Darkness wasn't empty. It was endless.
I stood in it, yet I wasn't alone. The wind moved around me—not gently, not softly, but violently, as if something inside it was trying to reach me. Then I saw it.
A war.
Not around me, but ahead… like a future waiting to unfold. Creatures clashed—wolves, shadows, and things I couldn't fully understand. The sky itself looked torn apart, and in the center of it all stood something I couldn't clearly see, yet powerful enough to make everything else feel small.
My chest tightened.
"This is coming," a voice whispered.
I turned, but no one was there.
"You can't stop it. You can only decide what you become in it."
The wind surged, and then the voices changed.
Familiar this time.
"She doesn't look like much…"
Amanda.
"…everything shifts because of her?"
Cyris.
"She's not just anyone."
I heard everything. Every word, every doubt, every warning. Even here, in the darkness, it reached me.
"I'm still here…" I whispered.
The wind responded instantly, wrapping around me, stronger, closer, almost alive.
Then everything shattered.
Light broke through the darkness—
And I woke.
My throat burned. Dry.
"…Water," I whispered weakly.
Movement followed immediately.
"Get water. Now," Cyris commanded sharply. "And call the doctor."
My vision blurred, but I felt him close—steady, familiar. Without thinking, I reached out, my fingers gripping his shirt and pulling him closer. I wasn't thinking. I wasn't aware.
I just needed relief.
So I leaned forward—and pressed my lips against his.
Soft. Brief. Unintentional.
For a second, everything was still.
Then—
Everything broke.
The moment her lips touched mine, Rynn surged forward violently.
Mine.
The force was instant, overwhelming. Power ripped through me, but this wasn't a normal shift. My body didn't fully turn. It didn't remain human either.
It merged.
My claws forced out, sharp and visible. My vision split—one eye burning gold, the other remaining blue. Fur traced along my form, yet I stood upright, neither man nor wolf, but something in between.
Something new.
The air trembled. Everyone in the room froze—the maids, the doctor who had just entered, even Amanda.
And then they bowed.
Not to me.
To what I had become.
Rynn's presence slammed into mine, no longer separate. One. Complete. Uncontrolled.
A growl tore from my throat, sharp and powerful, filling the entire room.
Before I could stop it, I moved.
Back to her.
My hand gripped her shoulder as instinct took over. Then I bit her.
Not to harm.
To claim.
The moment my teeth met her neck, everything stilled. The wind outside surged violently before collapsing into silence. A faint glow spread through her body, soft but powerful.
The bond formed.
Final. Irreversible.
Rynn's voice echoed within me, satisfied
Ours.
I pulled back slowly, my breathing heavy, my form still caught between wolf and man. This had never happened before. Not in battle. Not in war.
Only now.
Because of her.