The forest was dark, and Ashina was running. Her lungs burned. Branches tore at her clothes, her skin, her hair. Behind her, something massive moved through the trees patient, relentless, closing the distance with every stride.
She knew this forest. Had run through it a thousand times in wolf form, free and fearless but now the familiar paths twisted wrong. Trees grew too close together. The ground beneath her feet turned soft, sucking at her shoes like quicksand.
Run faster.
She couldn't. Her legs moved through molasses, slow and heavy while her pursuer gained ground with effortless speed. A hand closed around her arm. Spun her. She tried to scream but no sound came out.
Ice-blue eyes met hers. Familiar and foreign at once. "You can't escape," Kendrick's voice said, but wrong distorted, echoing. "You were always mine."
His teeth at her throat
"No no no please"
The bite, the burning, the bond snapping into place like chains
"PLEASE"
