Page 163 of A Sunwoven Ascent

“You could have this with me,” he said, raising a brow in a mockery of the charm that had once undone her. “You could thrive beside me.”

Those black, depthless eyes were empty of warmth, stripped of bond and love, leaving only hunger wearing the memory of him.

When she did not move, his expression shifted into something grotesquely tender. “What is the matter, little wolf? Do you miss him?” He tilted his head, as if studying a wounded animal. “Did it grieve you when your precious mating bond faded? When we settled into his soul and drowned out every last piece of him that belonged to you?”

A snarl tore from her before she could stop it.

Kaldrek laughed, low and wicked. “There she is.”

Fierce anger swept through Evelyne, burning past panic and grief until only wrath remained. Bright, clean, and merciless. She had heard enough from the thing wearing her mate’s skin.

She launched herself at him.

The world seemed to splinter around them, the very foundation of the land cracking beneath the force of what rose between them. Kaldrek made no move to brace himself or step forward. He only lifted one hand with terrible ease, as if stopping her required no more effort than drawing breath.

And the land obeyed.

The ground beneath her shattered with a violent, deafening crack, splitting open in jagged, branching lines that tore across the field like lightning made solid. The soil heaved and broke apart, the fractures widening with terrifying speed until they yawned open into deep, swallowing pits. Wolves cried out as the land betrayed them, their footing lost in an instant as they slipped, fell, or vanished entirely into the sudden collapse.

Evelyne felt the earth give beneath her. The world pitched violently sideways, throwing her hard against shifting stone and soil. The impact stole the air from her lungs, pain bursting through her chest as loose dirt and shattered rock rained down around her.

Kaldrek stood still at the center of it all, as though the destruction had bent around him rather than come from him. His new power rolled outward in waves that warped the land itself. With another careless flick of his hand, the ground lifted. Entire sections of cracked earth rose as if caught in an invisible grip, then collapsed again with crushing force.

Wolves were caught beneath it, pinned, broken, buried.

And still, he did not strain. Did not care.

Evelyne forced herself upright, her legs trembling beneath her as pain tore through her body. Blood slicked her fur, and every breath came unevenly as she fought to steady herself, but there was no time to recover. No room to think. They were being destroyed.

Her gaze swept across the field, searching, counting, desperate to make sense of it all. Then she saw Heidara, barely holding on. The ground had split beneath her paws, leaving her clinging to the jagged edge of a deep, crumbling fissure. Her claws scraped against loose soil as it gave way beneath her weight, every desperate movement threatening to send her into the darkness below. Another second and she would be gone.

Holden was already moving. He sprinted recklessly across the broken ground, ignoring the danger beneath his own paws as he reached her and dipped low, bracing himself against the unstable jagged rocks.

Heidara slipped once, then again, but Holden held fast, dragging her upward inch by inch with his claws until, with one final desperate pull, he hauled her free.

Relief flickered through Evelyne, before the battle swallowed it whole.

Beau surged past them, cutting down a Noskari that lunged too close to Heidara and Holden, striking relentlessly until the creature drew its last breath. Moonshade and Glaciermaw fought beside him. They held their ground more desperately with every passing second. But retreat was not in them; they fought like wolves with nothing left to lose.

Evelyne turned back to Kaldrek and froze.

He had a wolf by the throat, one bare hand locked around its neck as he lifted it from the ground as though it weighed nothing at all. The wolf thrashed in his grip, claws scraping uselessly against his arm, fighting for breath, for purchase, for life.

Kaldrek only watched it struggle.

Then he threw it aside. The body hit the ground with a sickening crack and did not rise.

Something inside Evelyne broke.

Stop! she screamed down the bond. Please, Kaldrek! Please!

She let her thoughts slam into him with full force. She held nothing back now as every emotion poured out of her. Every moment, every memory, every piece of herself that had ever belonged to him.

Come back to me. Please fight this. This isn’t you—you’re killing them—you’re killing all of us—

The bond remained empty. Whatever part of him should have answered her had vanished beyond recognition, beyond reach, beyond even the pull of their mating bond.

Evelyne’s breath faltered and tears blurred her vision as the world closed in around her, the sounds of battle crashing together into something unbearable. Snarls, screams, the tearing of flesh, the breaking of bone—it all pressed in at once, endlessly.