<h4>Chapter 616: Foreign Energies (I)</h4>


    <strong>Evaline:</strong>


    My eyes flew open with a sharp inhale.


    The world snapped back into focus - the wooden worktable beneath my palms, the faint green glow of the potion swirling inside the ss vial.


    I was still in theb.


    Still alone.


    Still working on the final concoction before dinner.


    For a moment, I didn’t understand what had startled me.


    Then I felt it again.


    Not around me.


    Inside me.


    I slowly pulled my hand away from the vial, cutting off the gentle stream of healing energy I had been channeling. The liquid inside settled and the glow dimmed to a soft shimmer.


    My heart began to pound.


    It hadn’t felt wrong.


    That was the unsettling part.


    If anything, it had felt... natural.


    Familiar.


    But it hadn’t been mine.


    I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, steadying myself. I reached inward the way I always did when gathering my healing power - diving beneath skin and bone, beneath pulse and breath, into that warm, luminous well that had always been mine.


    Except...


    There was something else there.


    Waiting.


    It wasn’t hidden. It wasn’t shielded. It was simply... present.


    Like it had always belonged.


    I focused carefully.


    My healing power was a soft, radiant current... warm gold threaded with pale green. I knew its texture, its rhythm, the way it flowed and responded to my intent.


    But beside it, coiled and steady, were... two other presences.


    Not one.


    Two.


    My breath caught at this new discovery.


    They weren’t identical to each other. And yet, they weren’t entirely separate either.


    They felt distinct... different frequencies, different textures... but there was a shared undertone. A resonance.


    Like two notes from the same instrument.


    Slowly, cautiously, I brushed against the first one.


    It was strong.


    Deep.


    Grounded.


    It felt like cool steel and quiet authority - controlled, refined, steady as a mountain.


    The second was warmer.


    Fiercer.


    It carried a subtle edge of wildness beneath itsposure, like a river running powerful and relentless beneath a calm surface.


    My fingers trembled against the edge of the worktable.


    They weren’t my energies.


    And yet they didn’t reject me.


    They pulsed gently, almost... responsive.


    As if aware I was there.


    I swallowed.


    Could it be...


    Before I could fully shape the thought, I decided to test it.


    Very carefully, I nudged the first energy.


    Just a touch.


    It stirred, but nothing dramatic happened. No external shift. No visible reaction.


    Encouraged, I tapped the second one.


    Again, it responded internally... a subtle ripple... but nothing changed outside me.


    I frowned.


    If my theory was right...


    I needed confirmation.


    And just as I gathered my focus to pull on one of the energies more deliberately... a hand wrapped around my waist from behind.


    I gasped.


    My entire body tensed for half a second before the scent reached me.


    "Kieran," I breathed, immediately rxing into him.


    He chuckled softly against my ear, his chin brushing my shoulder. "Where were you so lost that you didn’t notice me entering theb?"


    His arms tightened slightly around me. "The mate bond should have alerted you the moment I stepped inside."


    He wasn’t wrong. It should have. But I had been too deep inside myself. Too distracted.


    I turned in his hold, my mind racing faster than my heartbeat.


    "I-" I started, then stopped.


    How did I exin this without sounding insane?


    He tilted his head slightly, his golden-green eyes studying my face. "Evaline."


    I opened my mouth again.


    Closed it.


    Opened it.


    Then shut it once more.


    A theory was building inside my head, but it felt too bold. Too strange.


    And yet... there was an easy way to test it.


    "Kieran," I said carefully, gripping the front of his shirt unconsciously, "tell me if you feel anything strange."


    He blinked. "Strange?"


    "Just-" I exhaled. "Just tell me if something shifts. Even slightly."


    He looked confused, but he nodded. "Alright."


    I turned inward again, aware of his steady presence in front of me.


    First, I tapped the cooler energy... the one that felt grounded and controlled.


    Gently.


    Lightly.


    Kieran’s expression didn’t change. There was no shift in his posture, no flicker in his eyes. He simply watched me, clearly trying to follow what I was doing.


    Okay.


    I released it and brushed the second energy... the warmer one.


    Again, nothing.


    No reaction from him.


    My pulse quickened and I swallowed.


    This time, I didn’t just tap the second energy, I pulled - not forcefully, but deliberately.


    Like reaching for a thread and tugging.


    The reaction was immediate.


    Kieran stiffened. His eyes widened sharply, and his breath hitched.


    I gasped and let go at once.


    The energy slipped back into ce inside me, settling like it had never been disturbed.


    "What was that?" he asked, staring at me in half surpise and half confusion. There was also a flicker of something else in his eyes... connection.


    "You felt it," I whispered.


    "Yes." His voice was lower now. "It was like... like something tugged at my wolf."


    My heart mmed against my ribs.


    Oh.


    Oh.


    I stepped back slightly, staring at him.


    "Kieran," I breathed, barely containing the mix of shock and awe flooding me. "There are two foreign energies inside me."


    His brows furrowed.


    "They don’t feel wrong," I continued quickly. "They feel... like they belong. But they aren’t mine. And they aren’t the same as each other."


    His expression shifted from confusion to dawning realization.


    I swallowed.


    "I just pulled on one of them."


    "And it pulled me," he finished slowly.


    I nodded.


    Silence stretched between us, thick and electric.


    "They are yours," I said finally. "And River’s."


    The words felt surreal even as I spoke them.


    Kieran didn’t deny it. He didn’t argue. He was too perceptive not to connect the pieces.


    "The mate bonds," he murmured.


    I nodded again, my thoughts racing back through memories. I didn’t recall ever sensing such a presence inside me when Draven marked me, but back then I was still learning to use my power.


    The first time I sensed anything close to this...


    "The West Tower," I said suddenly.