Amelia ran until the trees blurred.
But there was no outrunning what was inside her now.
The Alpha wasn’t a whisper anymore — it was a voice, booming and bloodthirsty, pressing against her ribs, clawing at her skin from the inside out.
Mine. Take. Own. Rule.
She dropped to her knees in the clearing, gasping, shaking, her fingers sinking into the soil. Her vision flickered. Gold. Black. Gold again.
Then a scream tore from her throat—not of pain. Of transformation.
Behind her, footsteps.
She didn’t need to turn. She knew.
Raze.
“I told you to stay away,” she hissed, voice half-feral.
He didn’t stop. He knelt beside her, his chest bare, his hands shaking as they touched her shoulders.
“You’re burning up,” he breathed.
She jerked away. “Don’t touch me. You did this.”
“I tried to p
