Alex's Pov
The rain didn’t fall. It slammed, a wall of ice-cold sheets that blurred the world into a smear of gray. Every drop stung like needles. My clothes clung to me, heavy with water and blood, as I pushed through the trees one brutal step at a time.
Sasha was in my arms, limp, burning, weightless in all the wrong ways.
One arm tucked beneath her knees, the other curled around her back, holding her to my chest like she was the last warm thing in a dying world. Her skin was scorching, fevered, even as the storm tried to drown her with icy cold rain. She didn’t stir. Her head lolled against my shoulder, strands of wet hair plastered onto her temple. No sound. Barely a breath.
She’d burned too hot.
And now she was flickering, like a candle at the end of its wick.
The forest fought
