I jerked upright, lungs burning as I dragged air back into them. The forest around me swayed in a blur of darkness and moonlight, and for a moment I didn't know who I was, where I was, or why the ground beneath me felt warm and sticky.
Then the scent hit me.
Blood.
Not mine.
Not the wolf's.
Someone else's.
And that was when panic sharp and cold punched straight into my spine.
I stumbled forward, hands clawing at tree trunks for balance. The world was spinning too fast, all scent and sound pressed together like a crushed memory. Branches slapped against my skin, leaving fresh stings over the glowing silver scar on my forearm. It pulsed again, once, twice like a heartbeat.
Like it was alive.
Like it was remembering something the rest of me couldn't.
"What… what did I do?" My voice cracked, barely human.
The scream had come from somewhere ahead, swallowed too quickly by the woods. I pushed toward the sound, the cold air burning in my lungs as if punishing me for not moving fast enough. The ground was uneven, littered with broken twigs and patches of torn earth.
Signs of a chase.
My chase.
But I didn't remember any of it.
The wolf was always violent, yes driven by hunger, instinct, fear. But it had never left me this hollow before. Usually I woke up with pieces of the night still clinging to me like cobwebs: blurry flashes, half-images, the vaguest outlines of what I'd done.
Not tonight.
Tonight, there was nothing.
A bite of wind swept through the trees, carrying the faintest trace of something pine smoke, rain, and a human heartbeat quickening with fear.
Then a softer voice broke through the haze.
"Kai?"
It wasn't the scream… but it was familiar in a way that made my chest ache.
I turned toward it just as a warm light flickered between the trees. The Keeper stepped into view, breathless, her lantern shaking in her grip. Her hair dark waves usually tied tight was falling loose over her shoulders. Mud streaked her boots, and her eyes… Gods, her eyes were full of too many things I couldn't name.
Fear for me.
Fear of what she might find.
And something else. Something that made my wolf go still.
"You're back early," she whispered, as if the woods themselves might be listening. "That… that's not supposed to happen."
I stared at her, swallowing hard. The world was suddenly too sharp, too bright, too full of details I shouldn't have been noticing her pulse fluttering at her throat, the tremor in her fingers, the warmth of her scent slipping through the cold air.
The wolf inside me recognized her long before I remembered her name.
"The scar…" she breathed, stepping closer. "Kai, it's brighter than before."
Her fingers hovered above my arm, hesitant, afraid of hurting me or of what might happen if she touched it. The mark pulsed again, sending another ripple of heat through my body. I bit back a groan as something scraped along the inside of my skull. A whisper. A memory. A warning.
The Echo.
The wolf consciousness that lived beneath my bones, waiting for every full moon to devour pieces of me. Memories, feelings, names anything it could sink its teeth into.
"What did you lose this time?" she asked softly.
Her voice trembled, but it wasn't judgment. It wasn't accusation. It was grief. She hated asking this question. I hated answering it.
But this time… the words stuck in my throat.
"...I don't know," I finally whispered.
The Keeper's face paled. The lantern light quivered, shadows dancing across her expression, fear, pain, recognition.
"That's not possible," she breathed, shaking her head. "You always remember something. Even if it's small. Even if it's broken. You always..."
"I don't," I cut in, my voice raw. "There's nothing left."
She stepped closer, eyes narrowing with a healer's precision. "The Echo is getting stronger."
The moment she said its name, something inside me growled. A low, hungry rumble that vibrated in my chest. Her eyes snapped to mine, and for a second she held her breath.
I forced it down, clenching my jaw hard enough to hurt.
She swallowed. "Kai… we need to get you home. Before..."
A crack echoed through the trees.
We froze.
Another crack. A heavy footstep. Too heavy for a deer. Too controlled for a human. Too deliberate for any animal that belonged in these woods.
The Keeper turned, lantern raised. The light guttered weakly, as though the darkness was swallowing it whole.
"What is that?" she whispered.
I didn't answer. Couldn't.
Because the scent rolling toward us wasn't one I recognized. It was ancient. Metallic. Wrong. Like old moonlight and deep earth, like something that had been buried too long and dug itself back up.
A shadow peeled itself away from the treeline.
Massive.
Silent.
Watching.
Its eyes gleamed pale silver, exactly like my scar.
My breath stuttered.
The Keeper stepped in front of me, protective despite the tremor in her hands. "That's not a regular wolf," she murmured.
"Not a wolf at all," I whispered.
The creature moved forward. It wasn't hunched or feral; its movements were deliberate, almost regal. Each step was measured, like it was approaching something it owned.
And then it inhaled.
Deep.
Slow.
Tasting the air.
Tasting me.
Its gaze locked on the glowing scar on my arm, and something like recognition flickered in its eyes.
"Kai…" The Keeper's hand slid toward mine, fingers cold. "We have to run."
I didn't move.
Couldn't.
My body was frozen, rooted to the earth by some instinct older than fear. The creature felt familiar in a way that made my skin crawl. Like we were connected. Like it knew me.
Then it spoke.
Not in words shaped by a human mouth but in a voice that carried straight into my mind, scraping along every raw nerve.
"You forgot… her name."
The world dropped out from under me.
The Keeper's breath hitched sharply. "Kai, what is it talking about? Whose name?"
My heart hammered violently, but my mind was empty.
A blank space.
A missing person-shaped hole.
The creature took another step forward, massive paws silent on the earth.
Then it tilted its head, almost tenderly.
"I can give it back."
The Keeper grabbed my wrist, panic clawing at her voice. "Kai, run. Now."
But I didn't move.
Because the empty space in my mind was suddenly throbbing burning tearing open like a wound.
And I realized with a sickening lurch..
The thing I'd lost tonight…
Wasn't a memory.
Wasn't a moment.
It was someone.
Someone important.
Someone I should have remembered the second I woke up.
Someone the creature now claimed to know.
And as it stepped closer, breath cold as winter, it whispered again...
"Come, Kai. I'll show you what you are."