Heidi
The creek was the only thing I could hear.
Its steady rhythm should have been comforting.
Normally, the sound of water rushing over the rocks would have been enough to calm me. This place had always been my sanctuary—a place where I could disappear when the world became too much.
But tonight, it wasn’t working.
I lay curled up inside the small cave, my body still in wolf form, staring into the darkness.
No birds.
No insects.
Not even the rustling of leaves.
Nothing.
It was as though the entire forest had gone silent.
And somehow, that silence frightened me more than any noise could have.
My heart wouldn’t slow.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the arena.
The bodies.
The blood.
The Alpha standing above them as though their deaths meant nothing.
Then I remembered wha
