I stared at the coffee cup in Midia’s extended hand, watching thin wigs of team cut into the dank dungeon air. My fingers trembled as I reached Er (C
The weight of my pult pressed down on me like the stone selling above. All those months of carrying the burden of her death, of mapping into her role beside Melon, of wondering if things could have been different..
I drew in a deep, shuddering breath,
My wolf stirred uneasily within me, sensing danger, urging me in these
the cup away and
“This Nasha is take! Have you forgotten? Your task to escape the mare within an hour. Adrian in waiting for your” my wolf reminded me
But Leuldn‘
I owe her this.
“If this is what you want,” I said, “then 111 drink
Belief flooded Nadia’s face, softening her features into the s
warm expression I remembered as well from our training sessions and late–night
“Skye,” she said softly. “I knew you weren’t ungrateful. I knew the guilt you carried was real.”
She stepped closer, her hand briefly touching my arm.
“Don’t worry, I’ll not only help Adrian win the election. Ell stay by his side forever. I’ll protect him, love him the way he deser.”
I nodded, a strange peace settling over me.
Yes, what was there to worry about?
as fierce as mine, perhaps even stronger. She’d loved him longer, known him better. She’d be the Beta he needed, the
Nadia’s love for Adrian had always been as f companion he deserved.
Without allowing myself another moment of hesitation, I raised the qup to my lips and drank.
The liquid burned down my throat, bitter and acid, nothing like the sweet hazelnut coffee Nadia used to make at the pack house on Sunday mornings
Nadia watched me intently as I lowered the empty cup
“Do you have any message for Adrian?” she asked, her voice gentle now, almost sympathetic.
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came. My tongue felt thick, heavy
A tingling sensation spread from my throat outward, like ice crystals forming in my veins.
So it begins.
on the stone floor.
The cup slipped from my nerveless fingers, shattering on
Nadia’s figure began to blur at the edges. She turned and walked toward the dungeon entrance: I watched her go, unable to call out, unable to move.
The
wolfbane worked faster than I expected,
Fire and ice warped in my bloodstream, each heartbeat pumping the portum deeper into my system. My knees buckled, and I collapsed unto the cold stone, gasping as pain langed through my chest. It felt like claws tearing me apart from the inside my own wolf turning against me as the poison attacked out
band
1/3
Chapter 153
My well.
I could feel her weakening, her silver light dimming. She who had come to me to late, who had made me complete
My vision team, the dunge walls rippling like water. Colors bed ingether, then separated into impossible patterns.
A lot of flies.
Through the hate of neony, thoughts drifted like nutumn lewe
This ending… maybe it’s not so bad.
At least the gull would end. At least Nedia wild have her chance.
But my parents
Oh my parents.
Another promise broken, another disappointment delivered. I’d sworn to visit them after the election, to return to Prostshadow Pack and show them I’d survived, thrived even. Mom would wait by the window, watching for me. Dad wouldn’t call me his little warrior anymore, he’d call me a real warrior.
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
And Adrian. My heart clenched with a different kind of pain.
There were so many things I’d never told him. How his laugh made even the darkest days bearable. How his determination inspired me to be strongen. How Td choose him again and again, mate bond or no mate bond
I wanted to tell you, I thought desperately, as if he could somehow hear me across the miles and through the mazes magic. “My choice was always you, From that first night in the bar, through every trial, every danger–it was always you.”
But none of it mattered now.
My wolf whimpered once, then fell silent.
Is this what death feels like? This gradual erasure, this slow dissolution of everything that made me më?
Butterflies
So many butterflies swirling around me, so beautiful. 1 felt the pain slowly fading, my body becoming weightless, as if I might float away with them into the endless sky.
*Skye!”
The voice cut through the fog like a blade. Someone was calling my name, urgent and desperate.
“Skye, hold on!”
With monumental effort, I forced my heavy eyelids open one last time
A face swam into focus above me,
features sharpening as my vision cleared momentarily.
Not Adrian.
Not Nadia
Leon.
