The voice vanished, and for a brief moment, I allowed myself to breathe. My chest rose and fell slowly, and the tension that had locked my body finally loosened a little. Limene was silent. She was still inside me, but I could tell how weak she was. Even when I reached out, she didn’t answer. It was like her strength had been pulled out of her completely.
We let nature take its place. We had no choice.
The sound of something heavy being dragged, like the cracking of iron against stone, made my ears twitch. My eyes opened a little, and I blinked against the blur. I looked at my body. Still wolf. My paws, my fur, the emerald glow. Still trapped. Still not human.
A sharp pain pierced my heart, sudden and deep. It burned through me so badly I gasped without meaning to. The pain jolted Limen
