Chapter 62
Avilyna
IT brOKE FOR ALL OF US
Carefully, I swing a leg over his back, slipping my hands into his thick, soft fur. Radiating heat, my bare feet press against his flank, hiding from the sting of winter. Kai is steady beneath me, his body vibrating with power.
“You throw me into a snowbank, and I swear—”
Not letting me finish, he takes off. Bolting forward with a sudden burst of speed, the world becomes a blur, making me squeal.
The motion steals the oxygen from my lungs as I cling to his back, fingers buried in the thick of his fur.
Snow explodes beneath his paws. He’s fast, unnaturally so, each stride eating up the distance with effortless grace.
The wolf moves with the fluid power of something born from wind and feral instinct.
I duck instinctively as a low-hanging branch passes over my head, my heart thrumming with adrenaline.
And I get it, why he’s so stubborn to drive his bike everywhere.
It’s almost the same sensation, the same thrill, but this is wilder.
Kai veers left, then right, weaving effortlessly between trees, barely touching the earth. The snow here is deep, untouched.
My laughter bursts from me, loud, unafraid.
It gets lost in the rush of the wind, but I know he hears it, feels it, and a low, pleased rumble thrums from under me.
Ahead, steam curls through the trees. Kai slows down, his pace gradually easing until the thundering rhythm of his paws fades into a gentle crunch against the frost. The ground levels out beneath us, and slowly the spring appears.
Hidden in a basin of dark stones and moss, half-sheltered by a natural rock wall.
Snow crowds the edges, but the water is dark, clear, and warm—steam rising around the natural pool.
Stopping at the edge, Kai lowers his body so I can slide off.
My heeled feet stumble forward as I step onto the snowy ground, my fingers still tangled in his soft fur, reluctant to let go.
But smoke starts to curl around him. For a moment, he just watches me, then the glow in his eyes shifts, sharpens.
I take a half-step back, already knowing what’s coming.
The air thickens as magic begins to churn beneath his skin.
The shift rolls through him. A low, guttural growl, then the wrenching crack of bone.
His limbs contort inward, spine curling, and the fur falls as snow.
Muscle tears and reforms in jagged bursts beneath the surface.
He grits his teeth through the pain as his face reshapes.
Muzzle folding in, cheekbones pushing forward, jaw snapping back with a crack.
Kai is kneeling on the ground, naked, bloody and breathless.
The moonlight spills over his shoulders, highlighting his tousled, damp hair.
Kai looks up at me, his expression open in a way that leaves no room for armour.
A slow smirk curls at the edge of his mouth.
“Were you watching?”
“Every second of it,” I breathe out, feeling my cheeks heat.
He huffs a pleased laugh, standing to his full height, unfazed by the cold or the fact that he’s very naked, and bloody. Looking wild, dangerous, addictive. Kai stretches slowly before walking toward the spring, stopping just at the edge, an invitation.
Stepping forward to follow him, I pause for a moment to take in the beauty of the place.
The way the mist twists lazily in the air.
The moon shines as fairy light, and the faint whisper of the wind cuts through the trees.
The snow cocooning this pocket of paradise, muting the outside and letting the stars shine bright.
“So how many girls have you brought here?” The question slips my lips, no filter as usual, my nerves getting the best of me. I spot a flat rock and use it as a makeshift bench, dropping the bundle of clothes along with the blanket and my handbag.
“One,” Kai says, looking at me over his shoulder halfway in the water, making me slightly flinch. But my muscles relax when he adds it nonchalantly. “You.”
The way he holds my gaze, I know he’s sincere.
“My mom showed me this place. She brought me and my little brother, Sammy, here.” His voice gets heavy, and I feel the emotion this place holds, that name pulling at some hidden souvenirs. Making me feel honoured that he trusts me enough to let me in.
“My dad has always been... temperamental. However, he rarely lost it around my brother and me. Mom bore the brunt of it, then. So when it was too much, she’d bring us here to hide, to forget, to find some peace…
” Kai’s stare is transfixed on the snow-covered trees, deep in thought.
