“Heiko—stop!” she shouted, desperate now.
But he wasn’t hearing her. His body was trembling with internal strain, like his wolf was trying to claw its way out through his skin.
River’s mind raced. Something had triggered this. This wasn’t just nerves. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
“Did someone hurt you?” she asked, inching closer. “Or said something wrong?”
But he did not replied; It was getting worse.
Heiko’s aura was now a living, lashing storm. It rolled off him in violent waves, suffocating, choking, the air around them like a storm cloud ready to split open the sky. The very walls of the chamber seemed to groan beneath the weight of it.
River’s lungs burned, her heartbeat hammering wildly in her chest as she stumbled back a step, overwhelmed by the sheer power radiating f
