*Arealla*I didn't think. I didn't have time to. I just turned away from him and started to run. But I didn't take more than three steps, when I realized that he wasn't following me. And a moment later I saw why.Three wolves stepped out of the trees in front of me, all snarling. The trees were dark and black behind them, and I was sure that I heard more snarling coming from there.They were huge. Not bigger than Marcus, but bigger than Jason in his wolf form.I grounded myself to a halt. My first instinct was to shift as well, but there was no time, and it wouldn't do any good.There were three of them, four with Jason. And there was no way that I could do anything.I opened my mouth to scream, knowing that even if I did, there was a good chance that no one was going to hear me anyway. But I didn't even get the chance. In a moment, Jason was behind me, and his hand covered my mouth.I struggled against him, kicking and screaming, but it was useless. I was no match for hi

*Arealla*I felt the moonlight getting stronger as it encompassed my skin entirely. It was like a force coming over me, and I couldn't help but surrender to it.But I didn't fear it; it felt warm and comforting, exactly what I needed in the dark and foreboding dampness of the cave. I collapsed on the floor of the cell. But I didn't feel myself collapsing. I felt myself lifting, waking up again.And then there was blackness, a total nothing.And then I was awake.I stared around me. I was standing upright in the most beautiful forest that I had ever seen. There were evergreen trees everywhere, the floor a soft forest carpet. I also felt energized; I could stand forever and never get bored or tired.There was no doubt in my mind that I was in some place filled with magic, deep and ancient.I could feel it in the air around me.I was dreaming, and I wasn't, all at the same time. This was happening in my head, and it was real. It was almost impossible, and I knew that

*Arealla*Marcus and I lay on the bed, still joined as one, long after we had spent ourselves with each other.I wanted nothing more than to just stay with Marcus like that forever. But it wasn't possible. We weren't safe. We still had to wake; we still had to escape Jason and whatever he was planning. Even though Jason had me locked in a cell, it was the both of us that he held captive.But Marcus didn't know everything yet, and I supposed that the time had arrived for me to tell him what had happened to me."It was Jason," I told Marcus. "He took me."My voice was soft as I spoke, and it surprised me a little. I had thought that I would be louder and clearer than this.But I also understood where my reticence was coming from. Where my fear was coming from.It wasn't just that Jason had me in a cave locked up somewhere. It was also that he had tricked me. That I had trusted him, and I had trusted him more than once. But each time he had shown me who he really was, and I

*Arealla*Cold. Dark. Damp. A musty smell filled the air and the sound of dripping water echoed relentlessly in my cell. A "cell" was too good of a word to describe the place where Jason had me chained up like an animal. It was more of a cave that had been slightly altered to suit my captor's needs.I coughed. The chains rattled and the metal cuffs cut through my already raw wrists, it drew a small amount of blood. The lack of food and water kept me from healing. How long had I been here? I had lost count of the hours. Dehydration was not working well for my cognition.Jason had meant what he'd said when he told them not to give me anything. I hadn't so much as had a drink of water since they brought me in here. And I knew that at least two nights had passed already.It might be longer, but I couldn't tell. I was starting to see black dots across my vision, and I knew it was dehydration but I had no idea how bad it was.I was not even sure what I was feeling anymore. It ha

*Marcus*The hours passed in a whirlwind. I went back to the place where Arealla and Jason had been, taking Ben and Liana with me. But there was nothing to be found there.Liana had found traces of a wolf that wasn't part of our pack, but that was all that she had found. It was enough for her to make the assumption that Arealla had been taken.Given everything that Ben had learned, everything I had seen, there was nothing else that could be surmised.And yet.There had still been the niggling feeling at the back of my mind. What if she really had run away?But then the dream happened. And it slotted everything perfectly into place. It explained every single detail that I had been confused about, and it gave me a way forward.I was able to see her, and she was mine, in a way that I never thought could possibly happen. She glued the pieces of my fallen world and gave me sense, gave me reason. Having her the way we had only made me want to have her back in flesh with me.H