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I whip my head around at the twig snapping feet away.

No one is there, but I’m not alone in this forest.

Someone is there.

Someone isalwaysthere.

I twist back around, running faster, and then, impossibly, I’m there.

I burst through the gap in the trees, and I skid to a stop. Spinning in a circle, I shake my head. “No. This can’t be right. No.”

I’m back at the farmhouse.

Right where I creeped out of minutes before.

A howl rings out in the night, and I twist toward the sound.

It came from the Raleigh house, and I know exactly what it means.

They’re here.

They’ve caught me.

A large brown wolf with glinting gold eyes steps free from the same gap in the trees I did moments before.

His mouth falls open, a low, rumbling growl pouring out, so visceral I feel the vibration.

I back up a step.

It’s too late to run.

I can’t fight him.

My powers don’t work.

I back up as the wolf’s hind legs tense, wishing I had fought harder to live, wishing I had kissed Mack one last time.

The wolf lunges at me, jaws open, and teeth glinting in the night.

I scream as I fall, trying to protect my throat.

Too late.

He bites down and?—

“Hey!”

My world shatters.

I’m lying in my bed and the scent of Shane’s blood drying on my cheek isn’t as strong as it was before.

I meant to go to the bathroom and wash my face.

I meant to do so many things. But all I could do was curl up on the bed and soak the pillow with tears Shane doesn’t deserve.

And I fell asleep.

Knock. Knock.

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