THE DARKSIDERS VOL 2 : Shezayah Rise Of The Wolf

The wolf hunter’s body hit the forest floor with a wet crack beneath the weight of Shezayah’s shove, leaves and mud scattering around him as the knife slipped from his hand and disappeared somewhere into the darkness. For a second, neither of them moved. The night itself seemed to hold its breath with her, cold air burning through her lungs while blood dripped steadily from the cut across her cheek. The man stared up at her in shock, mouth twitching like he still couldn’t believe a girl half his size had overpowered him, but Shezayah barely noticed anymore. Her heartbeat had become too loud. Too violent. Every pulse slammed through her chest hard enough to hurt, and somewhere deep inside her body, something unfamiliar began clawing its way awake.

“You…” the hunter rasped, struggling against the hand Shezayah had locked around his throat. His voice came out uneven now, edged with panic instead of arrogance. “You’re one of them.”

Her grip tightened instinctively before she could stop herself.

One of them.

The words should have confused her more than they did, but right now confusion was drowning beneath something far worse. Heat spread violently beneath her skin, sharp enough to feel like fire trapped inside her veins, and she stumbled back suddenly, releasing him as pain tore through her spine hard enough to force a grunt from between her clenched teeth. Her knees hit the dirt a second later. The forest spun around her in blurred streaks of black and silver while distant sounds slammed into her ears all at once, branches creaking miles away, wings flapping overhead, the hunter’s terrified heartbeat pounding so loudly it sounded almost inside her own chest.

The hunter dragged himself backward through the dirt so quickly his boots caught against exposed roots, panic swallowing every ounce of arrogance he had seconds earlier. His eyes stayed locked on her hands, on the unnatural way her fingers trembled against the forest floor, and whatever he saw there seemed to hollow the color straight from his face. “You’re cursed,” he said again, though this time the words sounded less like an accusation and more like fear finally catching up to him. “Gods… you’re one of them.”

Shezayah tried to tell him to shut up, but the sound that forced its way out of her throat wasn’t human anymore. It came low and rough, vibrating painfully through her chest like something else had forced its way into her voice, and the noise alone was enough to make the hunter recoil. Another wave of pain ripped through her body before she could catch her breath, violent enough to force her forward onto one hand while the other clawed helplessly at the ground beneath her. She felt it then, bones shifting beneath her skin with unbearable pressure as sharp black claws slowly pushed through where her nails had been only moments ago.

For the first time in her life, Shezayah felt fear settle heavily in her chest.

And then the voice came.

Not from the trees.

Not from behind her.

From inside her own head.

The sound of it made her stomach tighten instantly, rough and unfamiliar in a way that felt wrong against her own thoughts.

Hunter, the voice growled slowly.

Silence followed for half a second before it spoke again.

Kill him.

“No,” Shezayah whispered instantly, though she could barely hear herself over the violent pounding in her chest.

The hunter must have heard enough.

He scrambled to his feet and ran.

Branches snapped loudly as he tore through the forest without direction, blinded by panic, but Shezayah barely noticed the movement itself. What she noticed was everything else. The exact rhythm of his heartbeat crashing unevenly inside his chest. The smell of sweat and blood soaking into the night air. The sound of his boots striking damp earth somewhere ahead of her even after the darkness swallowed him whole.

Her stomach twisted violently.

Every instinct inside her screamed to chase him.

Shezayah forced herself backward instead, dragging shaking fingers through her hair while another sharp crack tore through her arm. Pain shot from her shoulder straight down to her wrist hard enough to blur her vision, and for a second she genuinely thought her bones were breaking apart beneath her skin. Her breathing turned ragged as she stared at the claws protruding from her hands, at the dark veins beginning to spread beneath her forearm, and panic finally started clawing its way through the walls she normally kept around herself.

“What the fuck is happening to me?” she breathed.

The voice answered immediately this time.

He runs because he knows what you are.

Shezayah’s entire body went still.

The forest suddenly felt too small.

Every sound pressed into her at once, overwhelming and sharp enough to hurt. Leaves shifting somewhere high above her. Tiny claws skittering across bark. Water moving faintly in the distance. She could hear all of it now, every noise crashing into her skull until it became impossible to separate one thing from another. Shezayah shoved her palms against the sides of her head with a curse, squeezing her eyes shut while her breathing turned uneven.

“Get out of my head,” she snapped.

A low rumble echoed through her mind in response, almost amused.

You hear me because you belong to me.

“No,” she shot back immediately, shaking her head hard enough to send loose curls sticking against her damp skin. “I’m not losing my damn mind tonight.”

But even as the words left her mouth, another violent pull twisted through her body. Her spine arched painfully as something beneath her skin shifted again, muscles tightening in ways they never should have, and Shezayah barely caught herself against a tree before collapsing completely. Her claws dug straight through the bark on instinct, splintering wood beneath her grip while panic finally started breaking through the anger she’d been holding together.

Then she smelled it again.

Blood.

Fresh.

Close.

And before Shezayah could stop herself, her head slowly lifted toward the direction the hunter had fled.

The hunter was still running.

She could hear it now with terrifying clarity, the uneven rhythm of his breathing crashing through the forest ahead of her while branches snapped beneath his boots one after another. He was exhausted already. Slower than before. Injured. Shezayah knew it without needing to see him, and somehow that realization made something dark twist pleasantly in the pit of her stomach.

Her jaw tightened instantly.

“No,” she muttered again, though this time the word sounded weaker.

Weakness, the voice growled.

