I stared at the coffee cup in Midia’s extended hand, watching thin wigs of team cut into the dank dungeon air. My fingers trembled as I reached Er (C

The weight of my pult pressed down on me like the stone selling above. All those months of carrying the burden of her death, of mapping into her role beside Melon, of wondering if things could have been different..

I drew in a deep, shuddering breath,

My wolf stirred uneasily within me, sensing danger, urging me in these

the cup away and

“This Nasha is take! Have you forgotten? Your btask /bto escape the mare within an hour. Adrian in waiting for your” my wolf reminded me

But Leuldn‘

I owe her this.

“If this is what you want,” I said, “then 111 drink

Belief flooded Nadia’s face, softening her features into the s

warm expression I remembered as well from our training sessions andte–night

“Skye,” she said softly. “I knew you weren’t ungrateful. I knew the guilt you carried was breal/b.”

She stepped closer, her hand briefly touching my arm.

“Don’t worry, I’ll not only help Adrian win the election. Ell stay by his side forever. I’ll protect him, love him the way he deser.”

I nodded, a strange peace settling over me.

Yes, what was there to worry about?

as bfierce /bbas /bmine, perhaps even stronger. She’d loved him longer, known him better. She’d be the Beta he needed, the

Nadia’s love for Adrian had always been as fpanion he deserved.

Without allowing bmyself /banother moment of hesitation, I raised the qup to my lips and drank.

The liquid burned down my throat, bitter and acid, nothing like the sweet hazelnut coffee Nadia used to make at the pack house on Sunday mornings

Nadia watched me intently as I lowered the empty cup

“Do you have any message bfor /bbAdrian/b?” bshe /bbasked/bb, /bher bvoice /bgentle bnow/b, almost sympathetic.

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came. My tongue felt thick, heavy

A tingling sensation bspread /bfrom my throat outward, like ice crystals forming in my veins.

So it begins.

on the stone floor.

The cup bslipped /bfrom my bnerveless /bfingers, bshattering /bon

Nadia’s figure began to blur at the edges. She turned and walked toward the dungeon entrance: I watched her go, unable to call out, unable to move.

The

wolfbane worked faster than I expected,

Fire and ice warped in my bloodstream, each heartbeat pumping the portum deeper into my system. bMy /bknees buckled, and I copsed unto the cold stone, gasping as painnged through my chest. It felt blike /bws tearing bme /bbapart /bfrom the binside /bmy own wolf bturning /bagainst me bas /bthe poison attacked out

bandfnf225 Checktest chapters at FindN()vel/fnf225

My well.

bI /bcould feel her weakening, her silver light dimming. She who hade to me tote, who had made meplete

My vision team, the dunge walls rippling like water. Colors bed ingether, then separated into impossible patterns.

A lot of flies.

Through the hate of neony, thoughts drifted like nutumn lewe

This ending… maybe it’s not so bad.

At least the gull would end. At least Nedia wild have her chance.

But my parents

bOh /bmy parents.

Another promise broken, another disappointment delivered. I’d sworn to visit them after the election, to return to Prostshadow Pack and show them I’d survived, thrived even. Mom would wait by the window, watching for me. Dad wouldn’t call me his little warrior anymore, he’d call me a real warrior.

I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

And Adrian. My heart clenched with a different kind of bpain/b.

There were so many things I’d never told him. How bhis /bugh made even the darkest days bearable. How his determination inspired me to be strongen. How Td choose him again band /bagain, mate bond or no mate bond

I wanted to tell you, I thought desperately, as if he could somehow hear me across the miles band /bthrough the mazes magic. “My choice was always you, From that first night in the bar, through every btrial/b, bevery /bdanger–it was balways /byou.”

But none of it mattered now.

My wolf whimpered bonce/b, then fell silent.

Is this what death feels like? This gradual berasure/b, this slow bdissolution /bof everything that made me m??

Butterflies

So many butterflies swirling around me, so beautiful. 1 felt the pain slowly fading, my body bing weightless, as if I might float away with them into the endless bsky/b.

*Skye!”

The bvoice /bcut through the fog like a bde/b. Someone bwas /bcalling my name, urgent and desperate.

“Skye, hold on!”

With monumental effort, I forced my heavy eyelids open onest time

A face swam into focus above me,

features sharpening as my vision cleared momentarily.

Not Adrian.

Not Nadia

Leon.