MasukCatherine's POV I don’t even know where I’m going anymore.I just keep moving.One bus turns into another, then another after that. I sit beside strangers, press my forehead against cold windows, and watch unfamiliar streets blur past while the sky slowly darkens above me.Every time the bus stops at the last station, I grab my bag, get down, and enter another one before my thoughts can settle properly.Farther.That’s the only thing my mind keeps repeating.Farther away from Woodblock City.Farther away from the Red Moon pack.Farther away from Clinton.The funny thing is, I keep expecting him to come after me anyway. Every time a bus door opens, part of me looks up, expecting to see him standing there with that intense stare of his, breathing hard after searching everywhere for me.But he never comes.By the time I finally stop moving, it’s already past one in the morning.I stand outside a small roadside motel with flickering lights hanging over the entrance and stare up at the si
Clinton's POV For a few seconds, I can’t even force words out of my mouth.I just stand there staring at her while my thoughts crash into each other so fast my head starts hurting.Catherine grips the handle of her traveling bag tighter and tries walking past me again. Instinct makes me move into her path immediately, but this time, I stop myself from touching her.I don’t think I can survive seeing that fear in her eyes again.Up close, she looks worse than I first realized. Her face is pale beneath the anger twisting across it, her eyes swollen from crying, her breathing uneven. She keeps glancing at me carefully, almost expecting me to suddenly turn into something else right here.That thought alone makes my chest ache.Danny couldn’t have told her everything.There’s no way he told her about the sacrifice.There’s no way he told her that she’s a talisman.“How much do you know?” I ask quietly.“Everything.”My stomach drops instantly.Everything.I shove my trembling hands deeper
Clinton's POV I’ve been standing in front of Catherine’s apartment for over ten minutes, knocking until my knuckles ache, but she still refuses to open the door.She’s definitely in there.Ignoring me on purpose.I rest my forehead briefly against the door and let out a slow breath.“Catherine, please.”Nothing.Not even footsteps.Usually, she would at least yell at me through the door by now. Tell me to go to hell or call me annoying or... something.This silence feels different.Heavy.I drag a hand through my hair and lean back against the wall, staring at the floor while exhaustion settles deeper into my bones.I deserve this, honestly.I left her alone at the hospital without explanation and disappeared. Any normal person would be furious.The problem is, I didn’t know how to face her after Richard died.Even now, the thought still hits me so suddenly my chest tightens again.Richard.I close my eyes briefly.I really thought he’d always be there somehow.The idiot annoyed me h
Catherine's POV I don’t know how long I stay unconscious, but when my eyes finally open again, the first thing I see is the ceiling above me.White.Still.Quiet.I lie there staring at it while my head throbs faintly and my body feels too heavy to move properly. My mouth is dry. My chest hurts in that strange, deep way it’s been hurting all day.Then my brain catches up.Danny.The wolf.Bones snapping.Golden eyes.My stomach twists instantly.“No,” I whisper under my breath, shaking my head slowly at the ceiling. “No, that can’t be real.”I swallow hard and sit there trying to force logic back into my head because people don’t turn into animals. That doesn’t happen. None of this makes sense.I probably hallucinated the whole thing.Stress does crazy things to people.Maybe I hit my head after fainting.Maybe Danny drugged me somehow.Yeah.That has to be it.But then my eyes start burning again, and tears slide quietly down the sides of my face before I even realize I’m crying.I
Catherine's POV My phone rests on my thigh while I stare at Clinton’s name glowing on the screen.Still no call.No text.Nothing.The silence keeps stretching and stretching until it starts feeling personal.He dropped me off at the hospital after I fainted, then disappeared completely. No checkup. No explanation. Not even one stupid message asking if I’m okay.Typical Clinton.Whenever things finally start feeling stable between us, he somehow finds a way to ruin it.I unlock my phone again and scroll through my contacts slowly even though I already know where his name is. My thumb stops over it.Clinton.One click.That’s all it takes.But my hand just stays there, frozen.I sigh sharply and throw the phone onto the bed instead.“Forget him.”The words sound weak even to me.I press a hand against my chest because something still feels wrong inside me. Ever since this morning, my heartbeat hasn’t settled properly. It keeps skipping strangely, hard enough to make me stop breathing
Danny's POV By the time I get outside, Natasha’s car is already disappearing.Unbelievable.She really thinks she can destroy everything and drive away peacefully afterward.My jaw tightens as I head toward my car. I’m already imagining dragging her back here by force just so she can explain what gave her the confidence to walk into Catherine’s apartment and ruin my morning.I yank the car door open and slide inside.The engine hasn’t even started before my phone begins ringing.I almost ignore it.Honestly, whoever’s calling right now has terrible timing.I pull the phone from my pocket anyway, ready to curse the idiot out, but the second I see the screen, I pause.Mom.Of course.A long sigh leaves my mouth before I answer.“Hello, Mom.”“Where are you?”Straight to interrogation as usual.I lean back against the seat and close my eyes briefly.“Why does everybody suddenly care where I am today?”“Danny.”That tone.Sharp enough to cut through irritation instantly.I rub the back o
Catherine's POV I’m lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, and I swear I’ve counted the same crack up there at least fifty times already. But my mind refuses to stay still long enough to finish anything, because it keeps drifting back to him…to his voice on the phone, to the way he says my name
Clinton's POV My eyes snap open, and my hand goes straight to my chest. I expect the pain to be there…that sharp, crushing weight that had me barely breathing. The cold that wouldn’t stop shaking through me. The feeling that something inside me was slowly being drained out.But there is nothing.N
Catherine's POV The room feels too small for what is happening inside it.I hear my name through the phone again, sharp and urgent, but it comes from somewhere far away, as if I’ve been dropped underwater and everything above the surface has turned distant and warped.“Take the damn chain off.”My
Catherine's POV I try to focus on the food in front of me, and I mean really try, because the plate looks expensive enough to deserve attention, all arranged neatly with colors that probably have names I don’t know. The restaurant itself is doing the absolute most with soft lighting, shiny cutler







