Beauty in the grave

est. Shadows stretched long across the empty streets, draping the sleeping houses in soft da

ng was

inished another long shift at the hospital, her scrubs hidden beneath her oversized jacket, but the weariness in her bone

s tense, eyes forward. Her patients called her kind, her coworkers called her reliable. But to

ked impossibly close - as if she could reach out and trace its craters with her

e'd never met, and teeth that flashed beneath silver light. Sometimes she woke before dawn with dirt under her fingernails or leaves tangled in her h

e dreams had g

y weren't dr

couldn't understand. The scents of moss, damp earth, and distan

ed her home. By the time she reached her apartment, her hands were shaking

ull would

ed. The moon's glow crept through

. Please, n

g the sink for balance. When she dared

remained familiar, but sharper, almost regal. Her fingers tre

and shifting beneath her skin. Muscles stretched and knotted, pulling her body into shapes she didn't r

e. But beneath it was

it wa

rm was tall and strong, her fur black streaked with silver, her golden eyes glowing with a fierce light.

throat, echoing through the walls l

leapt through the window

eted her like

es, casting strange, twisting shadows. Every sound was clear, every scent vivid.

roots, drawn forward by instinct rather than thought. This was

wasn't

ood like a skeleton. Charred wood. Scorched stone.

ther memories surfaced, ones she couldn't explain: a man standing beneath a full moon, whispering strange

ad k

ys known wh

it was t

trees - distant but clear. Not a

d. Another answe

of them. They

were not like her. Their forms were twisted, corrupted. Limbs bent at

forward and

then a voice cut through

Don't shift unl

ed calm authority. His voice belonged to Alexander - though they had never met b

pted wolv

clearing erupted into chaos - snarls, howls, s

g. She didn't want to watc

beasts broke fre

overtook her once more. Her bones cracked, her muscles stretch

awing. She tasted blood, heard its cries. She was

eep into its face - a sound that felt

impered and fle

ght wa

t dripped blood down his arm, but he stood steady. Around them, broken branc

epping toward her. His voice was calm

whispered, still panti

olf in you. It remembers

regrouped, tense and

ice dropped into a whis

was a

oze. "A

w. They know who you ar

her hands still tr

faintly. "The last time someone like yo

eath c

rough the night - hi

der st

it?" sh

im whispered, "The mountai

urned. "What's i

ave. "Something that was

for her h

come with m