Chapter 39 Laboratory Specimens

• Raya’s POV
• We found a difficult, sheltered resting place beneath a massive granite overhang, far below the treacherous shear zone where the avalanche had nearly claimed Kaelen. The injury to his arm was serious—a complex break that, without the benefit of Lycan healing, would take weeks to mend. I had splinted it firmly, relying on the field knowledge Kaelen had drilled into me, but the pain, combined with the continuous drain of the binding spell, meant he was operating on a core of sheer, unrelenting will.
• The night air was cold and still, carrying the clean, sharp scent of mountain ice. I sat close to Kaelen, maintaining the physical contact necessary to stabilise him, watching the low, small fire I had managed to coax to life. The silence was profound, but it felt wrong—too absolute, too devoid of the usual sounds of nocturnal wilderness.