Chapter 90 Chapter Ninety
The collision screamed between them—raw, unrelenting—as their power slammed together in a sustained clash.
Kaelani pushed.
Not blindly.
Forward.
Her arms locked, shoulders braced as violet poured from her hands in a relentless stream—burning through his gold inch by inch.
Slow.
But certain.
It advanced.
Draevyn didn’t move.
One hand extended.
Holding her.
Containing her.
As though this were still nothing more than a nuisance.
Arrogant.
Of course he was.
But the gold began to give.
Subtle at first.
Then more.
Violet pressed deeper, swallowing the edges, eating through the brilliance of his power as it drew closer—
Closer—
Closer.
Something in his expression tightened.
Not fear.
Irritation.
His jaw set.
His eyes sharpened.
And then—
His other hand lifted.
Gold surged.
A second wave poured from his palm—heavier, denser—driving into the clash with a force that cracked the air like thunder.
Kaelani felt it.
The impact slammed into her—hard enough to shove her back a fraction, her balance breaking just enough to matter.
But she didn’t fall.
Didn’t retreat.
Her teeth clenched.
Her power flared in answer.
She held—
Then pushed.
Harder.
Violet surged again, meeting his amplified force head-on, refusing to be swallowed.
For a moment—
It balanced.
Then—
Draevyn staggered.
Barely.
Half a step.
But it was there.
His control slipped—
Just enough.
Kaelani seized it.
Drove forward.
Everything she had behind it.
Violet crashed into gold, forcing it back—
Driving him—
Pushing him—
But then—
He answered.
Not with irritation.
With intent.
The gold flared—blinding, dense—surging outward in a crushing wave that didn’t just meet her power—
It overtook it.
The pressure hit her like a wall.
Her body jerked as the force drove into her, boots skidding across fractured stone as she was forced back—
Grinding—
Fighting—
Holding—
But losing ground.
Inches.
Then more.
The courtyard split beneath her heels as they dragged across the broken foundation, the sound sharp beneath the roar of clashing power.
Draevyn’s mouth curved.
Not amused.
Something darker.
“You feel it, don’t you?” he said, voice smooth, edged with something cruel. “The difference between us.”
Kaelani’s jaw tightened.
Violet surged from her hands—harder now, brighter—but the gold didn’t falter.
It advanced.
“You can push all you like,” he continued, voice almost thoughtful. “Dress it up as strength… call it defiance…”
His gaze dragged over her.
“But it doesn’t change what you are.”
Her wolf snarled beneath her ribs—low, furious, answering the insult with teeth and instinct.
Kaelani pushed harder.
Everything she had.
But the gold swallowed more of her violet—eating into it as it pressed forward.
Draevyn’s eyes gleamed.
“You are not my equal, Kaelani.”
The words landed like a blade.
“You are half of something that could have been absolutely glorious… watered down by something inferior.”
His smile sharpened.
“And neither side is strong enough to stand on its own.”
Her breath hitched.
Rage flared—sharp, immediate.
Her power surged in answer.
But it wasn’t enough.
The gold drove forward again.
And this time, it didn’t just meet her.
It drove her down.
Kaelani’s legs buckled as the pressure crushed into her, forcing her to one knee. Stone fractured beneath her with a sharp crack, the impact jarring through her body as she fought to hold the line.
Still she pushed.
Still she resisted.
But it was slipping—
Draevyn watched her—calm, unbothered.
“Did you really think I needed a touch?” he said, voice low beneath the roar of colliding power. “A kiss? Or that I needed to fuck you to take your power?”
He pressed harder.
Forcing her down to both knees.
“I don’t.”
His smile deepened.
“It’s just funner that way.”
The gold flared—
And then—it changed.
Kaelani felt it first.
A pull.
Subtle.
Wrong.
Then she saw it.
Her violet—thread by thread—being dragged into the gold.
Not just pushing back.
Taken.
Her breath caught.
Her focus wavered—
Just for a second.
Draevyn’s eyes locked on hers—sharp, deliberate, watching the moment it dawned on her.
“Silly girl…”
His voice dropped, darker now—satisfied.
“I was waiting for you to do that.”
