Kaelen's scream ripped through the forest like thunder cracking open the sky.
But I didn't let go.
My palm stayed pressed to the rune seared into his back now pulsing with molten light, a living brand of old magic that had been waiting far too long to awaken.
His body arched beneath my touch, shaking, veins darkening with a shadow that wasn't his. Blood seeped from his nose. From his ears. His fingernails clawed at the dirt as if trying to ground himself trying to stay him.
I whispered the last words of the incantation, my voice raw.
The curse didn't want to let go.
It wasn't letting go.
A force shoved me backward, throwing me into the nearest tree. The bark bit into my spine, and my vision blurred. My magic sparked wild and unchained around me, reacting on instinct. The forest dimmed.
Then silence.
Kaelen collapsed to the ground silent, unmoving.
"No no, no, no!" I crawled to him, cupping his face.
His skin was cold.
But his chest rose.
Faintly.
He was alive. But barely.
And the mark… the rune… it was different now.
It had spread.
Instead of one small sigil between his shoulder blades, blackened tendrils now reached down his spine like vines, crawling toward his heart. The curse had adapted—defended itself.
It wasn't feeding off Kaelen anymore.
It was becoming him.
I didn't have time to think. The air around us shifted, and I felt it before I saw them.
Eyes in the trees.
Wolves.
At least six.
Not his pack. Not mine.
Rogues.
They circled slowly, growling low and steady. Their coats were mangy, their eyes glowing with a fevered hunger. One of them stepped forward, sniffing the air.
They could smell Kaelen's weakness. Smell the magic. Smell me.
And in this forest, we were prey.
I stood, hands glowing.
"I don't have time for this."
The largest of them growled. "That thing you're protecting he reeksss of the curse."
"He's mine," I snapped.
"Then you're marked too."
They lunged.
I don't remember every move only the fire in my veins and the scream of wind as I unleashed everything I had. Magic tore through the clearing in bursts of light and shadow. I spun, twisted, shattered bones with force fields, burned fangs from jaws.
They weren't warriors.
They were vultures.
And I was done being their meal.
When the last wolf dropped, smoke curling from its fur, I turned back to Kaelen.
He was still breathing.
But he hadn't moved.
His skin shimmered under the moonlight, and I saw the curse twitch beneath the surface like a second heartbeat.
I knelt beside him, cupping his face.
"Kaelen. You need to fight it."
His eyes fluttered open. One was still his. The other black.
He blinked slowly. "Sera?"
Tears blurred my vision. "Yes. I'm here."
His hand reached up, weakly brushing my cheek.
"It's inside me," he said hoarsely. "I can feel it… trying to rewrite me."
"I'm not going to let it."
"You already touched the rune," he whispered. "It's marked you now, too."
I swallowed. "Then we burn together."
He laughed broken, bitter. "Of course you'd say that."
I couldn't take him back to the Hollow. It had already taken what it wanted.
So I carried him again through the twisted woods until the edge of the Hollow loosened its grip and the trees opened enough to let moonlight back in.
We collapsed beside a stream.
I washed the blood from his face, watched his breathing slow but steady. Then I carved a small protection circle around us, anchoring it with what little magic I had left.
For a moment, the world was still.
Then his voice soft broke the silence.
"Sera."
I looked at him.
"There's something else," he said. "Something it showed me… while it had me."
"What did you see?"
He took a long breath. "A memory. Not mine. The curse's. A woman. A witch. She tried to bind it once… long ago."
My heart pounded. "What happened?"
"She failed," he whispered. "But she left something behind. A blood relic. Hidden in a place where no wolf or witch dares walk."
"Where?"
His eyes met mine, both flickering now. "The Gray Hollow."
My stomach dropped. "That place is forbidden. It doesn't exist anymore."
"Neither should we," he said.