I silently slip out of my clothes and join him in the heated pool.
Steam curls around us in a quiet veil, hiding us from the world.
I don’t speak right away. Instead, I let the silence do what it does best–make space for grief, for memory, for what has been lost. My arm brushes against his under the water, barely a touch, but a presence, letting him know I’m here.
Kai doesn’t look at me at first. His eyes are somewhere, lost in the echo of an old wound.
“You don’t have to say more,” I offer softly, not out of dismissal but respect. “Only if you want to.” My fingers slowly curl around his, and Kai tightens his hold as he lets out a breath that sounds older than he is, as if it has been trapped in his ribs for years.
“She used to hum,” he murmurs, almost smiling. “Never a full song. Just… humming. She said words got in the way sometimes.” I nod, damp hair clinging to the back of my neck.
“You definitely take after her.” That makes the corner of his mouth twitch, fully up for a brief moment, communication not being his strong suit.
“She was the strongest person I’ve ever known,” Kai says, finally meeting my eyes. “But not in a loud way. She was strong like the trees, like winter, resilient, steady.”
I shift closer, “Thank you for bringing me here.”
His throat tightens, but he swallows it down. “I think she’d like you.”
I smile faintly. “I know I liked her.”
I may not remember every detail, but intuition never lies. We sit like that, shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, hand in hand. No need to fix anything. Just two souls, in a hot spring beneath the moonlight, holding space for a truth that doesn't need to be healed, only shared, and that’s enough.
“Thank you,” Kai whispers against my temple, followed by lips on skin. Icy air licks at my bare skin, but I’m not cold. Not with him watching me like that, as if I’m the only thing he’s ever truly seen.
“You’re perfect, little terror,” he murmurs, voice rough in the quiet night.
“Why do you keep calling me that?” Kai holds my stare, a flicker of tenderness slipping through the heat in his eyes.
“Because. You. Torment me. I wake up every damn day thinking about the exact shade of your eyes, the way your body was made for my hands, or how just the scent of you can make me go insane.”
My heart skips a beat.
“You think you’re the only one affected here?”
The moment feels suspended, as if we’re both caught between two worlds.
One where we're both still wearing the masks of where we’re supposed to belong, and one where all of that is stripped away.
I fully turn toward him, and the tension between us shifts into something tender.
Without a word, he pulls me closer, letting the water lap against our skin, the heat dizzying.
The kiss comes slow, but this time it's more than just flesh meeting flesh; it’s a whispered promise.
It’s him, and it’s me, wrapped in the quiet heat of the spring.
Kai’s hands rise from the water and frame my face, fingertips trembling ever so slightly.
“You sure?” voice stripped of all the arrogance, naked from pretenses. And just like that, he’s not the sharp-edged soldier or the lycan made of ice and instincts. He’s just Kai.
My Kai.
Bare, vulnerable, waiting for me.
“Yes,” I whisper. “I’ve never been more sure of anything.” Something cracks open in him, a second heartbeat aligning with mine. His mouth meets me softly at first, careful, as if I might break. But the moment deepens, swelling as a tide, hungry, desperate for more.
Kai’s hands slide down my back, fingers splaying across my skin. Grabbing my ass, he pulls me closer until our bodies align. The world narrows to nothing but us. The press of his chest, the pulse of his heart, the kisses he trails over my scars.
A cool breeze brushes over my spine, a welcome contrast to the heat igniting all around us.
Brackwell’s lips slide over mine, urging them to open, and then he’s tasting me, exploring my mouth, claiming me.
I moan when the tips of his canines pierce my bottom lip, welcoming the hot and metallic tang.
Kai lets out a moan of his own, kissing me deeper as his hands work their way into my wet curls. Feeling every hardness of him, his shoulders, his scarred back, his toned stomach and Kvirr, his rock-hard cock. Our breaths quicken.
I want him, all of him, and I know Kai is right alongside me. His head dips to my breast, lifting me slightly out of the water. Towering over him, my head falls back as I lose myself in ecstasy. He draws more scarlet drops from my flesh, the pain making me wetter. Hips rolling, looking for release.
