Chapter 9
CADE
The wind here doesn’t just cut—it devours.
It howls through the canyons like a living thing, gnawing at the edges of my sanity, biting into exposed skin until even my wolf goes silent beneath the sting.
Snow lashes across my face, sharp as glass, the sky a bruised gray that bleeds endlessly into the jagged white peaks ahead.
I’ve been walking for days. Maybe weeks. Time stopped making sense the moment we entered the spelled area that Thane showed on the map.
Each breath scrapes my lungs raw. The thin air burns, leaving nothing but ache behind, and still, I keep moving. Because if I stop—if I let the cold win—I’ll never find her.
My Rowan.
Her name is the only thing left that still feels alive inside me.
The bond between us used to stir within, steady and certain, a quiet pulse in the back of my chest that was waiting to claim her—breathing, patient, and living. But now it’s shattered. Faint. Like trying to listen for a heartbeat through stone.
Every time I close my eyes, I see her face the night she disappeared. The flash in her eyes. The way she didn’t fight any longer once that bastard appeared and she accepted his hand. The worst part? I can’t even blame her.
I failed her. We all did when she was put into a position to use a power she didn’t yet understand.
The snow deepens, dragging at my boots with every step, but I push harder. My wolf paces beneath my skin, restless and angry, desperate to tear through this endless white until he finds the scent we’ve lost.
She’s close, he insists, though we both know it’s a lie. I can feel her.
“You said that yesterday,” I growl under my breath. “And the day before.”
There’s no answer, just the wind keening like laughter in my ears.
I stop at the edge of a frozen ridge, chest heaving, and stare out across the expanse below—miles and miles of snow, ice, and ruin. The world looks dead here. Empty. Like even the sun gave up on this hell.
I should also be worried that I don’t see Elias or Liz. We thought spreading out to cover more ground would be better, but it’s been well over a day since I’ve heard either of them.
Still, I continue. My mate’s out here somewhere. I can feel it. Maybe it’s just madness, or maybe it’s something deeper—something even the gods themselves couldn’t strip away. Nothing will stop me.
“I’ll find you, Rowan,” I say into the abyss. “Even if it kills me.”
The mountains don’t care, but I swear they listen.
The air thickens, swirling around me, and for just a heartbeat, I think I hear something—a whisper, faint and familiar, curling through the storm, but it’s gone before I can name it.
I take one more step forward, snow crunching beneath my boots, and keep at it. Because stopping means losing her. And losing her isn’t an option.
Not now. Not ever.
And after I know she’s safe…
I’m going to fucking kill Malrik Vane.