[POV: Ruvan]
Pain cracked down his spine like lightning as his bones contorted and his skin stretched. His wolf—his fury—was clawing its way to the surface.
How dare he?
How dare Thalos touch her, speak her name, walk freely in this place with no signs of madness while Ruvan had rotted in silence?
It had been so long since he shifted last, he had forgotten what it felt like. Claws split through his fingertips. His vision narrowed. The scent of Solenne's skin lingered too close to him—to Thalos.
'So this is what you've become.'
The voice didn't come from Solenne or Thalos.
It came from within, but it wasn't a voice borne of his insanity. It came from the deepest, darkest corner of himself.
Ruvan froze mid-shift, and every muscle locked. The transformation stuttered like a held breath.
'Snarling at ghosts and threatening the one who woke us.'
Ruvan's knees buckled. He stumbled back, clutching the stone wall, claws scraping deep into it as his vision pulsed with light.
"Kairas…?" he stammered.
The name tasted wrong and right all at once. He hadn't spoken it aloud in over a thousand years.
'Finally remembered me.'
The voice was calm and heavy. It was a low, distant thunder rumbling from behind a sealed door—but it was beginning to crack open.
Ruvan's body resumed transforming as he wrestled with the realization that his wolf, Kairas, had finally manifested again... And was speaking!
—
[POV: Solenne]
He was no ordinary beast—far from it.
When Ruvan's wolf emerged, it wasn't a transformation but an unveiling. It was the breaking of a seal that held something ancient and more savage at bay.
Solenne's body trembled with both fear and excitement at the sight of him. It was the first time she had ever seen such a beautiful wolf.
His fur was the color of bleached ash and starlit frost—neither white nor gray, but something caught in between, as if he forged in the moonlight. Patterns shimmered faintly beneath his coat, pulsing with a faint blue glow—marks of the ancient curse that laced his blood.
Ruvan's wolf stood taller than any wolf had a right to. Broad-shouldered, muscular, and unnervingly still. When he moved, it was with the kind of grace that made predators uneasy. It wasn't wild, but regal.
His eyes were the same in every form. Golden, cold, and bottomless. Eyes that did not blink, only saw. They glowed with something feral and haunted, something that had seen a hundred lifetimes' worth of suffering.
His fangs were long, even for a wolf, shaped to rip through more than flesh. His claws scraped stone when he walked, and mist seemed to curl from his breath, even when the air was warm.
This was no wolf born of the forest.
It was a king in exile—a beast cursed by fate, bound by betrayal, and shaped by centuries of madness.
Solenne felt her own wolf stir in reaction to the transformation. Her wolf, Serai, had been forced back into the recesses of her mind and was unable to speak after the godsforsaken sacrifice. They had injected her with so much wolfsbane that it nearly killed her—both of them.
'Serai? Are you okay?' Solenne asked, unsure if her counterpart would be able to respond.
'I'm… okay,' came Serai's pained response. She added quietly, almost affectionately, 'He's here.'
'He?' Solenne asked.
Thalos interrupted her internal conversation when he greeted Ruvan's wolf politely. "It's good to see you again, Kairas."
"I have nothing to say to you, Thalos. Where is Vaelen?" boomed a thunderous voice in both Solenne and Thalos' minds — Kairas.
"He… hasn't woken up," Thalos answered, his typically neutral expression becoming pained. "I don't think he's dead—just buried still."
"She is here," Kairas answered thoughtfully, glancing at Solenne from the corner of his eye as he padded toward her and Thalos. He added, "There is hope."
"She?" Thalos echoed.
"Yes, she," Kairas said cryptically. "I can't stay out long… Ruvan and I—we are unstable."
Displeased by Kairas' withholding of information, Thalos frowned. "I am sure you mean Solenne?"
Kairas sat on his hind legs, the massive beast only a few feet from Solenne. He tilted his head, "Solenne… that is a fitting name."
Then, before Thalos could demand his answer again, Kairas was gone. His transformation reversed, leaving Ruvan where the great wolf had been seated.
Ruvan's brows were furrowed, and his eyes were clouded with confusion and madness. "Kairas… Kairas abandoned me… now he's back?"
He muttered several bitter things about his wolf before suddenly snapping again. He paced several steps to and fro, then stopped in his tracks. "No, he didn't abandon us. We were cursed. It's not his fault…"
Solenne's heart ached watching his pitiful display. What would it be like to live with your heart and mind splintered into hundreds of pieces?
"Ruvan," Thalos addressed the King with surprising care and patience in his voice.
Ruvan whipped around and glared at the warrior. "I'll kill you! Kill… kill all of you… traitor. Traitor!"
Suddenly, Serai whispered weakly in the back of Solenne's mind: 'Take… his hand.'
'What?' Solenne was stunned by the suggestion, but Serai didn't clarify anything. Solenne reasoned that she probably couldn't speak much since their mental connection was still struggling.
Solenne took a deep breath and took her wolf's advice, even if it was terrifying. She took a few apprehensive steps toward Ruvan, who turned to look at her, but his gaze went through her like he didn't see her at all.
Thalos furrowed his brows and took a step forward to try to stop her, "He's volatile-"
Solenne shook her head determinedly at him and signed, [Let me try this.]
The General looked at her with a troubled frown but stepped back. "As you wish…"
Ruvan had a thousand curses on the tip of his tongue, just waiting to escape, Solenne could tell. Just as he opened his mouth, she closed the distance between them and grabbed his large, calloused hand in both of hers.
Electricity shot between them from where their skin met. She looked up at him pleadingly, her soft, light eyes full of concern. Warmth flowed between them unabated, their physical contact sending a wave of calm over them both.
From the outside, it looked like the Alpha had short-circuited. He stood still as if he had been frozen in time. His golden eyes met hers, but the amber pools were focused and clear this time. He was lucid.
Ruvan glanced down at his hand in both of hers with an unreadable expression. She half-expected him to pull away, but he leaned forward slightly instead. Solenne's heart nearly burst, but she held firm.
She stared up at him… wait, was it a trick of the light? Solenne could have sworn she saw a tear escape the corner of his eye…
"It's quiet…" he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. Almost inaudibly, he added, "I missed the quiet."