The hum didn't fade. It deepened, settling into my bones, a constant vibration tuning the world to us. His eyes held mine, ancient and fathomless, stripping away everything but raw presence. There was no doubt in that gaze, only terrifying, exhilarating certainty.
He didn't move. He was the gravity well, and I was already caught. The distance wasn't space; it was a threshold. Roan's words echoed in the back of my mind. Recognition. Knowing.
Taking a shuddering breath, I stepped forward. Then another. The damp grass muffled my steps, but the earth seemed to acknowledge my passage. I stopped less than an arm's length away. His sheer size, the raw power in the midnight fur, the depth of those eyes—overwhelming. Awe warred with the instinct to shrink back.
"Hello," I breathed, the word barely a whisper, torn from a throat tight with the bone-deep hum.
The massive head tilted a fraction, glacial eyes gleamed with ancient intelligence. A low rumble vibrated in his chest, resonating within the hum.
"Iris." The voice bloomed directly in my mind, deep, resonant, inflectionless.
He knew who I was. A jolt went through me. He had spoken inside my head. "And you?" My voice steadied.
Silence stretched. Wind sighed in the pines and my heart hammered, before he finally spoke.
"Kaelum."
Kaelum. The dark sky and the night heavens. It fit the void of his pelt and the power that seemed too dark to witness. "Kaelum," I repeated aloud.
The rumble deepened slightly.
"Which pack?" I asked, needing to bridge the silence.
He didn't respond at first but his gaze held mine, unwavering. Seconds ticked by, until finally he spoke again. "Feabhas."
Feabhas. Beta Cael's cold face flashed in my mind. His pack. I didn't even know how many packs existed—just that Feabhas was one of them. One of the strongest, if the whispers were true. And Kaelum belonged to them.
He watched my reaction, offering nothing. Just Feabhas hanging heavy between us. Well, definitely not a talkative one.
The hum shifted, becoming insistent pressure. Kaelum lowered his massive head slightly, gaze locked on mine. The command pulsed through the bond, clear and undeniable, "Mount."
Fear warred with the bond's profound pull. Gathering my courage, I stepped forward. Heat radiated from him like a forge. My fingers trembled as they reached for his dense, cool fur—night itself, thick and endless. He was massive, far taller than any natural wolf. I hesitated, eyes scanning his towering frame, heart pounding.
Kaelum shifted, lowering his body slightly, a smooth, deliberate motion that brought his shoulder within reach—still high, but possible now.
I placed a shaky hand against his shoulder, the muscle beneath solid and unmoving. Then, bracing myself, I gripped the thick scruff of his neck with both hands and stepped onto his lowered foreleg. It was like climbing a boulder. My foot slid once before I found balance, then I hauled myself upward, scrambling awkwardly, chest pressed against his back until I could swing my leg over.
As I settled, the world shifted. The hum surged, aligning perfectly. His strength flowed into me; his awareness expanded my senses. He turned his head, eyes meeting mine. "Hold."
The bond thrummed as Kaelum flowed through the shadowed pines like liquid night. We devoured the ground, leaving the clearing and its central stone far behind. Ahead, a steep valley yawned—dark and mist-choked—but Kaelum never slowed. He arced left, skirting its edge with effortless grace, his paws finding purchase on a narrow ridge of weathered rock. Instinctively, I twisted in the saddle of his shoulders, looking back.
Far below, in the valley's mouth, other wolves moved—smaller, slower shapes bearing their own riders. Roan on Akira, Zale on his storm-gray companion and Marco somewhere among them too. They were following, but the distance between us yawned wider with every heartbeat. Kaelum's speed was unnatural, a relentless glide that blurred the forest into streaks of green and shadow. He's faster, I realized, a thread of awe weaving through the bond's resonance. Of course he is.
We plunged deeper. Trees gave way to sheer cliffs, then wind-scoured mountain passes where the air turned thin and cold. Kaelum never faltered, his muscles coiling and releasing like dark springs beneath me. The world became a whirl of stone, sky, and the endless rhythm of his movement. For all the years I'd spent half-asleep in geography classes, it was embarrassing how utterly lost I felt now. Maybe I should ask him. I was only beginning to form the words when the answer bloomed in my mind, "The Citadel."—Kaelum's voice, calm and immediate, like a stone dropped into still water.
I froze. I hadn't spoken. The words had been silent, yet he'd heard. You can hear my thoughts. In response, I only felt agreement down the bond, which probably was from Kaelum. The revelation should have terrified me. Instead, it settled like a missing piece, clicking into the hum that bound us.
"The Citadel?", I pushed the question toward him, testing the new connection. "What Citadel?"
This time, his mental presence sharpened, edged with what probably was disbelief. "Ignorant." A single word, but it did all the work.
