The next night brought no peace.
Aradia dreamed again—this time not of fire, but of a woman with her face, clothed in black robes, standing in a circle of burning runes. Beside her stood a wolf with green eyes. And across from them… a shadow.
It was not man, not beast. Its form shifted, smoke and claws and endless eyes. Its voice was a whisper of hunger.
You cannot escape me. You never have. Not then. Not now.
She awoke gasping, her skin slick with sweat, Kael's arms around her.
"What did you see?" he demanded, his green eyes sharp.
She trembled. "It was him. The shadow. The thing in the dream… it remembers me."
Kael's jaw tightened, his expression grave. "You are not only hunted by men or wolves, Aradia. You are hunted by what you once were. And what you once fought."
Her heart stuttered. "What do you mean?"
He brushed her cheek, his eyes burning with both love and dread. "You have lived this before. You and I. And the shadow that hunts you now—it has waited centuries for your return."
Her lips parted, her breath stolen. A memory tugged at her chest, faint and distant, of a promise whispered in firelight long ago.
Find me again. In every life, find me.
And she knew, deep in her soul, that Kael spoke the truth.