Aurelia’s scream split the world open.
Not a mortal scream.
Not a wolf’s.
Not anything that belonged to flesh or breath.
It was the scream of something awakening inside a shell that was too small to contain it.
Darkness swirled around her suspended body, gravity bending as if the ground itself feared touching her. The forest twisted, trees bending backward, soil rippling like disturbed water. The sky cracked with violet-black lightning.
Kane stood frozen at the edge of the blast radius, chest heaving, eyes wide with a terror he never imagined he’d feel for the woman he loved.
“Aurelia…” he whispered.
But the name didn’t reach her.
Her form flickered
light, shadow, flame, void
her skin turning translucent, her bones glowing like ancient runes, her hair rising weightlessly as dark
