I feel like I’m drowning. The man standing before me is a stranger wearing Andrew’s face. Each memory I have of happiness, of feeling wanted and loved, crumbles to ash in my mind.
“But I saved you from that shadow bear…”
“Which was so convenient,” he says with that same cruel smile. “I’d been trying to figure out how to get close to you for months. A shifter, living alone, collecting herbs? I knew you had to be valuable. But I needed a way in, needed you to trust me. When that bear attacked me and you saved my life, it was perfect. Instant gratitude, instant bond. You practically threw yourself into my arms after that.”
The betrayal cuts even deeper. He took my act of kindness, my genuine desire to help someone in danger, and twisted it into a weapon against me. The very moment that I t
