The forest held its breath.
The trees had gone still. The air was so thick with power it felt like time itself had cracked.
Vireya stood in the center of the altar ring, her body humming with raw, boundless energy. Her skin glowed faintly, her fingers twitching with heat. The last of the pain had burned away, but something bigger, older, was unfurling inside her now.
Her wolf wasn't whispering anymore.
She was stepping forward.
Not from the shadows.
From within.
"Let go," the voice said.
"Let me in."
Vireya didn't resist.
She opened her arms, her lungs, her soul and the fire exploded out of her in one final, blinding pulse.
She fell forward—
And didn't hit the ground.
Because there was no ground anymore.
Just light.
And then...
Claws.
When the glow faded, the creature that rose from the smoke and rune-fire wasn't a girl.
She wasn't a woman.
She wasn't even just a wolf.
She was a legend.
A massive, impossibly graceful lupine form now stood where Vireya had fallen muscle and moonlight and living myth. Her fur was a deep, rich auburn red, like wildfire made flesh, shimmering with gold undertones where the light struck her just right.
She blinked once.
Eyes those same bright, sea-glass green eyes cut through the forest like blades but now had a gold ring permanently around them.
And the forest bowed.
Because no one in generations, no one in lifetimes, had ever seen a wolf like this.
Iska whispered from the edge of the grove, barely able to speak. "A Red Flameborn..."
Even the name sounded forbidden.
"Those were a myth," she breathed. "They weren't supposed to exist. They were hunted to extinction after the first war. The old kings feared them. Said a single flameborn could command nature to destroy entire packs."
Her voice dropped.
"She wasn't cursed. She was hidden."
Drekken broke the tree line like a storm with legs.
Kael was still buried somewhere deep inside, but the wolf was in control now, snarling, panting, searching.
And when he saw her—
When he saw her—
He stopped moving.
His massive black form lowered instinctively, tail flicking once, ears flat. His eyes locked on hers, glowing with something ancient.
Recognition.
Longing.
Bond.
Because even if Kael hadn't known her in every life—
Drekken had.
He padded forward slowly.
Vireya's wolf, still new, still pulsing with untested power growled low, uncertain.
He didn't challenge her.
He bowed.
Lowered his massive head, exposed his throat, and waited.
The moment held.
One heartbeat. Two.
And then Vireya stepped forward.
Nose to nose.
The moment they touched, the bond snapped into place.
Not like before. Not like the bite.
This was soul-deep.
An echo across lifetimes. A tether reforged.
The forest roared with it because in it's roots were magical memories and it's queen was home.
Magic pulsed through the Hollow like a shockwave, wild and red and bright green. Somewhere deep in the capital, wolves howled in their sleep without knowing why.
Because something old had returned.
The kingdom didn't just have a queen now.
It had its wolf.
And she'd been born to burn.
______________________________________________________________________
The wind moved with them now.
Not against them.
Not through them.
With them.
Vireya didn't remember taking the first step. Her paws barely touched the earth. Her body, her wolf, moved like it had always known this forest. Like the trees bent for her, the moss leapt to catch her weight, the wind danced ahead just to pull her forward.
She wasn't running.
She was flying.
And beside her?
A shadow.
Drekken.
Towering. Silent. Black fur glinting silver in the moonlight like constellations. His body moved in perfect sync with hers flank to flank, heart to heart. Where she turned, he followed. When she leapt, he soared beside her.
The Hollow Grove blurred around them in streaks of green and glowing gold.
The earth pulsed.
The veil between realms was thin.
The moon above watched in silence.
Not in judgment.
In awe.
Because something ancient had been set free.
They weren't just wolves.
They were prophecy fulfilled.
Two bloodlines, once torn by betrayal and magic, now crashing back together with teeth bared and bond burning.
Drekken let out a low, rumbling howl that vibrated the air. It wasn't dominance. It wasn't even a claim.
It was recognition.
It said:
You. I've searched lifetimes for you.
And Vireya answered.
Her own howl echoed through the forest like fire splitting the sky. Hers was wilder less refined. But it carried the same weight.
You found me.
They skidded into a moonlit glade, paws thundering to a halt, breath ragged, bodies trembling from the power thrumming through their bond.
And then they touched.
Muzzle to muzzle. Forehead to forehead.
Drekken bowed first, sinking low into the moss, pressing his massive frame against hers with a reverence that didn't belong to beasts.
But to mates.
Soulmates.
His wolf glowed faintly now with lines of silver curling along his shoulders, his eyes lit like a storm beneath glass.
Vireya's fur burned copper in the moonlight, glinting red and gold with every breath, a heartbeat wrapped in wildfire.
She leaned into him.
And the bond sealed.
Not with a bite.
But with magic.
With recognition.
The run had awakened more than their wolves.
It had awakened the world.
The air trembled.
The trees whispered in a language long dead.
And something something beyond the forest answered.
The veil was lifted.
And now, they were seen.
A storm was coming.
And the kingdom would never be the same.