Chapter 697: A Traitor In The Pack
*Breathe.*
The word echoed through Sophia's mind, soft but insistent, wrapping around the edges of her panic like a hand reaching through darkness. She had forgotten how to do it properly—the inhales came too fast, too shallow, her chest rising and falling with the rhythm of someone who had already stopped thinking and started simply surviving.
*Breathe, Sophia.*
She sucked in air.
It burned going down, cold and sharp, but it was air. It was something. She held it for a moment, then let it out slowly, forcing her shoulders to drop with the exhale.
*Again.*
She obeyed.
The second breath came easier than the first. The third easier than that. By the fourth, her heart had stopped trying to claw its way out of her chest, and her vision had cleared enough that she could see the smoke around her.
*It is not real,* Neoma said again, her voice steady and sure. *None of this has happened yet. We can prevent it.*
Sophia closed her eyes.
