Elena POV
It started as a small hum. I was sitting at the breakfast table, picking at a plate of eggs, when I felt a strange beat under my skin. It wasn't my heart. It was faster, a rhythmic thrumming in my wrists and at the base of my neck. I pressed my fingers to my throat, trying to calm it down, but the pulse only grew stronger.
"Elena? You're barely eating," Alaric said. He was sitting across from me, reading a report on his tablet.
"I'm not very hungry," I said. My hand was shaking slightly as I reached for my water glass. "I feel... heavy. Like my skin is too tight for my body."
Killian looked up from his coffee, his eyes narrowing. "Are you getting sick? You look a bit flushed."
"I don't know," I whispered. A sudden wave of heat washed over me, starting from the mark on my sho
