Damon POV
The forest swallows me whole.
Pine boughs scrape across my arms as I run, pushing faster, deeper, needing space between me and the scent that’s burned into my damn lungs.
Rayna.
I shift mid-leap, fur tearing through skin in a blur of rage and need. My wolf takes over, claws sinking into damp earth, teeth bared at nothing. I rip through underbrush, snap a branch clean off with my shoulder, and keep going.
Faster. Farther.
She’s not mine. She can’t be.
I slam into a tree. Not because I misstep - because I let myself stop. My body heaves, paws trembling, heart thundering like it’s trying to break through my ribs.
My claws gouge the bark. A growl tears from my throat.The bond pulls - tight, invisible, a rope strung between us, cutting deeper every time I try to fight it.
I
