Aria's pov…………..

The darkness swallowed everything—but it didn’t take me.

Not fully.

Not yet.

A thin thread of consciousness held me to the realm, to my body, to him. Kaelen’s warmth—his wolf’s massive weight pressed against my broken side—kept the last piece of me tethered.

I couldn’t move.

But I could feel.

His heart, pounding too fast.

His breath shuddering against my neck.

His fur bristling with terror, conflict, rage.

The wolf trembled ...