The dull ache in my body had become a steady throb, radiating outward from my core as if my very essence was being reshaped. The transformation had started the night before, and now, without Dominic, the process felt unbearable—a fire burning me from the inside out. Every shift of the cart I was thrown into jolted my body, sending new waves of agony coursing through me. My wrists ached from the tight ropes binding them, the coarse material cutting into my skin with every bounce.
I’d stopped crying hours ago, or maybe it had only been minutes. Time had blurred into an endless stream of pain and despair. Sebastian’s wolves flanked the cart, their predatory eyes watching me with thinly veiled amusement. Occasionally, one of them would let out a low growl, a cruel grin playing on their lips a
