INICIAR SESIÓNAthena's POVAugustus rests in my arms, his small body tucked against my chest as I rock him gently. While I hum a song I remember hearing when I was a baby.“My precious... my little baby... I love you so much, 'cause you are the reason I am happy.”The words come softly, almost a whisper. I repeat the tune, kissing Augustus's hair as he feeds. For these few moments, I can focus on nothing beyond the warmth of my son against me and the small movements of his fingers.Then I hear a faint, pained sound from the other side of the wall.I stop humming.For a moment, there is silence. Then a voice reaches me, so quiet I almost miss it.“Mom?”The word carries a question, as though whoever speaks isn't sure what he has heard or whether the person he is calling could possibly be there.Something tugs at my heart.I look around the cell, trying to locate the voice. When I hear it again, I turn toward a small window near the ceiling. Iron bars cross the narrow opening, separating my cell from
Athena's POVI lie on the thin mattress, keeping my eyes closed and my breathing slow as the footsteps approach my cell.The drug has lost most of its hold on me, and I am fully awake.The footsteps stop outside my door.A moment later, the lock scrapes, and the metal door swings open.A rotten stench floods the cell, making my stomach twist. Mutts smell worse than ordinary rogues. Their scent is a foul mixture of sweat, decay, and something so rancid that I have to fight the urge to wrinkle my nose.I force myself to remain motionless.The door closes behind them, and heavy boots scrape against the floor as someone approaches. I hear a low chuckle, followed by the sound of a man crouching beside the mattress.Then a rough hand clamps around my face.His fingers dig painfully into my cheeks, and before I can prepare myself, his palm connects with my face in a hard slap. My head snaps to the side, and pain shoots through my jaw.For one vicious instant, my wolf surges forward, ready to
Athena's POVThe drug is slowly losing its hold on me.I can feel it in the gradual return of my strength, in the way my limbs no longer feel quite so heavy and my thoughts are beginning to clear. The dizziness still comes in waves, and a dull ache lingers at the back of my head, but I can finally move without feeling as though my body is fighting against me.I push myself away from the cell door and take a few careful steps toward the wall. My legs threaten to give way, forcing me to catch myself against the cold stone. I grit my teeth and wait for the weakness to pass.I have no idea how long they intend to keep me here, and I cannot afford to waste the time I have.Augustus is somewhere in this place.The thought sends a fresh surge of anger through me. I remember the faint feeling that reached me earlier, that brief, almost imperceptible tug at something deep inside me. It had been so weak that I couldn't tell whether it was truly my pup or simply my desperation making me imagine
Athena's POVConsciousness returns in pieces.The first thing I feel is pain.It spreads through my body in dull, throbbing waves, beginning somewhere around my ribs and reaching my shoulders, my back, and the side of my neck. My head feels heavy, and when I try to open my eyes, the smallest movement sends a sharp ache through my temples.I keep them closed.Something is moving beneath me.For a moment, I cannot tell whether I am being carried or dragged. My body sways with every step, and the arms holding me shift whenever the people carrying me change direction. The air smells of damp earth, wet leaves, and something sour that reminds me of old blood.Then I hear voices.“She's waking up.”A hand grips my arm.“Doesn't matter. The dose should keep her weak for a while.”Dose.My fingers curl against my palm.The memory returns in flashes. The fight. The mutts. The sharp prick against my neck.I nearly curse.Whatever they injected into me is still working through my body, leaving my
Athena’s POVI smell them before I see them.The scent hits me with a shift in the wind, wrong in the particular way unfamiliar wolves smell when they have no business being here. There is the usual trace of rogues, sharp and unpleasant, with something else beneath it. Something chemical and unnatural that makes my wolf bare her teeth before my eyes even find them.Mutts.They found me faster than I expected.Good.I stop running and turn toward the scent. Seven wolves emerge from the trees ahead, spreading out as they approach. They move in coordination, each one watching a different angle, their positions arranged to keep me from slipping past them. This is nothing like the chaotic charge of desperate rogues. They have planned it.They think they can stop me.A growl rips from my throat, and I surge forward.The first wolf lunges. I drop beneath his attack and drive upward under his jaw, sending him crashing sideways into a tree. Before he can recover, I turn toward the second, who
Athena’s POVAugustus.Augustus.His name echoes inside my head with every beat of my heart, drowning out everything around me.I failed him.The thought cuts through me as I race between the trees, my paws striking the earth beneath me. I failed to protect my pup. I promised him I would keep him safe, and now he is somewhere out there, away from me, surrounded by people who have no right to touch him.I remember the first time I held him in my arms. He was so small that I could cradle his entire body against my chest. His tiny fingers curled around mine, and I remember looking down at his face and making a promise I knew I would spend the rest of my life keeping. It was the one promise I could never afford to break.No matter what happened, I would protect him.I would keep him safe from everything that could hurt him.I would always be there when he needed me.Now I cannot even hold him.A painful growl rises from my chest, and I push myself harder, racing through the forest as thou







