Page 30 of A Sunwoven Ascent

Kaldrek caught him before he hit the floor, steadying him with one arm, though even that touch was careful now, as if none of them fully trusted what lived inside Cillian’s light.

“That’s all I can do,” Cillian whispered, more to himself than anyone else. “That’s all I have right now.”

“Then we learn,” Evelyne said, her voice hoarse. “We make you stronger. We make you better. And you do only what you can bear.”

The lodge door swung open, and Nathan stood there with Ravena of the Moonshade pack.

“Alpha,” Nathan said, “we need you. Now.”

Chapter 15

Kaldrek felt the darkness all day. It clung to the lodge like damp rot, bleeding off Alaric’s unconscious body in waves that never fully stopped. Even asleep and bandaged, Alaric radiated wrongness. Kaldrek kept himself coiled tight because of it, every instinct braced for a threat that might not be outside at all.

By the time the sun sank and Wrenford gave itself over to night, the cold had turned sharper. Kaldrek sensed it before Nathan reached the lodge, a wash of frost creeping over his skin like a warning. But the village was saturated now. Alaric’s corruption, the residue of blood magic, and the lingering shock of the light that had poured into Kaldrek’s hands earlier had all begun to blur together. That flare of sunfire had left him briefly unsteady, as though his senses had gone dim and returned out of rhythm.

A few lost heartbeats of distraction might already have cost him.

He stepped outside with Holden and Nathan close behind, and regret struck at once. He should have trusted the warning sooner. Moonshade and Glaciermaw were already shouting, herding villagers inside. Doors slammed. Footsteps scattered.

Farther out, wolves had shifted and moved to the perimeter, shadows threading through darkness with teeth, muscle, and silent precision. Kaldrek felt them all, a living ring drawing tight around Wrenford.

Then he heard it.

“He’s heeere,” a chilling voice whispered, like a secret breathed against skin. “Yesss. Yesss. I feel him.”

Kaldrek’s head snapped toward the sound.

“What is it?” Holden asked, instantly alert.

“You don’t hear them?” Kaldrek growled.

“Hear what, Alpha?” Nathan asked, his gaze already sweeping the treeline.

“They’re whispering around us.”

Holden frowned. Nathan’s eyes narrowed. Neither moved, but confusion passed plainly between them.

“I hear nothing,” Nathan said, slow and sure.

Then the voice came again, closer this time, slick as oil.

“We are speaking to youuu, Alpha.”

Kaldrek’s teeth clenched. He forced himself to breathe, to separate signals from noise, to keep his focus from splintering. The whispers clawed at the edges of his mind, trying to pull his attention away from what mattered.

He didn’t let them.

“Nathan,” he said, voice clipped. “Do not let Evelyne leave that lodge.”

Nathan’s posture shifted immediately.

“Keep Cillian and Alaric inside with Heidara. Stay there with her.” Kaldrek’s gaze sharpened. “If Alaric wakes and he isn’t himself, they’ll need you. All of you.”

Nathan nodded once and took off at a sprint, disappearing into the dark.

Kaldrek turned to Holden.

They needed no words. Understanding hardened across Holden’s face, and Kaldrek felt the old rhythm settle back between them. They stripped off their belts, leather and steel striking the ground, then shifted, bones cracking as heat surged through them and the world snapped sharp through wolf eyes. A heartbeat later they were moving, fast and low, disappearing into the night to hunt whatever had come whispering for an alpha.