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Griffin’s howl of anguish is the most terrible sound I’ve ever heard. Through dimming vision, I watch him tear into Cassian with savage intensity, no longer fighting to subdue but to kill.

Cassian’s neck snaps between Griffin’s powerful jaws. His body goes limp, his human form returning in death.

Mathew throws me to the ground and flees, disappearing through the door. Griffin lets him go, racing to my side instead, shifting back to human form with dizzying speed.

“Maya!” His voice breaks as he gathers me in his arms. “No, no, no, Maya, stay with me!”

Blood soaks through my shirt, pools beneath me on the floor. Each breath is a struggle, wet and painful. Griffin presses his hand to my throat, trying to stem the flow, but I can feel my life ebbing away with each heartbeat.

“I can’t lose you,” Griffin pleads, tears streaking his face. “Maya, no. Not like this. I can’t—I don’t know how to live without you!”

My heart aches, and I want to comfort him, want to tell him it will be okay, but I can’t get the words out. I can’t speak.

His fingers brush my hair back from my face with infinite tenderness. Even now, at the brink of oblivion, his touch sends warmth through me.

“The mark!” he whispers suddenly, eyes widening with desperate hope. “The mating mark—it might save you.”

My body is growing cold, numb. I can’t even think anymore.

“I don’t care about the prophecy,” Griffin says fiercely. “You’re already dying, Maya. Your heart—I have to try! If there’s any chance it will save you, I have to try.”

He adjusts my limp body, exposing the junction of my neck and shoulder. His lips press against my skin, warm and gentle, and then his teeth—sharp, inhuman teeth—pierce my flesh.

Pain lances through me, then something else—something electric and alive. Heat spreads from the mark, racing through my veins like liquid fire. A connection snaps into place, bright and vibrant, binding me to Griffin in ways I can’t comprehend.

Warmth, heat, and feelings that are not my own come pouring into me. For a heartbeat, hope flares. The bleeding slows. The wound at my throat begins to knit together. Griffin’s eyes light up with desperate relief.

“It’s working,” he breathes. “Maya, stay with me. Fight.”

But then, my heart stutters. Once. Twice. The fire in my veins turns to ice. Griffin’s face contorts with horror as he feels it through our newly formed bond.

“No!” he roars, gathering me closer. “Maya, please. Don’t leave me.”

I want to tell him it’s alright. That I understand now why he did everything he did. That I forgive him. That I’m sorry forhating him these past seven months when I should have been loving him instead.

But the darkness is too strong, pulling me under. My last sight is Griffin’s face—beautiful, anguished, desperate with love—hovering over mine.

My heart stops.

Death claims me.

And yet...

I float in darkness, in nothingness, adrift and untethered. But I am not alone. That strange presence I felt earlier remains, grows stronger. It takes shape within the void—fierce, primal, unyielding.

A wolf. My wolf.

Impossible, I think. I’m human.

The wolf—my wolf—snarls at death itself, refusing to surrender. It claws its way back toward life, toward Griffin, pulling me with it.

I hear his broken cries and feel his tears on my face. The raw agony in his voice reaches me even in this place between worlds.

I’ve never understood how deeply he loves me until this moment, hearing him shatter as he holds my lifeless body. How did I miss this? How did I not see the truth of his devotion even through his mistakes?

The wolf howls, calling me back. Demanding that I fight.

For him. For us.