Chapter 328

DEREK’S POV The moment it hit, I felt it. A pressure in my chest — sharp, suffocating, primal. The kind that makes your lungs forget how to work and your wolf go still in fear. It wasn’t pain. It was something worse. Power. Raw, ancient, untamed power. I froze mid-step, the report in my hand slipping forgotten to the floor. Every instinct in me howled in warning. Kael looked up from the table across the room, his expression hardening the same instant mine did. “You felt that too?” he asked, already on his feet. “Yes,” I breathed, my pulse hammering. “It’s her.” We didn’t need to say her name. Aurelia. The air in the room trembled again — faint at first, then pulsing like a heartbeat. My wolf stirred violently beneath my skin, snarling and restless. It wasn’t anger this time. It was fear. The kind only an Alpha feels when something stronger than him wakes up nearby. We ran. Through the hall, down the corridor, out into the open grounds. The scent of pine and damp earth filled my lungs,