Aria's POV
I don't know how long I sat there, my eyes open, staring into the suffocating dark. My wolf kept watch even as my mind drifted—alert, restless, tense.
Eventually, a pale sliver of moon slipped between the clouds, casting silver light through the branches outside. The shadows twisted along the wall, stretching into monstrous shapes like wolves hunched and snarling.
My heartbeat thudded so hard it hurt, like my ribs were too small to cage it. My wolf stirred uneasily under my skin, pacing, sensing danger even in the stillness of the room.
Maybe the peaceful life I'd been trying so desperately to build… had already shattered without me noticing.
Lana shifted in my arms with a tiny fussing sound, a soft cry that snapped me out of the numb fog swallowing me whole. I blinked, my
