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I tried to smile.Tried to answer.Tried to tell them… something.
But the magic inside me wasn’t done.
It twisted.It clawed.It fought for space within a body not meant to hold so much.
"Something's wrong," I heard myself say, the words torn from my lips.
The apple’s magic, the blood ritual, the shattered curse… it wasn’t just inside me.
It was becoming me.
The apple core in my hand had crumbled to dust, its magic fully absorbed into my bones, my blood, my soul.
"Too much...I can't..."
My knees buckled.Darkness clawed at the edges of my mind.
Strong arms caught me before I hit the ground… Garrett, Ronan, Evander… all of them moving at once, frantic hands anchoring me as I sagged against them.
"Her pulse is wrong," Evander said sharply, already pressing his hand against my throat.
"She's burning up," Leif shouted, horror tightening his voice.
"Back!"Garrett barked, holding me tighter."Give her space!"
Panic screamed through the bond… wild, uncontrolled.
But then another voice.Calm.Certain.
"No," Nikolai said, his words slicing through the chaos like a blade.
He knelt beside me, his touch cool against my searing skin, his eyes glowing with the same power that seethed in my blood.His voice dropped low, almost reverent.
"She's not dying."
He pressed his palm against my forehead, his power flaring softly around his fingertips, recognizing the magic boiling inside me not as a death sentence.
But as evolution.
"She's ascending," he said.
The last thing I saw before the darkness swallowed me whole was the seven of them leaning over me… bloodied, wild-eyed, illuminated by the light bleeding out from under my skin.
Then the world unraveled.
And the forest devoured me.
CHAPTER12
Iwoke in a tangle of limbs and heat, my body humming with power I didn't recognize.Seven heartbeats pulsed against my skin, each one matching the rhythm of my own.The cabin's wooden walls seemed to breathe with us, the forest beyond stirring with something ancient and alive.My shifters surrounded me, no longer cursed, no longer afraid.And I was no longer just Lunara Winterbourne.I was something more.
They had returned me to the bed in the cabin, the same one where everything first unraveled.I remembered wondering who had slept in it before, since there were too many of them and only two beds in the cabin, plus the cot in the cellar where they had first kept me.Now it felt like the center of the world, the focal point of our twisted fate turned glorious destiny.
Their touch felt different now.Electric but safe.Scorching but soothing.Our bond hummed like a chorus behind my heartbeat, insistent and unbreakable.I could feel each of them inside me.Not just their physical presence, but their emotions.Their hunger.Their love.
"You're awake."Garrett's voice rumbled through me, vibrating along nerve endings that recognized him as mine.He knelt beside the bed, his massive frame somehow graceful as he leaned toward me.The others shifted around us, seven pairs of eyes glowing in the dim light."The forest's heart beats again."
His calloused fingers traced my jaw as if I might shatter.The others moved closer, forming a protective circle.Ronan's sardonic smile couldn't hide the relief in his eyes.Kade watched with that silent intensity that spoke volumes.Cassian winked, though his usual playfulness was tempered with reverence.Leif couldn't stop touching my arm, my shoulder, my hair, as if ensuring I was real.Evander's gentle eyes shimmered with unshed tears.