I couldn't. The bond wouldn't let me. Every bite, every slash, every impact—Ifeltit. The wolves were coordinated, vicious, coming at him from different angles, and Daska couldn't land a solid hit. He was too slow, too big, and they were tearing him apart piece by piece.
Blood. There was so much blood.
It sprayed across the dirt, dark and wet, and I tasted copper in my mouth even though I wasn't bleeding. His blood. His pain. The bond wouldn't let me escape it.
Daska caught one wolf by the throat and threw it hard enough that I heard bones crack. It yelped and scrambled away, limping, but Karik was already there, claws raking down Daska's side. Deep. Too deep. I felt the tear of muscle, the white-hot flare of agony, and my vision went grey at the edges.
"Ellie!" Megan's voice cut through the haze. "Stay with us!"
I couldn't. The bond was dragging me down into his pain, into the desperate animal focus of the fight, and I was drowning in it. Every breath he took rattled in my chest. Every impact jarred through my bones.
The third wolf lunged for his throat, and Daska reared up, catching it mid-leap with one massive paw. The force of the blow sent the wolf tumbling, but it left him exposed. Karik went for his belly, teeth sinking in, and Daska's roar turned into something broken.
"He can't..." My voice broke. "He can't win this."
"He can." Megan's voice was tight, strained. "Ellie, he can. Just watch."
I didn't want to watch. I wanted to close my eyes and block it all out, but the bond wouldn't let me. It pulled me in, forced meto feel every impact, every bite, every moment of his pain like it was my own.
Daska twisted, faster than something his size should have been able to move, and his jaws closed around the wolf at his leg. The crunch of bone echoed across the clearing, and the wolf shrieked. For a moment, I let myself hope.
Then Karik struck.
He went for Daska's throat, fast and vicious, and Daska barely twisted away in time. Claws raked across his side instead, deep and tearing, and I felt it like fire across my ribs. I doubled over, gasping, and Megan's hands were on my arms, her voice urgent and scared.
"Ellie, you have to breathe."
I couldn't. The pain was everywhere, sharp and burning andwrong, and the bond was pulling me under, dragging me down into the violence with him. I could feel his exhaustion, the weight of blood loss, the way his legs were starting to shake.
He was slowing.
He's losing.
The thought was ice water in my veins. He was bigger, stronger, but they were faster, smarter, working together like they'd trained for this. And they had. Karik had planned this. Had brought wolves who knew how to take down larger prey, who knew exactly where to bite, where to claw, how to bleed him out slowly.
The third wolf, the one he'd thrown, was back on its feet. Circling. Waiting for an opening.
"Do something!" I twisted in Dev's grip, trying to reach Rivik. "Stop this! He's your brother!"
Rivik’s face was white, his eyes amber as he fought his own shift, as he fought the urge to intervene.
Karik shifted back just for a moment. Just long enough to look at me across the blood soaked grass. His face was bloodied, his eyes cold and satisfied, and he smiled.
"Watch him die for you, human."
Then he shifted again and lunged for Daska. The remaining other wolf hit him from the other side simultaneously while he was focused on Karik. I felt his body buckle under the combined weight, felt the impact jar through every bone as they brought him down hard. His shoulder slammed into the dirt and pain exploded through the bond so sharp I screamed.
The sound tore out of me before I could stop it, raw and animal, and I felt Dev's arms lock tighter around my waist as I thrashed. All I knew was that Daska was down and they were on him.
Two wolves. Teeth and claws. Tearing.
Karik's jaws closed around Daska's throat. The bond went white-hot. Not pain this time but terror, pure and primal, the kind that came from knowing you were about to die. I felt Daska's heartbeat stutter, felt his lungs strain for air that wouldn't come, and the world tilted sideways. I heard myself screaming but couldn't make it stop. My throat was raw, my voice breaking, and Dev's arms were iron bands around my waist as I fought to get to him.
"Daska!" His name ripped out of me. "DASKA!"
He was still fighting. I could feel it through the bond—the desperate surge of adrenaline, the bear's rage pushing through the pain. He twisted, trying to dislodge Karik, but the wolf's jaws only tightened, trying to get enough purchase to tear his throat out.
He's going to die.
