The wind stopped.
The light changed.
And then the guardian stepped from the trees.
It wasn't just a wolf.
It was older than wolf. It was a Lycan... They were wiped out over 1500 years ago.
It was over ten feet tall at the shoulder. Smoke instead of fur. Antlers twisting back like a crowned god of bone and fire. Its eyes were gold, pupil-less, burning straight through to Vireya's spine like it could see through her. Recognizing the mark on her back like it was all it needed to know she was the chosen one.
Kael shifted half a step in front of her, teeth bared. "Don't."
Iska hissed. "No, Kael—"
But it was too late.
The guardian roared.
Not a sound.
A command.
And everything went black.
_________________________________________________________________
She woke in the grove.
But different.
Alone.
No Kael. No Iska. No air moving. No sky.
The trees stretched impossibly tall now, their bark shifting, whispering her name in a dozen voices. The altar was gone. The stones melted into the ground like wax.
And her wolf?
Her wolf was there.
Not a whisper anymore.
A figure.
Full-bodied. Green-eyed. Glowing like wildfire restrained by bones.
"You shouldn't be here yet," the wolf said, circling.
Vireya blinked. "Then why the fuck did you call me?"
"Because it's time."
"For what?"
The wolf stopped.
"To break."
Vireya's body pulsed.
Her back arched. Pain split through her ribs like claws from the inside out.
"Your mother died here sealing your power. She bound me to protect you."
"From what?"
The wolf's voice turned feral. "From everyone. From you."
Vireya dropped to her knees as the pain rippled through her. Her skin burned. Her heartbeat stuttered.
"Why now?" she gasped.
The wolf stepped closer. "Because Kael unsealed the bond. Because you finally let yourself be seen. Because power like this doesn't stay buried forever."
The earth cracked under her hands.
Her mark lit up her back like fire.
Blood dripped from her nose, her eyes, her ears.
The transformation wasn't clean. It wasn't spiritual.
It was destructive.
Bones shifted. Her teeth elongated. Her muscles spasmed under her skin. Not shifting. No this was unbinding.
Her wolf was dragging her through the veil.
And it hurt.
Visions exploded behind her eyes:
—Her mother screaming.
—The council chanting a curse.
—Her own face, bloodied, staring back at her.
—Kael, begging through a locked gate.
—The forest burning.
Vireya screamed.
And somewhere in the real world, Kael heard it.
_________________________________________________
In the clearing, Kael dropped to his knees as the forest writhed around him. Drekken clawing to break free. Knowing his mate was in pain, knowing she was almost here. Kael was half shifted unable to fully control Drekken as the guardian vanished and soo did the trees.
But her scream, her scream stayed echoing through the trees like she was calling to his soul.
"VIREYA!" he roared, voice breaking.
Iska gripped his arm. "She's not dying," she said. "She's awakening."
Kael turned, wild. "Then take me to her."
"I can't, You can't."
"Why?"
Iska met his glowing eyes.
"Because this part? She does alone."
____________________________________________________
Inside the vision, Vireya stood, barely with her feet wobbly. Her body in so much pain she didn't think she could even take a breath if she tried.
Covered in blood, eyes blazing. No longer Ocean green they were now a blazing fire orange with golden rings.
And then the wolf stepped into her.
Merged. One form. One mind.
The pain stopped but the fire didn't.
She looked down at her hands, claws flexing. Her body burned from the inside out. The ground lit beneath her feet in glowing runes.
And the forest knelt.
Every tree bowed. Every spirit silenced.
Because the heir of the Virellen line had returned.
And she wasn't cursed.
She was the curse. Coming together as one force with her fated mate to face the power struggles of our kind, the brutality of the ones that had wronged her and the other women, to seek retribution for the ones that that had tried to kill off her bloodline.
She was the reckoning.
The ground cracked beneath her feet.
But this time... it wasn't pain.
It was power.
A surge of light burst from her chest, a pulse of pure magic that shot straight into the sky like a beacon. The runes on the forest floor glowed white-hot, then turned emerald green.
The energy didn't stay in the Hollow.
It traveled.
______________________________________________________________________
Kael was still on his knees in the clearing, snarling, fists digging into the dirt.
And then it hit him.
Like a lightning strike through the soul.
He gasped, body locking. The bond flared so hard it shattered every wall in his mind.
Drekken screamed inside him. Not in pain.
In relief.
ASHIRA.
She's here.
She's finally here.
She's mine.
SHE'S FUCKING MINE.
Kael barely got a breath before his own shift was ripped from him all the way. Clothes tore, bones snapped, and his body transformed violently, uncontrollably, like it had been waiting centuries for this.
One second, he was flesh and skin the next, Drekken stood in his place.
Ten feet tall. Covered in black fur etched with deep silver markings that shimmered like scars of starlight. His eyes glowed storm-grey.
And his howl split the forest in two.
Not mourning.
Not rage.
Joy.
Iska staggered back, hand over her heart. "Oh shit," she whispered. "It's true. They weren't just mates. They were lifebonded. Reborn. Separated by the curse."
Drekken turned toward the forest.
He could feel her now.
The other half of his soul.
She was awake.
She was whole.
And for the first time in lifetimes, Ashira was calling him home.