Cierra:
The forest swallowed us whole.
Behind the clearing, the scene still boiled with rage, voices tearing at one another, snapping jaws and snarls echoing like thunder in the cold air. But Dominic didn’t let me get pulled back. His grip on my arm was steady, firm enough to guide, gentle enough not to bruise. He moved us through the shadows, deeper into the trees, where the smoke thinned and the roar of the pack became only a distant growl.
Only then did he stop.
I tried to breathe. Tried to steady myself. But the weight I’d carried through the trial, through every heartbeat of the dagger raised above him—it crashed down on me all at once. My knees buckled. My hand shook so badly I thought the phantom blade might slip from my palm again.
“I almost did it.”
The words ripped free, ra
