Chapter 28. Glass and Ash

The sudden, jarring absence of heat was almost as painful as the raging inferno that had preceded it. Aria lay on the scorched, muddy earth, her lungs burning, her body naked, weak, and shaking. The Moon Wolf had retreated, but the silence inside her head was not peaceful—it was the exhausted, hostile quiet of two mortal enemies who had paused their duel only to catch their breath.

Kade pushed himself off the ground, his body stiff. He didn’t look at the damage to his hands yet; his priority was the still-trembling woman beneath him. He grabbed the thick woolen cloak he had dropped when he charged and knelt beside her.

“Aria. You have to move. They’ll be on us in minutes,” he commanded, his voice hoarse, the tone stripped of all Alpha authority, replaced by pure necessity.

Aria opened her eyes. They were human now, green and wide, brimming with tears of shame and exhaustion. She saw the smoking, melted leather gloves still fused slightly to his skin where he had gr