Kaya
Everything hurts. Every inch of my body throbs with soreness. Every muscle feels wound tight, every bone crushed beneath an invisible weight.
I'm wide awake—pain has a way of making that perfectly clear—but no matter how hard I try to open my eyes, my eyelids feel glued shut. The darkness clings to me, dragging me back toward a heavy, unwilling stupor.
Rana…
I reach out to my wolf, desperate for her steady presence, for anything to help me pull myself together. But she is silent.
Rana? I call again, more urgently this time. Nothing.
A jolt of panic rips through me. I force myself upright, shattering the wall of agony that chains my body like weighted shackles—only for another, sharper shock to seize me by the throat.
"Good morning, sweetheart."
I freeze. Then, I want to scream, though I can't tell which part of what I'm seeing is twisting every nerve inside me.
"Damien…"
