Chapter Seventy-Four: Bloodline

My knees hit the dirt.

My hands lay bare against the soil.

Still, I'm unable to move as the blazing glory I had just witnessed vanished into the undisturbed blades of grass. There were no more screams, no more gut-wrenching sounds of blistering flesh. Just cicadas and a thundering pulse in my chest, pushing at the bounds of my mind.

I was scared to move despite knowing exactly where I was.

The smell in the air was undoubtedly the Aconite Pack territory.

I was back.

All the air seized from my lungs.

My fingers trembled as I clutched at the grass, trying to catch my breath. The harbinger mark was still searing into my flesh. It felt like a hot brand of iron tearing through my skin, but it was nothing compared to the ache in my chest.

I was back.

But my mom. . .

I caught Mrs. Pearl's scent on the wind, along with Angelica's. But I didn't budge an inch, not even when I heard someone kneel beside me.

I felt frozen. Like my leg had snapped right along with hers, even though it was