Chapter Forty ▏The Return

The first thing I register is the sensation of long sharp points lodging themselves in my right shoulder, seemingly slow in finding the depths of my flesh. Something warm is rushing into me, and it’s not just the breath of Alistair’s wolf form on my numb skin.

It’s rushing into my veins, latching itself onto the very fiber of my being as my muscles freeze. I try to inhale, to at least gasp at the excruciating sensation, but my chest is hard. It’s not giving way to my breaths. Heat is spreading in my bones as though I’m being set on fire from the inside. I open my mouth and I immediately feel my voice rising up, building up my throat—

Then I let out a blood-curdling scream that shakes up the entire dungeon as he pulls away.

I fall on my knees. My hand instantly flies to the bitten spot, the area where my neck meets my shoulder. The blood on it is thick and sticky now, continuously flowing from the numerous holes that I can feel under my fingers.

My sig