Thelma's POV
The darkness was comfortable. Quiet. No pain here, no betrayal, no complications. Just peace.
Part of me wanted to sink deeper into it, to let go and drift away. It would be so easy. Just stop fighting, stop struggling, and let the current carry me wherever it wants to go.
But then I heard his voice. Distant, desperate, like someone calling from the far shore of a vast lake.
"Hold on. I'm going to fix this."
Xavier. My mate. My stubborn, loyal, occasionally stupid mate.
I wanted to respond, to tell him I was trying, but my body wouldn't cooperate. The poison, and I knew it was poison now, could feel it burning through my veins like liquid fire mixed with ice, had me in its grip. It was intelligent, this poison. Adaptive. Every time my wolf tried to heal the damage, the t
