Warmth touched my skin before the light did. A faint hum lingered in my ears, the kind that followed a long night of running or dreaming. My lashes fluttered, and for a moment I was caught between two worlds; the forest where I had fallen, the darkness that swallowed me, and this place where the air tasted clean and faintly sweet.
My head throbbed. My body ached in places I didn’t know could ache. I drew a slow breath, and that was when I felt it. A soft vibration at the back of my mind. Alina. My wolf purred, faint but alive, her presence curling through my chest like a sigh of relief.
My eyes opened fully. The ceiling above me was unfamiliar. It was pale, smooth, glowing softly as if the light didn’t come from a bulb but from the air itself. I blinked again, pushing myself up on trembl
