Mira's POV
The wind screamed in my ears as we plummeted toward the earth.
Thorne's wings were useless—singed black from the lightning that had come from MY arm when he grabbed me. Golden electricity still crackled across my skin, jumping between my fingers like I'd stuck them in a socket.
"LET GO!" Thorne roared, trying to shake me off.
"YOU GRABBED ME FIRST, BIRD BRAIN!"
The ground rushed up at us impossibly fast. Trees that looked like tiny dots seconds ago now filled my vision with their sharp, deadly branches.
We were going to die. Again. Except this time I'd actually stay dead.
Then something massive and silver slammed into us from the side.
Kael—in wolf form—had somehow launched himself thirty feet into the air, intercepting our fall. His jaws clamped onto Thorne's leg. The eagle screamed in pain and rage.
We spun wildly. I lost my grip on Thorne and flew free, tumbling through open air.
My stomach lurched into my throat. The golden light from my arm exploded outward like a shield, but it wouldn't stop me from splattering on the ground.
Arms caught me.
Not furry wolf arms or feathered eagle arms.
Smooth, scaled arms that were somehow warm despite being reptilian.
Raith had shifted to his half-form—mostly human but with scales covering his skin and his lower body still serpentine. He'd climbed a tree at impossible speed and caught me mid-air, his serpent tail wrapped around a thick branch for support.
"I have you, Heartkeeper," he said calmly, like catching falling women was something he did every day.
My heart hammered so hard I thought it would burst. "That lightning... that came from me. I almost killed him."
"You defended yourself. The Sigil responds to threats." Raith's golden eyes studied my face with disturbing intensity. "Interesting that it activated so violently. You must have very strong survival instincts."
"I'm a trauma nurse. Survival instincts are literally my job description."
Below us, Kael and Thorne were locked in brutal combat. The wolf's jaws snapped at the eagle's wings. Thorne's talons raked across Kael's side, drawing blood.
"Stop them!" I shouted. "They're going to kill each other!"
"Probably," Raith agreed. "Males fight for females. It's nature."
"It's stupid!" I tried to climb down from the tree, but Raith's tail tightened around the branch, keeping us suspended. "I didn't ask for any of this! I didn't ask to be kidnapped by a bird or dropped from the sky or—"
A roar shook the forest.
Not a wolf roar or an eagle's shriek.
This was deeper. Darker. The kind of sound that made every prey animal in a five-mile radius freeze in terror.
Kael and Thorne stopped fighting immediately, both looking toward the sound.
"No," Raith whispered, and for the first time I heard fear in his voice. "Not him."
"Not who?" I asked, but I already knew I wouldn't like the answer.
The trees at the edge of the clearing exploded.
A tiger stalked through the broken branches—but calling it a tiger was like calling the sun a light bulb. This creature was massive, easily twice the size of a normal tiger, with black and gold stripes that seemed to shimmer with their own light. Its eyes glowed amber like molten metal.
And it was staring directly at me.
"Draven," Kael growled, blood dripping from his wounds. "The Exiled King."
"What's he doing in your territory?" Thorne demanded, his wings spread defensively despite his own injuries.
The tiger didn't answer. He just kept walking toward our tree, his gaze never leaving mine.
Raith's arms tightened around me protectively. "This is bad. Very bad."
"Why? Who is he?" My voice came out smaller than I wanted.
"The most dangerous male in the Beastworld," Raith said quietly. "Exiled from his tribe for refusing to execute his own brother. He follows no laws, respects no territories, and kills anyone who stands in his way."
The tiger stopped at the base of our tree. Then he shifted.
The transformation was faster than the others, almost violent in its speed. One second—tiger. Next second—man.
The biggest man I'd ever seen.
He had to be six-foot-seven at least, with shoulders broad enough to block out the sun. Scars crisscrossed his chest and arms—evidence of countless battles. His hair was black with streaks of gold, wild and unkempt. And his eyes... his eyes were still glowing amber, feral and terrifying.
"Bring her down," Draven said. His voice was rough, like he didn't use it often. "Now."
"She's under my protection," Raith replied coolly.
"And mine," Kael added, limping closer despite his wounds.
"Mine," Thorne said, though he looked way less confident than he sounded.
Draven looked at each of them with something like amusement. "You're all wounded, territorial, and stupid. I could kill you all before you took your next breath." He looked up at me again. "But I won't. Because she wouldn't like it."
Wait. What?
"How do you know what I'd like?" I called down. "You don't even know me!"
"I've been tracking you for the last hour, little healer." His lips curved into something that might have been a smile on a less terrifying face. "I heard you tell these idiots to stop fighting. I watched you try to save the bird male even after he kidnapped you. You have a healer's heart." His eyes softened slightly. "And healers don't like watching people die."
My heart did a weird flutter thing that I absolutely did not appreciate.
"So what do you want?" I demanded, trying to sound braver than I felt.
"To make you an offer the others are too proud to make." Draven crossed his arms. "I'm not a tribe leader. I have no pack to feed, no territory to defend, no politics to play. If you come with me, I can protect you without all the drama."
"That's kidnapping," Kael snarled. "You're describing kidnapping."
"I'm describing freedom," Draven countered. "She's not a possession. Let her choose."
All eyes turned to me.
Raith holding me in a tree. Kael bleeding on the ground. Thorne with singed wings. And Draven standing calm and deadly, offering something that sounded suspiciously like logic.
My arm pulsed with golden light, warm but not painful anymore. Like it was trying to tell me something.
"I..." I started to speak.
Then the forest filled with howls.
Dozens of them. Hundreds maybe.
Kael's face went pale. "No. They can't be here already."
"Who?" I asked, dread coiling in my stomach.
"The Council's enforcers," Raith said grimly. "Elder Soren must have sensed the Sigil activate. He's coming to claim you."
Thorne swore viciously. "If Soren gets her, we'll never see her again. He'll lock her in the Sacred Temple and throw away the key."
Draven's expression darkened. "Then we have maybe five minutes before this forest is swarming with wolves who don't care about her choices."
The howls got closer. Through the trees, I could see shapes moving—dozens of wolves converging on our location.
Kael looked up at me, desperation clear in his grey eyes. "Mira, I know you don't trust us yet. But you have to choose someone. Right now. Or the Council will make the choice for you."
My heart raced. Choose? Choose what? Choose who would own me?
"I don't want to be owned," I whispered.
"Then choose who you'll trust," Draven said quietly. "Just for today. You can change your mind tomorrow."
The wolves burst into the clearing—at least fifty of them, all massive, all moving in perfect formation.
At their center walked an older wolf with silver-streaked black fur. When he shifted, an elderly man with cold, calculating eyes stood before us.
"The Marked One will come with me," Elder Soren announced, his voice carrying absolute authority. "By order of the Beast Council, she is to be placed under protective custody immediately."
"She's not property!" Kael shouted.
"She is a resource," Soren said coldly. "And resources must be controlled."
The enforcers moved forward.
Raith's grip on me tightened. Kael shifted back to wolf form. Thorne's wings spread. Draven's eyes glowed brighter.
They were going to fight. All of them against fifty wolves. They were going to die protecting me.
Unless I did something.
My arm burned hot, the golden light spreading up to my shoulder now.
And deep in my chest, something whispered: Choose.
I opened my mouth.
But before I could speak, the ground beneath us exploded.