Kaelen stood at the edge of the upper corridor, one hand braced against the cold stone as he stared down at the training yard. Aurelia was below—alone—moving through the shadows like a storm in waiting. Her strikes were swift, her footwork lethal, but it wasn't the precision that unnerved him.
It was the way the air seemed to bend around her now.
Every motion crackled with tension, as though something inside her was barely contained. And it wasn't just her wolf surfacing anymore. It was something deeper, older, and it was rising faster with each passing day.
"She's not just dangerous," Kaelen muttered to himself. "She's becoming something else entirely."
He turned from the window, jaw tight, fists clenched at his sides. For weeks, he'd tried to convince himself this was about control. That he could manage the bond between them. That the collar was enough. That he was enough.
But he hadn't broken her.
He'd set something loose.
And now he wasn't sure which of them was more bound—her, to the collar… or him, to her.
Aurelia crouched in the far corner of her room, behind the dresser, fingertips brushing over the crack in the stone she'd found nights ago. A single loose slab, small but deliberate. When she pulled it free, the stale scent of earth and dust swept through the narrow space.
Behind the wall was a tunnel.
Rough. Cramped. Unlit.
But it led out.
She didn't know how far it reached or where it emerged, but that didn't matter. Freedom had a scent. And this—this was it.
"I can get out," she whispered, eyes locked on the darkness. "I could be gone before sunrise."
She shifted, still crouched, her voice lower now. "So why haven't I?"
The question made her stomach turn.
She should have run the first chance she got. After what Kaelen had done—locking her in a collar, treating her like a threat, like an animal—there should be no hesitation.
And yet… there it was. That heavy weight in her chest. That tether she couldn't explain.
"What happens to him if I leave?" she whispered again, and immediately hated herself for it.
It wasn't fear keeping her here. It wasn't weakness.
It was him.
And the infuriating part was knowing—knowing—that he felt it too.
Kaelen was halfway down the corridor when he heard her voice again. Muffled. Intimate. Like she was talking to herself.
He froze.
"I can get out… but what happens to him?"
The words hit him harder than they should have. His chest tightened. He closed his eyes, jaw clenching.
She was planning to run. Of course she was.
She had every reason to.
But hearing it—hearing it—shattered whatever illusion he'd been clinging to. The bond wasn't a chain around her neck. It was a thread between them, and it was fraying.
He didn't think. Didn't knock. He lifted his hand, tapped twice—then pushed the door open.
Aurelia turned sharply, startled. Guilty.
Her mouth pressed into a hard line. "You were listening."
Kaelen stepped inside, closing the door behind him. "Yeah."
She didn't apologize. "I don't owe you anything."
"I know."
The silence between them was thick with things left unsaid.
Kaelen took a slow step forward. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
She gave a short, bitter laugh. "That makes two of us."
"The collar…" He hesitated. "It wasn't meant to be a prison. I put it on you because I thought it would keep you safe."
She turned to face him fully, her eyes burning. "Safe? Safe from what? You? Your pack? Or yourself?"
"From the ones who would really hurt you. The ones who know what you are. Even if you don't."
She crossed her arms, voice tight. "So you decided to chain me first. Beat them to it."
"I thought if I kept you close, I could protect you."
"No," she snapped. "You wanted control. Don't rewrite it now."
Kaelen stepped forward again, voice lowering. "You don't understand what's out there. There are people—old bloodlines, old magic—who'd kill to harness what's waking inside you. Or worse."
"I'm not your burden to carry," she said. "You don't get to turn this into some noble sacrifice."
"I'm not trying to," he said. "I'm just… telling you the truth."
She turned away, her hand brushing the stone where the tunnel hid. "It's too late for the truth."
Kaelen's voice softened. "Maybe. But I needed you to hear it anyway."
That night, pain pulled her from sleep.
It started like a tremor at the base of her skull. A second heartbeat pulsing beneath her skin. Then came the heat—sudden, overwhelming. Her breath caught in her throat as the collar ignited with searing light.
She cried out, crumpling to her knees as arcs of energy raced across her body. The runes along the collar sparked violently, glowing white-hot. Cracks spidered through the metal like ice fracturing underfoot.
And then—it broke.
A blast of energy exploded outward, sending papers, candles, and furniture flying.
The door slammed open. Kaelen rushed inside, sword in hand—but froze the instant he saw her.
Aurelia stood in the center of the room, the shattered collar dangling from her hand. Her eyes glowed gold. Her hair floated around her like smoke in a storm. Power poured off her in waves.
Kaelen staggered back a step. "Aurelia—?"
She turned slowly, her voice distant, trembling. "What… what is this?"
He moved closer, eyes wide. "It's too late. You've broken the bond."
"I didn't mean to." Her voice was layered now—hers, and something older underneath. Something not entirely human. "It just… happened."
Her wolf was no longer stirring beneath the surface. It was awake. But this was more than the wolf. This was something primal—something from before the bloodlines were written, before magic had names.
Kaelen reached toward her, cautious. "You're awakening."
She shook her head, breath ragged. "You did this to me."
"I tried to stop it," he said. "To protect you from what it would mean."
"No," she said. "You tried to own it. Own me."
He didn't deny it.
She collapsed to her knees, the power within her still crackling, uncontrolled. Kaelen dropped beside her, ignoring the heat radiating from her skin. He laid a hand on her back, steady and unflinching.
"I don't know what you're becoming," he said. "But I know it's not something I can cage."
Her breath shuddered. She looked up at him, wild and confused and furious.
And something else.
"I was going to run," she whispered.
Kaelen blinked. "What?"
"I had a way out. A tunnel. I could've been gone by morning."
"Why didn't you?"
She looked down at the collar's remains in her hand. "Because whatever this is… it's not finished. And I won't figure it out out there, not alone."
He nodded once, slowly. "Then stay. But only if you choose it."
The words sat between them like a fragile offering.
Not command.
Not surrender.
A choice.
Her choice.
Aurelia nodded, just once. "On my terms."
He exhaled. "Then it begins."
And they sat there—two people broken open by what they'd tried to contain, surrounded by the ashes of the chains they thought they needed.
Something new was beginning.
And neither of them knew if they would survive it.