He stayed where he was, caught between the two halves of himself, breath coming hard in the frozen air.
The moon broke through the clouds for an instant, spilling pale light over the clearing. It touched her hair, her face, the streaks of dirt and blood on her cheek.
Her lips parted as if to speak, but no sound came out.
Dominic’s chest tightened.
He took one slow step forward, snow crunching underfoot.
He whined, a low, questioning sound, lowering himself to the ground.
She looked up. Their eyes met.
For a moment, everything else, the stench, the blood, the cold, fell away.
And then the hybrid’s body twitched.
It was small, almost nothing, just a flicker of movement in the corpse’s ruined throat.
But after the noise, the blood, the chaos, it was enough to send every nerve in Dominic’s body snapping taut.
He was on it in a heartbeat. The snow sprayed as he moved, claws digging in, teeth bared in a silent snarl. But the hybrid didn’t rise again. Its body slumped to one side, the twitch proving nothing more than the final echo of dying muscle.
Still, he didn’t look away until the stench of rot thickened, until the silence became absolute.
Only then did he step back.
Steam rose from his body, blood mingling with melted snow. His breath came fast, misting in the cold.
All he could hear was her breathing.
She hadn’t moved. Still crouched near the tree, arms wrapped around herself, shoulders shaking. Her face was pale, her eyes glassy, her lips parted in shallow, uneven breaths.
The sight struck him harder than any blow.
He shifted before he realized he was doing it. Bones realigned, fur receded, skin returned, the change tearing through him like molten iron. The cold bit instantly at bare skin, but he ignored it. The world felt raw and bright in human senses, every smell sharper, every sound too close.
He crossed the distance slowly, his feet crunching over frost and blood. Theodore and Julian stayed where they were, silent shadows at the edge of the clearing.
When he reached her, he crouched down.
“Layla.”
Her head jerked up at the sound of his voice. For a heartbeat, she just stared, as if trying to reconcile the man before her with the beast that had torn through the night.
Then her body folded.
The sob broke out of her in one violent shudder, her arms lifting before she seemed to even decide to move. She pressed herself against him desperately, clinging to him as though she could anchor herself to his warmth.
Dominic froze.
For a moment, he didn’t trust himself to breathe. She was shaking so hard he could feel the tremors through his chest. He could smell the salt of her tears, the sharp tang of her fear. Her heartbeat thundered against his ribs.
He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her.
“It’s over,” he said quietly, though his voice was raw. “You’re safe.”
She shook her head against him, her breath breaking on words he couldn’t make out. He caught fragments, somethingabout the aurora, about her dreams, about proof, but they came out tangled in sobs.