I don’t have to wait too long as two fingers stretch me roughly. But I welcome it, the urgency. His breath comes faster, each exhale followed by a ragged groan. As if nothing can quench his thirst. Kai kisses me hard, grinding his dick against my core, feeling his desperate need.
“If you change your mind, you stop me.” His words are mumbled, dancing over my skin, never pausing his exploration. I nod, my fingers tightening around the hard muscles of his neck, grounding myself as I brace for what’s coming.
“Say it,” Kai commands, voice thick, strained with restraint.
“I will,” the words barely escape my mouth before he thrusts into me.
And fuck, he’s big, uncomfortably so as I cry out, pain mixed with pleasure.
Kai’s stretching me in a place that doesn't have a lot of experience, and definitely not one of this calibre.
He holds still, letting me adjust to him, quickly transforming the ache into a hum of pleasure.
He brings his forehead to mine, barely holding still.
“You okay?” voice strained, teeth grinding.
“Yes,” I moan, slowly moving my hips, and that’s all he needs, before Kai pulls out of me slowly, only to sink back in with the same languorous rhythm.
And he does it again before I join him, as we both start syncing in harmony.
His jaw clenches tight as we continue our dance, and energy shimmers between us, palpable as delicate luminous threads.
The tempo quickens before turning into pure primal need. The prickles of light dance across our skin as we move. Getting closer and closer, with every thrust and roll of hips. The swelling of his dick pushes so deliciously inside me, it makes my eyes roll back.
“Faster, please.”
Kai groans before clashing his mouth to mine. Turning our kiss into a chaos of teeth and tongue. The ache of something that has waited far too long, finally finding home.
“Fuck…….” Kai growls as his hands grab my curves, hungry and bruising. And I love it, wanting him to mark my soul. And then, we ignite.
The pleasure high is quickly replaced by fire. It tears through me, coming too fast to stop. The power surges through my veins, an overwhelming force that lights up every nerve, every inch of my skin.
Caught in a storm. Not of rain or wind, but of raw, unbridled energy. Alive and humming, thrumming through my blood. Similar to touching the divine, becoming the very heartbeat of the universe for one impossible heartbeat.
My back arches, and an explosion of blistering light floods the sky, turning the world into nothing but pure brightness in a single, earth-shattering pulse.
And then, nothing.
Darkness swallows the forest.
A searing pain erupts along my spine, burning so intensely I almost can’t breathe.
It rips through me, deeper than any wound, and I gasp, no longer aware of the world around me.
Now doubling over in the snow, the pain is spreading, as if I’m being skinned alive.
Like something inside me is trying to break free, attempting to tear apart my flesh.
I scream, voice raw.
This hurts like a mother fucker. My back bones are being rearranged, reshaped by some force. Then, just as I think I can’t endure it anymore, a violent jolt of agony shoots through me. With brutal force, something sharp and heavy bursts from my shoulder blades, in a sickening tear of flesh.
Wings.
I gasp, my chest rising and falling heavily, as I feel their weight pulling me down. Trying to lift myself, but the wings immobilize me in place. Kai rushes to my side, and the instant he touches me, the lock shatters.
A flood of clarity surges through me. Everything I had forgotten, everything I am, returns all at once.
The valkyrie within me: warrior, force of nature, protector.
Faces, voices, places I’ve never seen, but somehow know, feel as if they’ve always been mine.
The warmth of a distant sun. The roar of battle carried on the sound of wings.
A sky I once soared through, wild and free.
A life I never knew rushes back, relentless and overwhelming.
Memories crashing over me, a tidal wave, keeping me on my knees, choking me.
Demons, bloodshed, and crushing helplessness.
It all returns with cold, brutal clarity.
Kai’s grip tightens, steady and grounding amid the storm, pulling me back from the edge of the flood.
“I remember,” he breathes out, voice heavy with the weight of it. Brackwell’s gaze is wild, unfocused, as if remembering is almost too much to bear.
Too painful for him to.
And at that moment, I understand.
It broke…
For all of us.