Alyssa’s POV
Darkness wraps around me like a heavy blanket.
I drift. Float. Fall. Pain ripples through my limbs like fire licking every nerve. I want to scream, but I can’t even move. Can’t breathe.
Shapes blur in and out—shadows bending over me, voices muttering, none of it clear. But I remember the bite. The teeth sinking in. My scream.
I remember the howl. My howl. Wild and broken.
“She’s not healing,” someone says, their voice strained.
“What’s happening to her?” a different voice, panicked.
“The shuck’s poison is running through her blood,” the first answers, grim.
I try to shift, to heal, to reach my wolf—but nothing answers. Why isn’t she healing me? Why can’t I feel her?
Am I dying?
I sink again. Deeper. Into dreams that aren’t mine. I see a figure—faceless, but warm. A presence. Familiar. I try to speak, to call for help, for answers, but no sound escapes me.
Then comes the burn.
It spreads through my veins like acid. I twist. Writhe. Silent screams echo inside my head. My sk
