Mia’s POV

My body felt like lead, weighed down by something I couldn’t shake. Every time I tried to open my eyes, the world around me seemed to spin out of control, darkness tugging at me again and again. The sharp sting in my arm where Balthazar had injected something still pulsed, a cruel reminder of how powerless I was. I tried to move, to will my limbs to obey, but it was useless—my body refused to cooperate, paralyzed by whatever poison they had pumped into me.

But I wasn’t gone. Not completely.

Somewhere, deep within me, my wolf stirred. Her presence was faint, buried under layers of magic and...