Aurora’s heartbeat thundered in her ears as she fled down the hallway, her bare feet whispering against the floor. Every step she took seemed to echo too loud, every breath too sharp. She didn’t know what was happening to her — only that her body no longer felt like her own.
The voice wouldn’t stop.
Mate. Don’t run. You’re safe with him. Go back.
She pressed her palms to her temples, trying to drown it out, but the voice pulsed inside her skull like a drumbeat. Her vision wavered slightly — colors too bright, sounds too sharp. The scent of the morning air through the open windows carried hundreds of smells at once: dew, pine, cinnamon, even the faint trace of soap from Damien’s skin.
She clenched her jaw and kept running.
But she didn’t make it far.
Before she reached the staircase t
