I don’t think. I move. Instinct surges through me, raw and undeniable, shoving aside pain, fear, and logic. One second, I’m frozen, watching in horror as the man takes aim at Luca. The next, I’m launching myself at him, my body colliding with his in a violent blur of motion.The impact is brutal. Bones rattle, muscles strain, but I don’t care. I won’t let him shoot. I won’t let him kill Luca like some worthless animal—like the way he sees us.But I miscalculate.The man twists at the last second, adjusting his aim. A deafening crack shatters the night air.Pain.White-hot agony tears through my back leg, so sudden, so consuming, that it steals the breath from my lungs. My body crumples mid-motion, momentum lost as I crash to the forest floor. My vision fractures, the world around me spinning, fading in and out like a flickering candle. The spear is still embedded deep, pulsing, burning—I can’t breathe.A strangled, broken howl rips from my throat, raw and animalistic. My claws dig int
Last Updated : 2025-09-17 Read more