Chapter 19

• The guttural snarl ripped from Kael's chest, a sound so raw and full of agony it seemed to tear the very fabric of the dawn-lit forest. His golden eyes, usually alight with fierce but controlled intelligence, blazed with a primal, unadulterated fury. To see his mate, his Tallia, dragged away, her struggles growing weaker, her life force a flickering candle in the grip of those abominations – it was a violation that struck at the core of his very being. His world, so recently filled with the promise of their shared future, had fractured into a million shards of despair and rage.
• The lingering scent of Tallia’s blood, a cruel perfume mingled with the ancient dust of the vampires, was a searing brand on his senses. He saw her last desperate twist, her attempt to catch his eye, a silent plea swallowed by the encroaching darkness of her captors. The whimper that had escaped her lips, so full of terror and violation, replayed in his mind, a torment he would carry forever. It was a sound that shattered the last vestiges of his control, unleashing the wolf in its purest, most untamed form.
• With a roar that shook the ancient trees, Kael launched himself forward. The vampires who had held him at bay, their faces a mask of cold amusement just moments before, now recoiled, sensing the seismic shift in his power. He was no longer a guardian defending his territory; he was a force of nature unleashed, a cyclone of teeth and claws driven by a singular, all-consuming purpose: to reclaim his mate. The earth trembled beneath his paws as he surged through the remaining enemy ranks, his golden fur bristling with a lethal energy. The vampires who had held Tallia were swift, unnaturally so, melting into the shadows with a chilling efficiency, but Kael’s senses, honed by centuries of pack instinct and a love deeper than life itself, were sharper.