*****MIA'S POV*****
It started with a chill.
A deep, cold ache that settled in my bones before I could even understand where I was. My head throbbed. My arms… they burned. I tried to move them, but they were chained. Silver. I knew it somehow, felt it sear my skin, poison in the metal.
I couldn't scream. My throat was dry, thick with whatever drug they'd given me. My vision blurred, but I could hear him. That voice.
Zevian.
I didn't know his face, but I knew his name. He spoke in a language that twisted my stomach—ancient, cruel. He stood over me like I was an offering. Like I was less than human.
Something inside me snapped.
I wanted to fight. But my limbs wouldn't move.
Then... I felt it.
A surge in my chest. Not mine.
His.
Andreis.
Like lightning through my veins, I felt him—panic, rage, desperation. It was so loud inside me I almost sobbed with relief. He was coming.
They were coming.
The next few seconds were a blur. A deafening crash—stone cracking, shouting, bodies hitting the floor. The tang of blood. Everything went wild. I blinked and saw claws, fur, fangs, silver flashing in the torchlight.
And then... him.
He stood over me. Not human. Not fully.
Andreis.
Golden eyes, blood-streaked and shaking with fury. I couldn't breathe.
I saw him change. Mid-fight, his features shifted—part man, part monster, all mine.
My heart clenched.
He called my name.
"Mia!"
His voice pulled me back. The chains dug into my wrists, but I felt something stir inside me. My skin burned—not with pain, but with power.
Something ancient. Something mine.
The fear cracked, and the light exploded.
A golden force burst from inside me, flinging the chains away, shaking the altar beneath me. I couldn't feel the weight anymore. I couldn't feel the pain.
I stood.
Alive.
Changed.
Zevian was on the ground, stunned. I picked up the ceremonial dagger he'd meant to use on me. It felt light in my hand.
"If you want my blood…" I whispered, voice trembling, "come and take it."
He didn't move.
Because he knew.
He lost.
The strength drained from me in a breath. My knees gave out, and Andreis was there—arms already around me before I fell. I buried myself in him, still shaking, still trying to understand what had just happened.
Marco was nearby, chest heaving, sword red with blood, his eyes locked on mine.
This wasn't just a rescue.
It was a reckoning.
I was no longer the girl on the farm.
I was something else.
Something more.
And now, I could never go back.