LOGINMICHAELA'S POV Morning came painfully slow, yet I couldn't get half the rest I needed. After eating some food, my search for the Moonshade continued. I began heading for the ravine next when I realized I wasn't quite sure where I was on either the ancient or modern map. Everything that happened last night had thrown me off course, and it took a few hours to get back on the trail again. By late morning, I was already halfway to the ravine. I hadn't expected to get this far in such a short time with the plethora of thoughts that had been raging in my head since last night. I pushed everything that wasn't Moonshade-related to the back of my mind as I got closer to the ravine. As I approached the location, I realized I was growing increasingly nervous with every step. The ravine was my last hope, and I was banking everything on it. If I didn't find the Moonshade and make it back to the pack before midnight, the fear, the risk, the danger, everything I had endured would have been a
MICHAELA'S POVThe silence feels wrong.I don't know how else to explain it.A few minutes ago, the forest had been filled with those horrible screams. Now there is nothing. Not even lingering echoes.It is as though the forest has simply swallowed the sounds whole.I sit frozen beneath the stone shelter, my flashlight resting beside me. Waiting. Expecting another scream.One minute passes. Then another.Nothing comes.The silence presses against me from every direction.I hate it.My gaze drifts toward the entrance. Darkness stares back. The beam of my flashlight reaches only a short distance beyond the stones before the forest consumes the rest.I tell myself I'm safe. Or at least safer.The thought does very little to comfort me.A shiver runs through me. Not from the cold, but from memory.My stomach twists violently.The corpse flashes through my mind again.The roots.The smell.The face.Goddess.I squeeze my eyes shut.Immediately regret it.The image only becomes clearer.I o
MICHAELA'S POV The sounds overlap until it becomes impossible to tell where one ends and the next begins.My pulse slams violently against my ribs. My mouth goes dry. For one terrible second, I simply stand there. Staring into the darkness. Listening. Waiting. The screams continue. Not pausing for a second.Some sound distant. Others sound frighteningly close. One erupts somewhere to my left and I nearly jump out of my skin.A second answers from deeper within the forest. Then a third. And a fourth.The sounds ricochet through the trees like some twisted conversation.I will my body to move but my bones suddenly feel like lead as my gaze moves in every direction trying to comprehend what the hell is happening.When my body finally remembers how to move, the sounds feels like they are closing in on me. Ringing so loudly in my ears that I begin to fear I might be losing my damn mind.Every time I glance back, everything I look around there is still nothing. I see absolutely nothing. T
MICHAELA'S POV I spend a couple more minutes studying the contents of the pack before rising.I don't open the journal again.Not yet.My limbs ache from crouching for so long. I straighten slowly, rolling my shoulders before tossing everything back into the bag.For a moment, I consider leaving it where I found it and continuing toward the shelter I'd picked out. But at the last second, I decide against it. Some of the items might still be useful. They would certainly be of more use to me than they would ever be to the forest floor.The smell reaches me just as I turn to leave.At first, it blends with the scent of damp moss and wet leaves.I frown.Then pause.Something about it feels wrong.I don't even realize my feet have started moving until several seconds later.The odor grows stronger with every step. Beneath the earthy scent of the forest lurks something foul.Something rotten.My pulse begins to quicken.I follow the smell.The further I go, the stronger it becomes and soo
MICHAELA'S POV I scramble to my feet so fast that I stumble backward, my boots catching on exposed roots and sending me crashing to the forest floor. I scramble up immediately. My heart pounds loudly, a sharp contrast to the forest's constant stillness. Sweat breaks across my forehead, which is ridiculous because just moments ago I had been thinking that nighttime made the forest significantly cooler than it had been during the day. Frantically, I reach for my flashlight where it had fallen during my hurried attempt to get up. I switch it on. Nothing. Shit. Shit. "Shit." Why won't it turn on? I smack the flashlight against my palm repeatedly, unsure what else to do. Only now do I realize I never switched it off when I sat down earlier. The flashlight must have been damaged when it hit the ground. I don't take my eyes off my surroundings as I strike it against my palm again. And again. It flickers. On. Off. On. Off. Then, after several agonizing seconds, the beam s
MICHAELA'S POV I don't like this place, I thought as I looked around repeatedly. The feeling only intensified as I approached the stream. The water flowed quietly beside the ruins. The sight immediately reignited a small spark of hope. A stream. Ancient stone structures. Elevated terrain. Everything matched. This had to be it. Surely. I began searching. The stream bank. The shadows beneath rocks. The bases of trees. Every patch of vegetation that looked even remotely suspicious. At first I moved methodically. Checking one area. Then another. Trying not to get ahead of myself. Trying not to let hope cloud my judgement. Half an hour later, that resolve had completely vanished. I wanted this to be the place. Needed it to be. Every minute that passed without finding anything felt like sand slipping through my fingers. I was circling the far side of the stream when something caught my eye. I froze. Several feet away, beneath a rocky overhang partially concealed b
Damon disappears between the trees. The forest goes quiet almost immediately after. Branches creak softly overhead as the wind shifts through them. Somewhere in the distance, water rushes steadily beneath the incline below us. But without Damon beside me, the woods suddenly feel... Bigger. Whic
“I want to speak to Michaela,” Damon says.His words cut clean through the silence that followed Rhoda’s last statement.“Alone.”Rhoda stands and leaves without protest.I hadn’t expected that.Mason follows her out. As he passes me, he leans in slightly.“Good luck,” he murmurs.I can’t tell if h
The next day, I go to see Mum and Talia. The moment I step into the room, Mum looks at me. And then she looks away. She doesn’t say a word. Not a greeting. Not a question. Nothing. I have been gone for almost a month and she still has absolutely nothing to say to me. The silence sett
“So let me get this straight,” I say slowly. “You want to announce me as your mate in order to placate the human rebels.” He nods. A small, unexpected twinge settles in my chest. Disappointment. That he doesn’t want me simply because… he wants me. I shut it down almost immediately. I don







