Chapter 03

Today was my day off. I was certain I’d be able to sleep in, but my alarm clock yanked me out of bed before I even had a chance to think twice. The metallic sound seemed to echo in the emptiness of my chest, reminding me that even on my free days, rest was a luxury I didn't know how to use.

I cleaned the entire house with unnecessary haste. I scrubbed every corner, trying to occupy my mind and my hands, since my roommate and I barely had time to even lie down and get a decent night's sleep with our crazy work schedules at the nightclub. The silence of the apartment was almost deafening. Afterward, I made a simple lunch: a Caesar salad was enough, though the food seemed tasteless. In the end, I just lay on the sofa and contented myself with spending the rest of my time pushing through yet another series I had started.

None of them seemed to hold my interest for long. The colors on the TV were just blurs while my mind wandered to places I tried to avoid.

My wolf groaned inside me, a low, rasping sound that made the hair on my arms stand up. She had been in agony for weeks, a malaise that crept up my spine, but she refused to tell me what she was feeling. The problem was that it made me equally restless; it was as if there were a tight rope stretched between the two of us, ready to snap. I couldn't relax as much as I should have.

"What do you want?" I asked once more, huffing as I tossed the remote control aside.

"It’s nothing," she grumbled, her voice echoing in my mind with a melancholy that squeezed my heart. "Just... what time are we leaving for work?"

I rolled my eyes, feeling the irony. Working in a noisy nightclub was the last thing a wolf should want.

"Do you want to take a walk in the forest?" I asked suddenly. The desire to feel the earth beneath my feet and the wind in my fur hit me like a punch.

That might be it. Ariel hadn't been out much since my escape. I had kept her locked up, suffocated under my skin. I hadn't given her much space among humans because it was dangerous, and the fear of being discovered was a shadow that never left me. I didn't want anyone trying to hurt us again.

I still took all the pack rules very seriously: especially not allowing humans to know of our existence. We didn't know what they were capable of when they felt afraid.

"No, that’s not it," she grumbled again, but I felt a sting of anxiety coming from her. "I just want you to get out of the house. This air is stagnant; it smells like dust and solitude."

I laughed, a dry sound that died quickly.

"You? The one who loves being in here, protected?" I rolled my eyes.

"Well, today I’d like something different; who can blame me for that?" She blinked playfully, but there was a seriousness in her golden eyes within my mind. Her paws thudded against the floor of my subconscious, and I felt that electric energy surge through my legs. I laughed, feeling a pang of affection for that stubborn beast.

"Let me take a nap. When I wake up, it’ll be time to be in that horrible environment you hate so much," I murmured, adjusting the cushion.

"Oh, darling," she sighed, lying down and hiding her snout between her paws. "Sleep then. Rest while you can; we have a long night ahead."

I drifted off in a matter of minutes, my body finally giving in to the accumulated exhaustion. For a brief moment, the weight of the world vanished.

***

The calm, silent forest was still one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. The scent of pine and damp earth flooded my lungs—a relief so great it made my chest ache. I looked around, my brow furrowed, and gripped my long dress more tightly between my fingers. The fabric felt too thin against the icy breeze.

My nails dug into the cloth as the pressure in my chest increased. Something was wrong with this place: I could feel it. The air was dense, charged with an electricity that made my senses scream.

Yet, the familiarity almost made me cry. I was close to home, closer than I had been in years. Every tree seemed like an old acquaintance watching over me. Even if this was all a dream, even if this place was the last spot where I felt the warmth of my parents before everything was ripped away from me...

Damn it, I needed to see them. I needed to feel that they existed, even if only in my thoughts, even if only in this illusion created by my wounded subconscious.

I turned to leave, walking toward where I still remembered my home once being, but heavy, hard footsteps echoed behind me. The sound of snapping branches cut through the silence like gunshots. I froze in place. My heart raced to an unbearable pace as the scents reached my nose: a mystery of oak, storms, and something purely wild.

"Mate," Liam’s voice sounded. It wasn't the voice I remembered; it was deeper, weighted with an animalistic possessiveness that vibrated within my very bones. In truth, it was his beast speaking.

I didn't turn around immediately. Fear and desire fought inside me, leaving me paralyzed. I swallowed hard and closed my eyes tight, trying to banish the image. It’s just a dream, a damn dream created by my exhausted mind.

But the heat radiating from them behind me was too real.

I turned slowly, finding them. The three of them. In their wolf forms, imposing and lethal, surrounding me as if I were the most precious and dangerous treasure in the world. They stared at me, and I was certain they were smiling inwardly, their piercing eyes locked onto me, stripping away all my defenses.

"Finally, we found you," Dean said, and the sound of his voice in my mind brought me to my knees, feeling that my flight had finally come to an end.