I swing my legs off the bed and stand slowly. My knees wobble but hold.
The floor is cool wood under my bare feet. I pad over to the window and pull the curtain aside.
Trees.
Everywhere.
Dense woods stretching in every direction. Pine and birch and flowers I can’t name. No houses. No roads. No neighbors.
Just forest.
My breathing picks up.
Fragments surface. Memories from the heat coming back in pieces.
Malcolm's purr. His knot. The relief that came in waves.
Finn's hands. His mouth. The careful attention that made me feel seen even when I couldn't think.
Alex outside the door. His fingers through the gap. The circles he traced on my palm.
Voices I overheard. Snippets of conversation that didn't make sense at the time.
We need to move her.
She'll be safer there.
The car.
Oh god.
The car.
I remember waking up on Malcolm's knot in the backseat. The motion of driving. Trees passing outside the window.
They moved me.
They took me somewhere.
My pulse spikes.
Theytookme.
Without asking. Without consent. While I was in heat and couldn't think clearly enough to say no.
They took me away from home.
Away from Ragon's pack.
Away from everything I know.
I can't breathe properly.
The door opens.
Finn walks in, hair messy, glasses slightly crooked. He's carrying a glass of water. He closes the door behind him.
"Hey, you're awake—"
