LEV
I woke again inside the beast, and for a few heartbeats, if it was even heartbeats, I didn’t know where I was. Everything felt too heavy, and the floor pressed cold beneath me while the air tasted sharp and metallic.
My thoughts floated, unanchored as they slipped through the fog. And just then, the memories hit… my mother’s voice, breaking as she pleaded on the other side of the door. The sound crashed into me like a hammer, and something inside me snapped.
I lunged at myself all over again, claws raking down my own chest, digging into fur as if I could peel it off, as if the wolf were a skin I could tear away and crawl out of. I clawed and thrashed, slamming my weight into the walls.
“Let me out!” I growled, but it was impossible, and I knew it even as I kept trying. My claws s
