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A hand wraps around my ankle, and I’m being dragged toward Vivian. My head lifts weakly, and I see her crawling toward me, a deranged look on her face.

“You think you can get away from me?” She spits at me. “I have to kill you. You have become a thorn in the organization’s path. And you have become far too arrogant for me to let you live. You forgot your place, Leanna! It was always beneath me! You are not—You can never be better than me!”

She’s clutching a shard of broken glass, and she sinks it into my calf, dragging it down. I let out a shriek of pain, and she laughs.

“Scream all you want! Nobody is coming to save you. Your mate is gone. That barbaric beast is long dead. Just like his parents. The Eastern Kingdom has finally managed to wipe out the entire Northern royal family. Those arrogant beasts!”

I kick her in the face, and she falls to the side, blood spurting from her nose.

“You’re lying!” I shout at her, blood spilling from my mouth. “Cedric is not dead!”

“He is!” Vivian laughs before her next attack. She leaps at me as I grab a scalpel from the floor next to me. I stab it in the air, getting her straight in her right eye.

Her scream of agony is satisfying. I scramble away with what little strength I have left.

I have to get to Finn! Surely, Cedric is okay! He has to be! He’s the strongest shifter I know! He’s not going to die easily. He’s alive.

I have to believe that.

“I’m going to kill you!” Vivian’s enraged scream makes me look back at her, and she’s holding the same knife I just stabbed her with. She lifts it over her head, her eye bleeding, the scalpel aimed at my heart.

I slump to the ground. That’s it. I don’t have any energy left.

She’s really going to kill me, I think dazedly, my vision blurring.

As she brings down the scalpel, a foot comes out of nowhere and kicks her in the chest, sending her flying into the air. She crashes against the cabinets at the other end of the room.

I try to look up, and I feel myself being gathered in somebody’s arms. The scent is familiar, but my eyes are too hazy to see.

Has help arrived?

“S–Save Cedric. Help him.”

With that, my body goes limp. Darkness consumes me, the last bit of my strength finally fading.

Someone’s calling my name, but it’s too late. My eyes close.

I draw my last breath, dimly hearing the death rattle in my lungs.

 

  

There is a strange warmth by my side. Almost like something warm and furry is curled up on my hand.

I want to pet it, but I have no energy. Then I feel an odd, wet sensation, as if a small tongue is licking my hand. My fingers twitch.

I hear a cry in the distance, and then the heat is gone.

I fade away once again, missing the warmth.

 

  

Someone is stroking my hair.

Soft words are being spoken to me. I want to open my eyes, but my body feels too heavy.

I can feel the love in the voice, a woman’s voice.

I stir once again.

The voice vanishes, and my heart quivers at the loss.

 

  

I’m floating in the dark, empty, alone.

It feels like an eternity. I have no sense of self. I just exist in this place, my thoughts and hopes and dreams empty.

There’s a pulse, one of warmth.

I must have imagined it.

But there it is again, a desperate call, a yearning.

In the darkness, I see a thread. It’s dull, but it looks like it’s trying to glow.

Like a switch.

On and off.

It exudes warmth.

It’s glowing, the light surrounding it growing stronger. I want to touch it.

Hesitantly, I wrap my hand around it.

A wolf is howling in misery.

Love, pain, yearning.

I pull my hand away.

They’re not my emotions. I have no emotions. I barely exist.

Unable to help myself, I touch the thread again, wanting to feel those emotions that are not mine. This time, I find it difficult to let it go. The thread doesn’t burn my hand; it permeates my palm with a golden warmth that begins to spread all over my body. It feels like my entire existence is being filled with light.

It’s too much.

I have to let the thread go.

But something isn’t letting me.

I want this to stop.

It’s too much.

“Leanna.”

I know that name. It’s my name.

The sound of a child crying.

“Mom.”

The crying makes me feel uneasy. I don’t like it.

I’ve become distracted by the sounds. When I lower my gaze to the thread, it has begun to wrap around me.

“Leanna.”

The name keeps echoing in my ear, as if somebody is calling me. It’s getting harder to resist.

“Leanna, wake up. It’s time.”

The pulse that passes through me this time is incredibly strong, and I feel myself jerk forward, dragged toward something, out of the darkness.

 

  

When my eyes open, I find myself in a familiar room.

This ceiling…I’ve seen it before.

I try to move, but I feel so weak.

Where am I?

There’s something cuddled by my side, and my eyes move to my left. I see a small wolf cub sleeping.

“Finn?” I struggle to speak, and my voice is scratchy.

My son starts, and then he sits up on his hind legs, staring at me. Before I can try to say anything else, he throws his head back and starts howling at the top of his lungs.

I hear loud footsteps. Panic fills me. But when the door is thrown open, two familiar faces burst in at the same time.

Cedric.

Harriet.

Cedric makes a beeline toward me, but Harriet pulls him back. “No!” Her voice is a shout. “She’s too weak. Stay back.”

Weak?

I can’t talk. My throat feels like paper.

She approaches me and brings a small bottle to my lips, ordering, “Drink.”

I take a few sips and then sigh in relief.

“Don’t speak,” she says sharply. Her eyes are glistening with tears.

She opens the bedside drawer next to me and takes out several potions, forcing me to drink every one of them. Her touch is gentle, and I gulp them down thirstily. They taste like nothing, but my throat is so parched that they feel good.

When she’s finally done, Harriet murmurs, “Give it a few minutes. You’ll be better soon.”

She has one arm wrapped around my shoulders to support me, and soon enough, I feel my strength return.

“What happened?” I ask roughly. “Why am I here?”

Harriet looks at Cedric and nods her head. My mate is by my side in a heartbeat. “How are you feeling?”

His voice is hoarse, and he looks like he hasn’t slept in days.

“I’m tired. Where am I?”

“In the palace,” Cedric tells me. Finn’s wolf crawls into my lap and curls up. His body is trembling. I touch his fur and stroke him. He whimpers but does not shift into his human form.