Page 44 of Blood Marked

The beast in him was roaring,more, more, more.

“Kael!”

His name, like a whip crack through the fog.

He froze.

Blood dripped from his muzzle. Steam rose from his fur. His chest heaved, lungs too full of fury and copper.

“Kael!”

Softer now.

Familiar.

He turned his massive head.

Two riders. Cresting the slope through a thin line of trees.

Nyra, jaw clenched, eyes burning.

And behind her, Selene.

Her raven-black hair was whipping loose in the wind, her cloak flaring as she swung downbeforeher horse had fully stopped.

“Selene—what the fuck—!” Nyra’s hand flew to her weapon.

Selene ignored her.

She walked forward, slow but sure, cloak swirling around her ankles. Her boots crunched over blood-slick earth. Her gaze locked on Kael’s wolf form like she wasn’t afraid. Like she knew what she was walking toward.

Because she did.

She knew him.

Kael’s wolf snarled.

Not in warning.

Inconflict.

His muscles coiled like a trap. Ears flat. Blood still on his muzzle. But his body wavered.

“Shift back,” Selene said, voice even. “Come on. I know you’re in there.”

The wolf growled, low and tortured.

Selene stepped closer.

Nyra hissed behind her. “Selene, don’t—he’sgone.You don’t understand?—”

“Yes. I do,” she said without looking back.

Her voice softened, almost breaking. “I know you’re angry,” she told him. “Iknow.But this isn’t you, Kael. Not like this.”

Kael’s inner mind screamed, scratching against the bars of the beast’s skull. He wanted to move. To run. Tostay.

His paws shifted.

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