Page 73 of Blood Marked

Kael lunged, drove his fangs into the man’s side, andripped. Guts spilled into dirt. The man choked on his own scream.

The wolf didn’t stop. Didn’t think. Didn’t feel. Until the last of them was dead. Until the earth was soaked red and the air hung heavy with copper and heat.

Kael stood in the carnage, panting, snarling, his paws soaked.

But his bloodlust wasn’t satisfied. His wolf was still screaming.

Forher.

The bond seared like a lash beneath his skin, begging for her voice. Her scent. Heranchor.

Selene.

She wasn’t there. Wouldn’t be. And Kael… Kael didn’t know how to be without her anymore. But he knew that this was the way it had to be.

He didn’t shift back until sunrise.

When he did, it was slow, agonizing. A crawl of bone and flesh and pain.

He staggered to his knees, naked and blood-soaked, barely able to breathe. And that’s when Nyra found him.

“Nice work,” she said flatly, stepping over one of the mutilated corpses. “Did you leave anything for the crows?”

Kael didn’t look at her. He couldn’t.

“Don’t start,” he rasped.

“Oh, I’mstarting,” she said, crouching in front of him. “Because I just spent the night cleaning up the emotional fucking crater you left at court while you were out here throwing a tantrum and playing lone wolf executioner.”

His head snapped up. “They would’ve gotten away.”

“Andyouwould’ve torn yourself apart without Selene there to hold your leash,” Nyra snapped. “Don’t you dare pretend this was about strategy.”

Kael’s hands clenched in the dirt.

She was right. And that made it worse.

Nyra shook her head, voice quieter. “What are you doing, Kael?”

He didn’t answer.

“Is this what you want?” she asked, softer now. “To be this? Unhinged. Alone. Wearing a crown forged in lies?”

His throat burned.

Nyra sat beside him. Waited.

Kael spoke. “I did it to protect her.”

She didn’t say anything.

“I had to,” he continued. “They were watching her. Not me. Every court noble, every enemy in that fucking room. She was glowing with Veilwalker magic and bonded to the heir of Fenrir. And they were waiting. Just waiting for an excuse to brand her a weapon, kill her. Or worse—claimher.” His voice cracked. “They already think she’s some divine tool. The Rising Flame wantsher. Varyn wants her. Half the council wants her power and the other half wants her dead.”

Nyra tilted her head. “So you humiliated her to save her?”

“I severed the tie publicly,” he said, voice low. “So no one could use her to get to me. So no one could say she was part of my rise.” He dragged a shaking hand through his hair.

“She still has the bond. We both do. But this way, it looks like she’s nothing to me. That she can walk away clean.”

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