LOGINElena’s POVI was reading on my bed when Tamara said she was going for a walk.It was around seven in the evening. The sky was turning purple as the sun dipped lower. She’d changed into more comfortable clothes and had that look in her eyes…the one where she needed space to think. I understood that look. After our reconciliation yesterday, I figured she was processing everything, trying to make sense of whatever was scaring her so deeply.“Don’t go too far,” I said, looking up from my book. “It’s getting dark.”“I’ll be back soon,” she said, grabbing her jacket. “I just need some air. Clear my head a little.”“Okay. Be careful out there.”She smiled at me….a real smile, not the forced one from before and left.I watched her go, and something inside me whispered that I should have said more. Should have asked her to stay, insisted on going with her. I should have held onto her just a little bit longer but I didn’t. I just let her walk out the door.By eight o’clock, I was starting to
Tamara’s POVThe van stopped abruptly.I was thrown forward, my bound wrists slamming against the metal bench seat. Pain shot through my shoulders but I barely registered it. My entire body was vibrating with terror and adrenaline and the desperate, frantic energy of my power trying to break free.The back doors opened.“Get her out,” the scarred man said.They hauled me to my feet, and my legs nearly buckled. The rope around my wrists had cut off circulation and my hands felt numb and distant. The scarred man dragged me toward the warehouse….a massive, abandoned structure that looked like it had been waiting years for something terrible to happen inside its walls.The inside was worse.Concrete floors. Metal beams. Shadows that seemed to have weight and substance. And in the center of the space, I saw her.Mara stood over something drawn on the ground….symbols I didn’t recognize, arranged in intricate patterns that made my eyes hurt to look at them. Beside her stood an old woman who
Tamara’s povAs evening descended and the sky turned from orange to deep purple, I felt something shift. Something fundamental changed in the air. Something in my bones responded to it….a pull, a calling, a vibration that made my entire body hum.The blood moon was rising.I could feel it like I could feel my own heartbeat. My power was restless, agitated, thrumming beneath my skin like electricity looking for a way out. My wolf was pacing, unsettled, responding to something ancient and primal.I needed air. Needed distance from the dorm, from people, from anything that might trigger me to transform.So I walked.The campus was quiet as twilight descended. Most people were inside, settling in for the evening. The paths were empty, just me and the shadows and the feeling that something was waiting.I took the path toward the forest the one that wound behind the athletics building. It was longer, more isolated, but it was peaceful. Just trees and darkness and the sound of my own breathi
Paul’s POV I’d been watching her disintegrate. That was the only way to describe it. Over the past three days, Tamara had gone from withdrawn to actively disappearing. She came to class but didn’t participate. She sat in the dining hall but didn’t eat. She walked across campus like a ghost, like her body was there but her mind was somewhere else entirely. Somewhere dark. Tuesday morning, I caught her leaving the library before it even opened properly. “Hey,” I called out, jogging to catch up with her. “Where are you headed?” “Class,” she said without looking at me. “Your first class isn’t until eleven. It’s only nine-thirty.” “I wanted to study first.” She was lying. I could see it in the way her jaw was tight, the way her eyes wouldn’t focus on me. I’d spent three years reading her like a quarterback reads a defense, learning her patterns, understanding her tells. And right now, she was lying through her teeth. “Tamara, talk to me,” I said, keeping my voice soft. “Whateve
Tamara’s POVI came back to the dorm around four in the afternoon.Class had been torture. I couldn’t focus on anything Professor Bondo was saying about metamorphic rock formations. All I could think about was the way I’d spoken to Elena this morning. The coldness in my voice. The way she’d looked at me like I’d hurt her.Because I had.I’d been cruel. I’d pushed her away when all she’d been trying to do was help. And I’d made it worse by being so harsh about it, by making her feel like her love was a burden instead of a gift.The guilt was eating me alive.Elena was sitting at her desk when I walked in. She looked up from her laptop, and I could see the hurt in her dark eyes. She’d been trying to act normal all morning, but now with just the two of us in the room, she didn’t bother hiding how much I’d hurt her.“Hey,” she said quietly, turning back to her laptop.“Hey.” I stood awkwardly by the door, suddenly not knowing what to do with my hands. “I… I need to say something.”She did
Tamara’s POVBy the time morning light started filtering through the blinds, I’d made my decision.Nobody else could know. Nobody else could be involved. The safer I kept them in the dark, the safer they actually were.Elena woke up around eight, stretching and yawning like she didn’t have a care in the world. For a moment, I envied her that ignorance. Then she sat up and looked at me.“You didn’t sleep,” she said. Not a question.“I slept fine.”“You’re lying. You have that look.” She moved to sit on the edge of my bed. “Okay, what’s going on? You were weird yesterday. You came home looking like someone had scared you half to death. And then you wouldn’t talk to me about it.”I turned away from her.“Nothing’s going on.”“Tamara…”“Elena, I said nothing’s going on.” I kept my voice flat, emotionless. “I’m fine. I’m just stressed about midterms.”“You’re a terrible liar,” she said, and I heard frustration creeping into her voice. “You know that, right? You’re absolutely awful at it. Y







