The forest pressed in around us, shadows folding like fingers over the path we ran. My lungs burned, my legs screamed, and every instinct screamed at me to stop, to pivot, to fight or to unleash the fire coiling in my chest. But Killian’s hand didn’t linger to guide me this time; he ran beside me, his presence a tether I couldn’t untangle, his body taut with movement and barely contained tension.

The rogue howls cut through the night like broken glass, a chorus that set every nerve on ...