? Why had she stayed when every part of her belonged at Kaldrek’s side?

“Ironwolf!” Evelyne screamed, louder this time, searching through her tears for any of his pack. They had to feel it too. They had to know something had gone terribly wrong. “Please!”

Then the memory of her dreams came rushing back: his hands, once warm, turning icy and cruel around her throat; his dark eyes staring down at her, empty of love. Her heart lurched, and she staggered back, clutching her chest as terror consumed her. The bond was not severed, but it was wrong. Faded. Tainted. Somewhere beneath that cold, was the man she loved still there?

Bodies closed in around her, voices calling her name, but all she could feel was him. Or what remained of him. Evelyne squeezed her eyes shut and crumpled to the floor, folding over her knees as if she could hold herself together by force.

Kaldrek, she whispered through the bond, her voice breaking. Don’t leave me.

But nothing kind answered.

Only endless power, and terrifyingly not his own.

Her breath came too fast, panic clawing up her throat as the bond went completely dark.

He had left her. Or something had taken him so far away she no longer knew how to reach him.

A small hand touched her back.