Page 79 of Blood Marked

And her eyes… they closed. Her fingers slid from his skin. Her chest rose one last time. Then stilled.

Kael snapped.

“No.”

He stood, fists clenched so tight his nails split skin.

“No!”

Magic surged in his veins, ancient and primal andwrong.His wolf was already trying to force its way out, howling for her, for what they lost.

He staggered back to the center of the shattered ritual ring, where the ground still hummed with corrupted energy. The remnants of the Rising Flame’s spell circle twisted like veins across the earth, still glowing faintly from Selene’s blood.

Kael didn’t know what he was doing. He only knew he couldn’tlet her go.

“I invoke the Rite of Reclamation,” he snarled into the dark. “You hear me? You fuckinghear me?!”

The wind didn’t answer.

So he raised his blade, sliced it across his palm, and slammed his bleeding hand down against the ritual stone.

“Ichallenge fate.”

The world stilled. Then screamed.

Magic erupted.

The air snapped tight like a drum skin. Light—deep red and shot through with silver—raced across the broken circle, reforming symbols in ancient Fenrir glyphs he hadn’t seen since childhood.

This wasn’t a spell. This was asummoning.

And he knew,somewhere deep in his blood—what it called.

The first Alpha.

The spirit of the Veil-bound bloodline. The founder of House Fenrir. The only wolf who had ever dared to defy the gods and lived to tell the tale.

A shadow rose from the stone. Tall. Cloaked in black. No face. No voice. Justpresence.

Kael’s knees buckled under the pressure of it. But he stood.

“She’s dying,” he said. “And I want her back.”

The shadow tilted its head, as if amused.

“She broke the bond,” Kael hissed, “to save me. And I amreclaimingit. I’m calling it back.”

A pause. Then words. Not spoken aloud, but pressed against Kael’s mind like fire against flesh.

"To take what was given back is to pay thrice. Once in blood. Once in truth. Once in soul."

Kael’s voice didn’t shake.

“Take it.”

The shadow moved closer, smoke curling at its edges.

"You will not remain unchanged."

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