Aria didn't breathe.
Couldn't.
The air in Malachi's realm felt wrong, too cold, too heavy, like every inhale carved her ribs from the inside. The forest she'd known was a graveyard version of itself. Twisted. Burned. The trees were nothing but skeletal silhouettes clawing at a bleeding sky.
And Malachi… he looked stronger here. Taller. The shadows dripped from him like ink suspended in water, trailing behind him as if this place breathed with him.
"Welcome home," he said softly.
Aria forced her shaking hands into fists. "This isn't my home."
His smile slipped, replaced with something hungrier. "It will be."
A deep growl rose behind him, an inhuman sound that crawled across her skin. Something massive shifted in the shadows. She couldn't see its full shape, only glowing eyes, wide as lanterns, blinking slowly in the dark.
Her voice barely held. "What is that?"
Malachi didn't turn. "A reminder."
The creature stepped closer, and Aria's stomach knotted. It wasn't a wolf. Not even close. It was a colossal shadow-beast made of smoke and bone, its ribs glowing faintly like dying embers. A mouth far too large opened in its chest, lined with rows of serrated black teeth.
Aria stumbled back.
Malachi reached toward her as if soothing a frightened animal. "Your power calls to this realm. And mine answers. You should feel honored."
Honor wasn't what she felt. Fear was. Rage was. The faint pulse of gold under her skin was.
She swallowed. "Why bring me here?"
"You crossed the stream," he said simply. "That water connects to every plane that touches your bloodline. Including mine."
Her lip trembled. "You dragged me here."
"No," he murmured. "You opened the door."
A chill ran up her spine. Because part of her knew it was true. The ancestor, her ancestor had pulled her into a place between. And Malachi had simply… finished the work.
Aria's breathing labored. "Whatever you want from me, you won't get it."
"Oh, I already have more than you think." His eyes glowed brighter. "You are not awake yet. But you will be. And when you break… I will reshape the world through you."
Her heartbeat skittered.
"Get away from me."
He stepped closer. "Aria, I don't want to hurt you."
The shadow-beast behind him snarled.
He didn't flinch.
"But I will."
Her pulse roared in her ears. Her wolf slammed against her chest, frantic and furious, begging for release.
"Don't," she whispered. "Not here."
But Malachi heard the shift in her breathing. "Ah. There she is."
He moved fast.
Aria barely had time to react before a wave of shadows surged toward her like a tidal wave. Instinct took over. She dropped to the ground, rolled, and sprinted deeper into the skeletal forest.
Malachi didn't chase.
He didn't need to.
His voice echoed through the realm, everywhere and nowhere.
"Run, Moonblood. Run until you remember your place."
A branch cracked to her right.
Another to her left.
The beast was following.
Aria's legs burned as she ran through the dead trees. The realm bent strangely, distances stretched, then snapped short. She tripped, caught herself, kept going.
She spotted movement ahead, light flickering through the dark.
Not fire.
Gold.
Her gold.
The ancestor's presence slid into her vision like smoke turning solid, forming the outline of his face.
No. No, no, no…
"Do not fear him," the ancient wolf-prince said. His voice made the forest vibrate. "Fear what you will become if you bend."
Aria skidded to a stop. "What do you want from me?"
"To choose," he said simply. "Awaken, or be consumed."
"By Malachi?"
"No." His glowing eyes flared. "By yourself."
The ground shook violently. Aria staggered. The shadow-beast thundered closer, its massive form tearing trees out of the ground like weeds.
Aria's panic clawed up her throat. "I'm not strong enough to fight this!"
"You are," the prince said. "But you won't be… until you stop running."
Aria's chest tightened. Her legs shook.
"I… I can't"
"You can." The prince stepped closer, his form flickering like an unstable flame. "Your bloodline exists to devour darkness. Do not flee from it."
The beast burst into view, a terrifying wall of smoke and bone.
Aria screamed.
The prince shoved her.
Not away.
Into it.
The world folded in on itself.
Her body felt like it was being ripped apart molecule by molecule, her wolf howling inside her skull.
She slammed into something cold and hard, and the world snapped back.
Light blinded her.
The roar of water filled her ears.
She was back.
Back in the real stream.
Her head broke the surface with a choking gasp, water spilling out of her lungs. She clawed her way to the bank, dragging her trembling body out of the glowing water.
Her hands sank into the dirt.
Warm, real dirt.
A groan came from her left.
Caelum.
He sprinted to her so fast she barely saw the movement. He dropped to his knees and yanked her into his arms, his breath hitting her hair in short, ragged bursts.
"Aria, Aria, gods… I thought we lost you."
She clung to him, still shaking violently. "He… he had me. Malachi had me"
"I know," Caelum whispered, voice thick with something dangerously close to breaking. "I felt it. The stream killed every link to you for a moment. I thought" He swallowed hard, pulling her tighter. "I thought you were gone."
Rowan leaned heavily on his staff, relief briefly softening his stern features before they hardened again. "She's not safe yet."
Serin stepped over, eyes wide but steady. "What did you see?"
Aria opened her mouth.
But before she could answer, a scream tore through the forest.
Not human.
Not a wolf.
Something else.
Something ancient.
Rowan's head snapped toward the sound, face draining of color.
"That," he whispered, "is impossible."
Another scream followed.
Closer.
Too close.
Caelum placed Aria behind him. "What is it?"
Rowan gripped his staff as the shadows thickened between the trees alive, swirling, crawling.
"A creature that has not walked this realm in a thousand years," he said. "And it came out of the stream."
Aria's pulse froze.
Because she recognized the shape emerging from the dark.
The same shape that had hunted her in Malachi's realm.
The shadow-beast.
Except now…
It was real.
And it was looking at her.