His gaze flicked to the stream of violet bleeding into gold—
Then back to her.
“To come at me with everything you had.”
A pause.
Then, softer—
Certain.
“You gave me exactly what I wanted.”
She kept fighting.
She had to.
But it was slipping.
The gold surged—no longer just meeting her power, but consuming it.
Her violet was dragged toward him, inch by inch, unraveling as it fed into his light.
She felt it.
Every thread.
Every pull.
Like something being torn from inside her.
Her breath hitched—
Not from pressure—
From loss.
The gold pressed closer.
Wrapped around her.
Not striking.
Enclosing.
A cocoon.
A dome of light that sealed her in as it bled her power through her skin, drawing it out in slow, relentless pulls.
She gasped—
Her body weakening as the drain deepened, her strength slipping with it.
Her wolf recoiled beneath her ribs.
Not gone.
But smaller.
Fading.
Diminishing with every second that passed.
Draevyn’s voice echoed in her mind.
Neither side is strong enough to stand on its own.
Her fingers twitched—
Her power flickered—
And for a moment—
A terrible, quiet realization settled in.
In what felt like her final moments…
She couldn’t help but think he might have been right.
She had spent her entire life turning away from that side of herself.
The part tied to a world that had rejected her.
Looked down on her.
Cast her aside.
Made her feel like she was nothing.
Less than nothing.
So she buried it.
Ignored it.
Left it in the dark where it couldn’t hurt her anymore.
But when the other side awakened—
When she stepped into this world, into that power—
It was different.
It was everything.
For the first time, she didn’t feel small.
Didn’t feel like the girl they had discarded and forgotten.
She felt more.
Stronger.
Worthy of being seen.
And she clung to it.
Fed it.
Favored it.
Let it grow—
While the other half of her remained where she had left it.
Waiting.
Unseen.
Unwanted.
Until now.
Her wolf whimpered.
Not soft.
Not distant.
It vibrated through her.
Through bone.
Through breath.
Through something deeper than flesh.
A sound that didn’t come from her throat—
But from her soul.
As Kaelani’s power crept closer—
Draevyn welcomed it.
His arms opened, slow and deliberate, as though embracing something already his.
His eyes closed.
A breath drawn in—
Anticipating it.
That rush of raw power flooding into him.
The hunger for it coiled tight in his chest.
Victory already settling into his bones.
He could almost feel it.
That edge.
That high he hadn’t tasted in centuries.
A smile curved his mouth.
Waiting.
For it to hit.
For it to pour into him.
But it didn’t.
A second passed.
Then another.
The smile faded.
Something… off.
His brow tightened.
Slowly—
His eyes opened.
The violet—
Just inches from him moments ago—
Was pulling back.
His hand snapped forward, fingers splaying wide as he reached for it—pulled at it—
Commanded it.
“Come here—”
But it didn’t answer.
It slipped from his grasp.
Flowed away from him—
Back.
Back to her.
The gold around her flickered as the violet surged inward, folding over itself, wrapping around her in tightening layers—
Until the two forces collided.
Twisted.
Merged.
A cocoon.
No—
A sphere.
A massive, swirling mass of violet energy churned where Kaelani had been moments before.
The gold vanished inside it.
Gone.
Overwritten.
Silenced.
He couldn’t see through it.
Only the movement—
The surge—
The power building inside.
Draevyn stilled, his head tilting slightly.
For the first time—
Something unfamiliar crossed his face.
Not control.
Not amusement.
Something else.
Something he didn’t name.
The sphere pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
The air bent around it.
The ground beneath it cracked—spidering outward as the pressure built, the very courtyard groaning under the weight of it.
Then—
It split.
Not gently.
Not clean.
It tore.
A massive wolf tore free from the center of it—
Exploding outward in a burst of violet light.
It burst from the heart of that storm like something being unleashed after a lifetime of being caged.
Its form burned—
Not with fire—
But with something brighter.
Hotter.
Alive.
Violet energy coursed through its fur like flame, every strand lit from within, its eyes blazing with the same searing glow.
Feral.
Bloodthirsty.
It launched—
Straight at him—
Wrath and vengeance driving every movement.