"I never cared," I shot back, defensiveness spiking through the bond before I could temper it. "About any of it. The packs, the bonds, the politics—I avoided it all. Only… only a string of bad luck got me here."
Kaelum's silence deepened, although I didn't feel any sort of judgment from him I knew for a fact that he was done with the conversation and whatever this academy was, I'd only know it when we reached.
The thin, biting air of the high passes began to thicken, carrying scents beyond pine and stone, woodsmoke, baking bread, and the faint, complex tang of a dense population. Kaelum's relentless glide down the mountain flank eased into a powerful, ground-eating lope. The sheer cliffs softened into rolling foothills dotted with orchards and neatly tilled fields, far more extensive and orderly than the scrabbly plots clinging to the edges of Sundra.
Then, the city rose before me.
Sundra's ramshackle timber and crumbling mud-brick were a half-remembered dream. This was stone. Immense, seamless blocks of pale granite, quarried with impossible precision, formed walls that soared higher than any structure I had ever imagined. Towers, slender and strong, pierced the sky like guardians' spears. Gates, wide enough for five Kaelums abreast, stood open, framed by intricate carvings depicting wolves running alongside figures wielding light against swirling shadows. The very air hummed with a different energy here – not the wild thrum of the bond, but the organized pulse of power, security, and deep-rooted history.
As Kaelum flowed through the towering gates, the world shifted again. The streets were paved with smooth, interlocking flagstones, wide and clean. Buildings lining them were constructed with the same formidable granite, their windows tall and glazed with real glass that shimmered in the afternoon light. Sundra's patched linens and worn leathers were nowhere to be seen. People moved with purpose, clad in finely woven wool in deep blues, forest greens, and rich crimsons. Men wore tailored tunics over trousers tucked into sturdy, well-made boots. Women's dresses flowed in elegant lines, often embroidered at the hems and cuffs with intricate geometric patterns or stylized wolves. Jewelry – simple silver bands, polished stone pendants – gleamed subtly. It was a world of quality, of established wealth and permanence that made Sundra feel like a forgotten outpost.
And the people… they didn't scatter. Instead they parted.
As Kaelum's immense, shadow-dark form moved down the main thoroughfare, a ripple went through the crowd. But it wasn't fear. Heads turned, not in alarm, but in recognition and profound respect. Smiles bloomed on faces – weary laborers, bustling merchants, elderly folk resting on benches. They stepped aside smoothly, creating a clear path. Murmurs rose, not of fear, but of hushed reverence.
"Volanema…"
"Look at the size…"
"New bond?"
"Blessings upon them…"
The awe wasn't just for Kaelum; it encompassed me. Eyes lifted from the magnificent wolf to the rider astride him. I felt the weight of those gazes – curious, hopeful, filled with an unspoken belief that sent a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the cool air. They saw Kaelum, yes, but they saw me too. They saw a bonded rider, and in that, they saw a protector, a champion. The sheer, unadulterated faith in their expressions was overwhelming, a stark contrast to the suspicion or indifference I'd known in Sundra.
My gaze then landed on small boy, perhaps six years old, clinging to his mother's skirts near a baker's stall fragrant with warm spices. His eyes were impossibly wide, fixed first on Kaelum, drinking in the sheer, terrifying majesty of the midnight wolf. The awe on his small face was pure, unadulterated wonder. Slowly, as Kaelum drew level, the boy's gaze lifted. It traveled up the powerful shoulder, past the dense fur, and settled on me.
Our eyes met.
For a heartbeat, he just stared. Then, it happened. His face transformed. The awe didn't vanish; it deepened, blended with a sudden, radiant joy. His lips curved, not a hesitant twitch, but a wide, brilliant, sunbeam of a smile. It lit his entire face, crinkling his eyes, showing small, white teeth. It was a smile of pure, unblemished admiration, directed solely at me – the girl from Sundra astride the dark sky wolf. It was the most beautiful, heart-stoppingly innocent smile I had ever seen. It held no fear, no calculation, only pure, shining belief.
A jolt, warmer and brighter than Kaelum's hum, shot through me. My breath caught. The defensive walls I'd built, the ingrained sense of being an outsider, the sheer terror of the bond and Kaelum's presence – for a single, crystalline moment, it all fell away under the weight of that child's smile. It was terrifying in its openness, exhilarating in its promise. This city, these people, this child… they didn't just see a wolf. They saw hope. And somehow, impossibly, they saw it in me.
Kaelum's low rumble vibrated through my legs, a grounding counterpoint to the dizzying swell of emotion. He didn't slow, continuing his steady, powerful stride deeper into the heart of the stone city, towards whatever destiny awaited us at the Citadel. I tightened my grip on his fur, the cool darkness familiar against my palm, my eyes still seeing the echo of that brilliant, trusting smile in the polished stone facades passing by.