The forest was darker here.
The silence was unnatural — no owls, no rustle of wind. Just the thud of running feet and the ragged breath of the girl fleeing through the undergrowth.
Blood soaked her side, warm and wet. Her vision blurred.
She barely registered the clearing ahead until her knees gave out.
She fell.
A gasp escaped her lips as her body struck the cold moss. Her hands scrabbled against the earth, but there was nothing left. Her energy was gone.
She was bleeding out.
She would die here.
Unless—
A shadow moved.
Then, the trees bent to it. The clearing held its breath.
He appeared.
A massive wolf—twice the size of any mortal beast—emerged from the woods like the mountain had birthed him. His fur was pitch black, streaked with veins of silver that pulsed faintly under m
