Malrik’s POV
The forest blurred past me, shadows streaking across the ground as my paws tore through the earth. Every stride was a desperate attempt to outrun the storm clawing at my chest, but no matter how fast I pushed myself, the world still felt too small too suffocating to contain the weight pressing down on me.
The moon hung high, its silver glow breaking through the canopy, but its light offered no comfort. It couldn’t pierce the darkness inside me. Hade’s howl split the silence, long and mournful, echoing through the trees like a lament for the dead. His grief was my own, bleeding into the night.
The pain was unbearable. The burden crushing.
And I was alone.
Utterly, irrevocably alone.
Enemies closed in from every side, unseen but ever-present, each waiting for the moment I
