Damon’s POV

I ran until my legs forgot how to listen.

The forest blurred past with trunks and whipping branches, mud splattering my boots, cold biting into my ribs.

My wolf inside me was raw and hungry, searching for Aria’s scent, which was clear and complex but then disappeared. Every empty breath felt like a lie.

“Aria!” I shouted into the trees, my voice raw. It came back to me thin and useless. “Aria!”

My throat closed, and I slowed as my lungs protested, recalling I was not ...