Seren’s POV
The day of my eighteenth birthday did not begin with celebration. It began with fear.
Something stirred in the shadows at the foot of my bed, a prickle of danger crawling up my spine before my eyes even opened. My wolf stirred inside me, restless, claws itching just beneath my skin. I bolted upright, heart hammering, breath caught tight in my throat as I scanned the dark corners of my room. For a moment, just a fleeting, terrible moment, I thought it was him, that Darrow had come for me at last. That the nightmares had slithered out of my dreams and into my waking life.
But then a tiny flame flickered, soft and golden, breaking apart the dark.
“Happy birthday, baby,” my mother whispered.
I froze. Her familiar voice wrapped around me like a blanket, pulling me back from the
