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Then, it all happened too fast.

One moment Kael was kneeling in front of me, tense and ready, his blade glinting in the dim light. The next, the shifters were on us. Dark shapes surged from the trees, snarling and snapping, eyes glowing with bloodlust.

Kael shoved me behind him. “Run!”

“No!” I screamed, but it was too late.

He met the first attacker head-on, driving his sword into its chest. Blood sprayed, but another shifter lunged, claws raking across Kael’s arm before he could twist away. He let out a guttural snarl, turning his blade in a deadly arc. Another body fell.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe.

“Annika!” Kael’s voice snapped me out of it. “Go!”

I stumbled back, but the forest felt too small, too suffocating. Another shifter leapt toward Kael, and this time, he wasn’t fast enough. The creature’s claws sank into his side, dragging him down.

“No!” I cried, my voice breaking.

Kael roared, driving his knife into the shifter’s throat, but he was already bleeding… there was so much blood. He staggered, barely staying on his feet.

Another one circled behind him.

I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t just stand there.

Grabbing the closest rock I could find, I hurled it at the shifter’s head. It wasn’t much, but it distracted it long enough for Kael to slice through its ribs. He turned toward me, his face pale and streaked with sweat.

“You need to run, Annika!” His voice was raw, desperate.

“I’m not leaving you!”

The forest spun around me, my breath ragged as another shifter closed in. Kael moved, but this time, he faltered. The wound in his side slowed him, and the creature knocked him to the ground.

I screamed, lunging toward him, but hands… no, claws grabbed me from behind.

“Kael!”

He lifted his head, his eyes burning even as blood stained his lips. “Fight, Annika. Fight.”

I didn’t think.

Didn’t plan.

I just moved.

My pulse roared in my ears as I yanked free from the shifter’s claws, the sharp sting of torn skin barely registering through the surge of panic. Kael’s cry echoed behind me, raw and pained, but I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t let them take me.

The shifter lunged again, its breath hot against my neck. I spun, driving my elbow into its jaw. It reeled back, snarling, and I used the moment to grab a fallen branch. Not much of a weapon, but it would have to do.

“Come on,” I hissed, planting my feet. My heart hammered so hard I thought it might burst.

It circled, muscles coiled, eyes gleaming with hunger. Then it struck.

I swung the branch with everything I had. Wood cracked against its ribs. It stumbled, but not enough. It came again, claws flashing, and I dodged… barely. My shoulder hit the ground hard, pain jolting through me, but I rolled, slamming the branch into its leg.

A howl. A snap. The branch broke in two.

I scrambled up, my body screaming, and ran.

Branches tore at my clothes. Roots tried to trip me. Behind me, snarls and pounding footsteps closed in.