Page 33 of A Sunwoven Ascent

Kaldrek!

She was already moving before her mind caught up.

Nathan had warned them in Alaric’s room that something was out there. Evelyne had insisted on going with Kaldrek, but quiet as Nathan usually was, he had met her with a sternness that left no room for argument. She obeyed him only until the bond detonated and Kaldrek’s pain hit her like a blade. Then primal instinct took over.

Protect. Find. Save.

She shoved Nathan aside and ran.

Night air knifed into her lungs as she sprinted through the village, searching for a familiar face, for any sign of where the patrol had gone. Wolves moved through the dark in different forms, some human, some furred and pacing with their attention fixed outward. There were no screams. No panicked shouting. No cold creeping through the buildings the way it had during the attack on Cindermoor.

It should have been a relief.

It wasn’t.

If the village was untouched, why had Kaldrek’s pain crashed through her with such violence?

“Where is he?” she cried, her voice cracking against the dark. “Where is my mate?”

Heads turned, but no one answered quickly enough.

She spotted Ravena and Coren and went straight for them, desperate as a drowning woman grasping for shore.

“Have you seen Kaldrek?” The words came out in a rush, stumbling over each other. “I felt him. He’s hurt. We need to find him. Please… tell me you’ve seen him.”

Ravena’s expression tightened, then settled into something steady. When she spoke, her voice carried the calm authority of an alpha used to holding others together when they were close to breaking.

“His pack is with him,” she said. “He’s alive. He’s being tended to.”

Evelyne’s knees nearly gave way anyway.

Coren stepped forward and caught her arm, gentle but firm. “Come,” he said. “We’ll take you to him.”

“What happened?” Evelyne demanded as they hurried on. “I don’t… I don’t understand.”

Ravena’s brows drew together. “The Noskari were watching,” she said, as though she still scarcely believed it herself. “They kept their distance. No one was attacked. Except—”

Except Kaldrek.

It did not need saying. Evelyne felt it in Ravena’s pause, in the way Coren’s grip tightened at her arm. More than that, she felt him.

They had not gone ten steps before she saw them.

Holden and Obren emerged from the dark with Kaldrek between them, his body hanging heavy, his head slumped to one side, limp enough to make her heart seize as though he had already slipped beyond her reach.

A sound tore from her, strange and broken, and she lurched forward.

“Oh gods… no.” She reached him in a stumble, her hands flying to his face. His skin was cold with sweat. His chest rose in harsh, uneven pulls. His heartbeat raced, wild and panicked.

Alive.

Alive, but—

Her hands slipped away wet. Too wet.

“Holden,” she choked, voice shaking. “Holden, there’s so much—”

“So much blood,” Holden snapped, and the panic in his voice made her stomach drop. He tightened his grip on Kaldrek and picked up speed. “I know. Fuck.” His eyes flashed, wild. “If you die on me, Kaldrek, I’m going to curse your grave for the rest of my life. Don’t you dare go to sleep. Open your damn eyes.”