LOGINI howl again, this time softer, and he answers with a story about a case we almost lost but didn’t. The logic of it slips into the cracks between my animal thoughts, scaffolding the mind that will have to rebuild itself come morning. I circle the mat, then collapse onto it, spent. The hours run tog
The cage is perfect. I pace the perimeter on all fours, claws clicking a Morse code into the steel plates. I scratch at the base of the glass, not to escape, but to leave a mark. Ownership is an animal principle, and this is my territory, at least for the night. The drapes are tight; no light leaks
The fingers are gone now, replaced by something more honest: claws, black as ink, the quick still visible at the base but receding with every pulse. I flex the new hands, feel the bones in my wrist slide and lock, the pads on my palm ballooning with fluid. I touch my face, expecting to find myself,
Time loses meaning. The tremors become convulsions, each one wringing a cry from my throat. I try to keep quiet, to preserve some shred of dignity, but the sound is animal and helpless. I’m aware of the comm, aware of Lucas’s voice counting down—twenty, fifteen, ten—but it’s all background to the ri
I sit on the mat, legs folded, palms flat on the rubber, and force myself to relax. The wolf hates this, but I have trained her well—she will wait, for now. The tremors are building, a low electrical current in every limb. I close my eyes and count backwards from one hundred, each number another dro
The secure suite is three floors beneath the city, built into the bones of a parking garage that’s never been full in the history of its existence. Access is by biometric lock, every surface surveilled and air-gapped, a paranoia project that cost more than my law school tuition and was worth every d
The crosswalk sign flashes red as I approach, an unwavering command to stop, to wait, to hold. I heed it, just this once. There is no harm in pausing when I know what lies ahead. The penthouse is a world apart from the one I now move through, but I carry pieces of it with me, fragments of luxury an
The lock clicks behind me, each sound an echoing note of freedom. I inhale the promise of the morning and the heavy shroud of Derek’s latest message unfurls in the back of my mind. I will not think about it, about him, until I must. The weight of obligation falls away as I step forward, closing the
The first hum of traffic stirs beneath the apartment, the city awakening like a great beast stretching itself from slumber. I swing my legs over the side of the bed, bare feet meeting the warmth of the hardwood with practiced silence. In the hush, I hear the measured tick of my wristwatch from acros
My name commands attention, even whispered behind mirrored walls. Mara Wolfe. I sense the weight of their eyes on me, catch the reflection of their stunned admiration. Before my floor arrives, they already fear me. The girl with the coffee spills half of it on the way to her mouth, staining her bl







