The scream that tore from the iron box wasn't human.
It was low and guttural—wet with agony, laced with a rage no chain could hold.
Then came the sound of metal groaning. Screeching.
Breaking.
Elara bolted upright.
The barn was dark. Too dark. The lantern had gone out at some point, and the air was charged—like before a storm. Cold wind clawed through the cracks in the wood.
And then—
CRACK.
The door of the lockbox blew off its hinges, slamming into the opposite wall.
From within the smoke and sparks, Kael emerged.
Not fully wolf. Not fully man.
His spine had arched into a more feral slope, claws like obsidian curved from his fingertips. Blood veined his eyes, and his breath fogged like a wild animal's—slow, deliberate, searching.
"Elara…" he rasped, or maybe snarled.
She stood frozen.
Then took a step forward.
In her hand: a silver dagger.
But she didn't raise it.
She let it hang loose at her side, blade glinting only faintly.
Kael's head tilted. His lip curled.
"You should run."
"I'm tired of running."
"Then die."
His feet padded silently across the hay-strewn floor. His movements were precise—predator-smooth.
But Elara didn't back down.
Instead, she reached up.
And unclasped the silver choker from her throat.
It hit the ground with a heavy click.
Then she pulled down the collar of her shirt.
Just enough to reveal the faint scar on her collarbone—his bite. From the forest.
From the night this all began.
Kael froze.
Elara met his gaze.
And whispered, "Bite me. Right now."
Kael's whole body went rigid.
"Elara—"
"You want it, don't you? You've always wanted to taste what you marked."
His claws trembled.
She took another step forward.
"You think you're the monster in this room?" she asked, voice deadly soft. "I'm the one who keeps bringing you back."
Another step.
Now they were close enough to share breath.
"I kissed your blood," she said. "I stitched your wounds. I listened to you scream her name while holding me. And I'm still here."
Kael's breath caught.
"You don't want to bite me," she said, tilting her chin up, "because if you do, you'll never be able to leave again."
He closed his eyes.
And groaned—pain, hunger, restraint all warring inside him.
"Elara," he begged, voice cracking.
"Then bite me," she whispered again. "Do it. Or lose me forever."
He surged forward.
But not toward her throat.
His arms wrapped around her waist—desperate, tight—and his head dropped against her shoulder.
Not biting.
Shaking.
"Elara," he said again, quieter now. "I can't."
She slowly brought her hand up, fingers threading into the fur still lining his half-shifted neck.
"I know."
"I want to."
"I know."
"But I—"
"You won't."
He nodded against her.
And then collapsed.
His knees buckled, and he sank to the floor, dragging her with him, arms still locked around her like she was the last anchor he had.
They fell sideways into the hay, tangled, pressed together.
Kael was breathing in short gasps, his claws slowly retracting, the color bleeding from his eyes back to gold.
Elara held him through it.
Let his body come down from the edge of instinct.
Let him bury his face in her chest and whimper like something lost.
When his breathing finally steadied, he whispered:
"You broke me."
"No," she said, stroking his hair. "I reminded you."
"Of what?"
"That you're not just a wolf. Or a man. Or a weapon."
He lifted his face.
She looked down at him.
And said, "You're mine."
They didn't speak again that night.
They didn't need to.
Wrapped around each other in the broken barn, they slept like that—limbs entwined, heat shared, sweat and blood mixing on their skin.
And when the first sliver of dawn bled through the cracks in the wall—
They dreamed the same dream.
In the dream, Elara stood beneath a red moon, flames curling at her heels.
Kael approached her, shirtless, marked with bone-white sigils. A crown of silver roses bloomed from his head—bleeding petals down his face.
"You're late," she said.
"I never left."
She held out her hand.
He took it.
Their hearts glowed through their skin, pulsing in unison, a light only they could see.
And then—
They turned to face the fire.
Together.
They awoke at the same time.
Kael's hand already resting on hers.
Eyes wide.
Breaths matched.
"You dreamed it too?" Elara whispered.
He nodded.
"The red moon. The fire. The crown."
Kael stared at her.
And said, voice barely audible—
"You're inside me now."