Vireya woke in the dark, breath caught in her throat.
The whisper still echoed.
Mine.
Not Kael's voice.
Not his wolf.
Something else.
Something buried.
She sat up slowly, her body slick with sweat, the sheets tangled around her legs. The fire was low, casting flickering shadows on the stone walls. Kael hadn't moved, but he was awake lying beside her, arms folded behind his head, eyes locked on the ceiling like he was at war with it.
"You heard it, didn't you?" he said, voice like gravel.
She hesitated. "I don't know what I heard."
"Yes, you do."
She didn't answer. The heat in her chest hadn't gone away it had simply... shifted. Settled into her bones like something waiting to be claimed.
Kael sat up and ran a hand through his hair. "We need to talk to Iska."
Iska didn't look surprised when they burst into her workroom.
She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by a chaotic circle of scrolls, bones, dripping candles, and jars of things that definitely shouldn't be legal. The air smelled like burning sage and something sharp, like stormwater over blood.
"Took you long enough," she muttered without looking up. "I was wondering how long it'd take your wolf to knock."
Vireya stiffened. "You knew it would happen?"
Iska looked up, eyes glittering. "Sweetheart, your wolf has been caged so long she barely remembers what freedom feels like. But that bite?" She pointed at Kael. "Cracked the lock wide open."
Kael crossed his arms. "So how do we get the rest of her free?"
"You don't," Iska said. "She does."
Then she turned to Vireya. "Take off your shirt."
Vireya blinked. "Excuse me?"
Iska stood, unfazed. "Your back. I need to see it. Now."
With a growl of frustration, Vireya stripped the tunic off and turned. Kael stepped closer, silent.
Iska's breath hitched. "There it is."
A mark. Faint but pulsing with a soft glow—almost invisible in daylight. Etched between her shoulder blades like it had always been there, just... hidden.
Kael's voice dropped. "What is that?"
"A sigil," Iska whispered. "Feral born. Woven in blood magic. It's not just a curse it's a seal. A brand. Someone bound her wolf... and erased her lineage in the process."
Vireya turned around slowly, face pale. "Why?"
"Because whoever she's descended from?" Iska looked between them. "They weren't just powerful. They were feared."
Kael's jaw clenched. "You're saying her mother—"
"Was part of a bloodline meant to be wiped out. And someone wanted her protected enough to scar magic into her skin."
Vireya felt her stomach twist. Her mouth was dry. "So, what now?"
Iska crossed her arms. "Now? We dig. Through the old records, through the war ledgers, through the exile rolls. If your bloodline really was hunted down, someone recorded it. And your wolf?" She tilted her head. "She's not going to stay caged much longer."
That night, Vireya lay in the massive bed again. Kael was near, but quiet. Watching. Not speaking.
She curled her fingers over her shoulder blades, pressing into the skin where the sigil glowed.
Nothing.
But in her chest?
Something stirred.
The whisper came again. Louder now. Still not words... but not just sound, either.
Run. Fight. Rise.
She closed her eyes.
And this time, she didn't shrink from it.
She whispered back, "I'm trying."
And deep inside her...
Her wolf growled in answer.
*************************************************88
The castle was too quiet.
Not peaceful. Just...watchful.
Vireya had been locked in Kael's chambers for days now—recovering, resting, "protected." That's what they kept calling it.
Protected.
Like she was a cracked thing waiting to be dropped again.
Kael had posted guards outside her door, not that she needed them. No one besides Iska was allowed in. No one else even knew she existed here.
Which, she realized, was probably the point.
She paced barefoot across the stone floor, the fire crackling low in the hearth, her hair still damp from a rushed bath. Shadows licked up the walls like teeth, and her thoughts felt just as sharp.
She hadn't slept—not really. Just drifted in and out. Every time her eyes closed, something inside her stirred. Whispered. Scratched at her ribs like claws.
It hadn't spoken again. Not since the night it first said Mine.
But she felt it.
Like a second pulse under her skin. A breath that didn't belong to her.
Across the room, Kael sat at the table with a weathered scroll in his hands. He hadn't spoken in over an hour.
And yet, she felt his gaze like a brand.
"Do you always look at people like you're deciding whether to fuck them or kill them?" she snapped.
Kael's head lifted slowly, calm and unreadable. "Only when they're both options."
She blinked. "You're a menace."
"And you're still here."
Before she could fire back, the door creaked open.
Iska strolled in like she owned the place. "You look like shit."
She tossed something at Vireya—a small, black stone, cool to the touch, etched with runes she couldn't read.
"What the hell is this?" Vireya asked, catching it.
"A focus stone. Ancient. Blood-tied. Might help your wolf start speaking in full sentences instead of creepy single-word threats."
"I'm not into woo-woo magic."
Iska grinned. "Good. This isn't woo-woo. It's old. Feral. From your mother's bloodline."
Vireya froze. "My mother?"
Iska waved a hand. "Still working on the family tree, but that sigil on your back? Definitely not standard-issue wolf. It's protective—designed to bind power, not punish. She was hiding you. And your wolf."
Kael stood from his chair. "And someone wanted that power buried."
"Exactly," Iska said, grabbing a candle stub and rolling it between her fingers. "Which means your wolf is done being caged. And when she comes out? It won't be gentle."
Vireya rolled the obsidian stone in her hand.
Nothing happened. No warmth. No pulse. No whisper.
Of course.
"So I what?" she said flatly. "Sit and hum until I reach nirvana?"
Iska shrugged. "That, or scream into the void until your wolf gets bored and answers. I don't care. But she's coming either way."