Cassian pov

I couldn’t breathe.

Not in that room. Not in that palace. Not with her scent still clinging to my skin like a fucking succubus.

By the time I reached the edge of the forest, I was already tearing at the collar of my shirt like it was choking me. The guards had long since stopped calling after me. They knew better than to follow when I looked like this—wild and strung out with something too primal to name.

I shifted the moment my boots hit the earth, muscles tearing and ...