SEBASTIAN’S POV
The forest loomed dark and silent as I sprinted back through its tangled paths, my boots pounding the earth, my breath sharp in the cool night air. The hooded figure from earlier today—his black mask, his piercing eyes, his voice saying my name—burned in my mind, a taunt I couldn’t shake. There was no way I’d let him slip away again, not when he was tied to the danger closing in on Isabella, on me. Maximus growled within, his claws scraping my insides, urging me to hunt, to find answers.
Too much was happening—my vision in the office, the voice warning of danger, Mia’s bloodied form in the ravine, her whispered revelation about Caleb and Vanessa’s plot to kill Isabella at the frat party. I’d pulled her free, her screams echoing, and carried her to the hospital, her body
