It felt like being paused, held in something dense and quiet that didn’t shift or rush, but stretched out around me without end. I couldn’t see, couldn’t move, and couldn’t breathe in any normal way, but I wasn’t afraid.
The pressure that had been threading through my skull moments before had vanished. The Dominion’s signal was silent. The pain I’d swallowed to keep moving had eased out of my limbs. The weight of every mind I’d held was gone.
My arms no longer trembled. My chest didn’t burn. Nothing squeezed inward. Nothing pushed forward. For the first time in what felt like forever, I wasn’t carrying anyone but myself.
Sound reached me next, distant at first, but growing clearer.
It started as a low hum and unraveled into long, steady howls. Wolf voices, more than one pack, dozens at
