LOGINMICHAELA'S POV I still hadn't recovered from the shock of what I was seeing when I heard footsteps, Soft and measured, approaching where I lay. I couldn't bring myself to move. The forest above remained as eerily silent as ever. No wind. No birds. No distant cries. Nothing but the steady rhythm of footsteps drawing closer. Within moments, my attention shifted completely from the creature hovering above me. Whoever was coming... They were close. My pulse quickened. And then I saw her. I froze. Completely. For a heartbeat, I simply stared. My breath caught. My mind refused to make sense of what my eyes were seeing. Because it couldn't. Recognition came slowly... Then all at once. I had to wonder if I was hallucinating. If the pain, the blood loss, everything I'd endured had finally broken something inside my head. Silence stretched between us. She stood over me, watching with dark, scrutinizing eyes. Eyes I recognized as my stomach dropped. Ice flooded my veins. I knew
MICHAELA'S POV I swung the branch so hard that I felt something shift painfully in my shoulder. The creature shrieked as the blow connected, its body careening sideways. For one glorious second, hope surged through me. But then the creature staggered back to its feet. Its eyes found mine immediately. If hatred could take physical form, it would have looked exactly like that gaze. The creature bared its teeth. Then it came at me again. Fast. Far too fast. I braced myself, but before I could react, it vanished. My eyes widened. One moment it was charging directly at me. The next, it simply wasn't there. A sharp impact slammed into my back. The force tore a cry from my throat as I was hurled forward. I hit the ground hard. Pain exploded through my body. For a second, I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. Couldn't do anything except lie there as agony pulsed through every bruised and battered part of me. The creature was on me. The smell hit first. Rot. Decay. Death.
MICHAELA'S POV My foot slipped as I tried to get away. For one impossible second, I remained suspended between balance and disaster. Then gravity made the decision for me. The ground vanished from beneath me. My stomach lurched violently into my throat. The sensation was exactly like missing a step in the dark, only infinitely worse. I caught a clear glimpse of the creature above as my body went into free fall. It was absolutely hideous. Time slowed as I looked up at it. Loose stones, the ravine wall, the monster at the edge above me. It looked human in the way a broken doll looks human. Wrong. Deeply wrong. Its limbs were too long, the joints too sharp beneath skin stretched tight over bone. Patches of grey clung to its frame like old parchments. It's hair only appeared to exist in fragments on its head. The face was almost a person's face, yet absolutely not. Hollow eyes stared down at me. Eyes that sat too deep in the skull to be human. The creature's cheeks
DAMON'S POV "What do you mean they sent her to the Wilds?" I asked Mason, my voice deadly quiet as his explanation of everything that had happened while I was consumed by bloodlust finally sank in. The Wilds. Of all places. The Wilds. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying not to lose my composure as a war raged inside my head. Unlike what I might have let Rhoda believe, it was still frighteningly difficult to hold on to my sanity. Ever since I returned, I had felt myself teetering on the edge. When I finally opened my eyes, the situation wasn't any better. Mason was saying something to me, but I couldn't quite hear him anymore. Because suddenly all I could see was red. Rhoda watched me closely from the side, silent, her expression unreadable. My head pounded. My fingers curled into fists at my sides. The Wilds. I remembered the stories. Every wolf did. Expeditions that never returned. Scouts who vanished. Entire search parties swallowed by the fores
DAMON'S POV "Where is she?" I asked Georgia, leaning against the doorframe with one hand, my head bowed low to prevent anyone from seeing my eyes. I got no answer. I lifted my head slightly, just enough to see Georgia frozen in the middle of the room, a spoon clutched in her hand as she stared at me wide-eyed. Several other kitchen staff appeared to be in a similar state of shock, their expressions a mixture of fear, worry, and apprehension. I clenched my fists, willing myself to be patient. Willing myself to stay calm. Even though I wanted to storm toward someone, anyone, and demand they tell me where she was before I started ripping things apart. I reminded myself that their reactions were valid. I couldn't exactly expect them to react casually to their Alpha showing up in the kitchen looking as though he'd just lost a battle against a forest. I staggered forward but nearly lost my balance as the room spun around me. That was enough to jolt some of the occupants out of thei
MICHAELA'S POV Morning came painfully slow, yet I couldn't get half the rest I needed. After eating some food, my search for the Moonshade continued. I began heading for the ravine next when I realized I wasn't quite sure where I was on either the ancient or modern map. Everything that happened last night had thrown me off course, and it took a few hours to get back on the trail again. By late morning, I was already halfway to the ravine. I hadn't expected to get this far in such a short time with the plethora of thoughts that had been raging in my head since last night. I pushed everything that wasn't Moonshade-related to the back of my mind as I got closer to the ravine. As I approached the location, I realized I was growing increasingly nervous with every step. The ravine was my last hope, and I was banking everything on it. If I didn't find the Moonshade and make it back to the pack before midnight, the fear, the risk, the danger, everything I had endured would have
Damon disappears between the trees. The forest goes quiet almost immediately after. Branches creak softly overhead as the wind shifts through them. Somewhere in the distance, water rushes steadily beneath the incline below us. But without Damon beside me, the woods suddenly feel... Bigger. Whic
“I want to speak to Michaela,” Damon says.His words cut clean through the silence that followed Rhoda’s last statement.“Alone.”Rhoda stands and leaves without protest.I hadn’t expected that.Mason follows her out. As he passes me, he leans in slightly.“Good luck,” he murmurs.I can’t tell if h
The next day, I go to see Mum and Talia. The moment I step into the room, Mum looks at me. And then she looks away. She doesn’t say a word. Not a greeting. Not a question. Nothing. I have been gone for almost a month and she still has absolutely nothing to say to me. The silence sett
“So let me get this straight,” I say slowly. “You want to announce me as your mate in order to placate the human rebels.” He nods. A small, unexpected twinge settles in my chest. Disappointment. That he doesn’t want me simply because… he wants me. I shut it down almost immediately. I don







