Kieran P.O.V
I don’t remember falling asleep.
One moment I was sitting on the edge of the cot, elbows braced against my knees, the mark on my arm burning low and steady. The next, pale dawn light poured through the window, sharp enough to cast shadows across the cabin floor.
My entire body felt… wrung out.
Muscles tight. Chest heavy.
Skin hot beneath a layer of cooling sweat.
Shade stirred before I did, pacing hard inside my mind.
A pull, he growled. Stronger than last night. Much stronger.
I sat up fast, breath catching.
The mark wasn’t softly glowing anymore.
It was alive.
Pulsing—beating—not with my heartbeat…
but with something else.
Someone else.
A cold shiver sliced through me.
“Her,” I whispered. “It’s her.”
Shade didn’t argue.
She’s moving. And scared. That spike y
