I knelt in the crimson void, tears streaming down my face, my wolf standing over me with ancient sadness in her silver eyes.
"I am what you denied."
The words echoed through the red space, bouncing back from surfaces that didn't exist. Each repetition drove the truth deeper into my chest.
I had denied her. For years. Every instinct, every warning, every truth she'd tried to give me. I'd buried it all because facing it meant admitting I was different. Meant accepting that the people I loved would never love me back the way I needed.
Meant being alone.
"What happens now?" My voice came out broken. "We're separated. You're here and I'm here and my body is dying on the marble floor. What happens to us?"
My wolf circled me slowly, her massive form moving with predatory grace. "The crimson water didn't pull you under to drown you, Haven. It pulled you under to show you what you refused to see."
"What do you mean?"