Shezayah pushed herself away from the tree hard enough for bark to tear beneath her claws, stumbling backward as she fought to steady her breathing. Every part of her body felt wrong now, too tight and too powerful at the same time, like something far larger was trying to force itself beneath her skin. Her heartbeat had slowed into something heavier, calmer, but somehow more dangerous, and the longer she stood there breathing in the scent of blood drifting through the night air, the harder it became to remember why chasing him was a bad idea.

The voice stayed quiet for a moment before speaking again.

He hunted our kind.

Our.

The word hit harder than the pain.

Shezayah’s eyes narrowed slowly as anger flickered through the panic twisting inside her chest. “I’m not one of you,” she said through clenched teeth.

This time the voice almost sounded amused.

Then why are you still following his scent?

Shezayah’s breathing slowed despite herself, uneven air dragging painfully through her lungs while the forest pressed in around her from every direction. The voice no longer sounded distant or imagined. It sounded present, steady inside her head in a way that made her skin crawl because some part of her already knew this wasn’t panic or shock twisting her thoughts. Something was there with her. Something alive.

Her fingers curled tightly at her sides as she forced herself upright against the tree behind her. “What are you?” she asked finally, the question leaving her rougher than she intended. “What the hell is happening to me?”

For the first time since the voice appeared, silence settled between them. Not empty silence either. Waiting silence. The kind that felt heavy enough to suffocate the air around her while pain continued pulsing beneath her skin in slow violent waves.

When the voice finally answered, it did so without hesitation.

I am Artemis.

The name settled into her chest strangely, almost like hearing something she should have recognized already.

I am your wolf.

The words hit harder than the transformation itself.

Shezayah stared into the darkness ahead of her while another sharp pulse rolled through her body, but this time it wasn’t only pain crashing against her ribs. Emotion followed with it. Rage. Hunger. Territorial instinct so strong it nearly turned her stomach. None of it felt fully hers, yet all of it existed inside her like it always had.

“My wolf?” she repeated quietly, struggling to keep her voice steady while her claws flexed involuntarily at her sides.

A low rumble echoed through her mind, calmer now, but no less dangerous.

You spent your life calling it anger because that was easier for you to understand, Artemis said, her voice settling heavily against Shezayah’s thoughts. But every instinct you buried, every fight you started, every moment you felt something inside you begging to lash out… that was me trying to survive inside you.

“That’s impossible,” Shezayah said immediately, but the confidence she wanted behind the words never fully came. Her voice sounded thinner now, strained beneath the weight pressing down on her chest while another violent ache twisted through her spine. She shoved herself away from the tree again, pacing unevenly across the forest floor as if movement alone could help her think straight, but every step only made the feeling inside her stronger.

Because the terrifying part wasn’t the claws.

It wasn’t the voice.

It was the fact that some part of her understood exactly what Artemis meant.

Every fight she had ever gotten into suddenly replayed differently in her head. Every moment her temper had snapped too fast. Every instinct that told her to hit first before anyone else could hurt her. Every time she felt something ugly and restless pacing beneath her skin whenever people got too close or looked at her too long.

None of it felt random anymore.

“You’re not real,” she muttered, though the words sounded more like something she was trying to convince herself of now.

Artemis almost sounded insulted by that.

If I were not real, your body would not be shifting beneath my hands.

Before Shezayah could process what that meant, pain exploded through her leg hard enough to buckle her knees instantly. A sharp cry finally tore from her throat as she crashed into the dirt, fingers digging violently into the ground while the bones in her lower body twisted with sickening pressure beneath her skin. Her breathing turned ragged again as panic clawed straight through the control she’d been desperately trying to hold onto.

“Stop,” she snapped through clenched teeth. “Stop doing that.”

I am not doing anything, Artemis replied, calm in a way that only made the fear worse. Your body is accepting me.

Shezayah’s entire body tensed against the ground while another sickening crack rolled through her leg, the sound loud enough to make bile rise in the back of her throat. Sweat dampened the side of her face as she fought to pull air back into her lungs, but breathing itself was becoming harder now, every inhale catching strangely in her chest like her body no longer knew how to move correctly.

“This isn’t acceptance,” she hissed, forcing the words out between uneven breaths while her claws carved deep grooves into the dirt beneath her hands. “It feels like I’m being torn apart.”

A low sound vibrated through her mind then, not quite a growl this time and not quite sympathy either.

Because you are resisting me.

Anger snapped through her instantly, stronger than the fear for half a second. “You think I’m just supposed to let this happen?” she shot back. “You show up in my head after I kill somebody and suddenly I’m supposed to trust you?”

The forest fell quiet again except for the pounding of her heartbeat and the distant sound of the hunter still crashing blindly through the woods somewhere ahead. Artemis noticed it immediately. Shezayah felt the shift in her before the wolf even spoke, felt that sharp predatory focus tighten like a leash being pulled inside her chest.

He still runs.

The words landed differently now. Closer. Hungrier.

Shezayah squeezed her eyes shut hard enough for pain to flare behind them. “I don’t care.”

Lie again.

Another pulse hit her instantly after that, but this time it wasn’t pain forcing its way through her body.

It was instinct.

Hot and violent and impossible to ignore.

Her nose filled with the scent of blood again so strongly she could almost taste it, and before she realized what she was doing, her head tilted slightly toward the direction of the fleeing hunter while something dangerously close to anticipation curled low in her stomach.

Artemis felt it too.

There you are, the wolf murmured.

The words settled beneath her skin like a hand wrapping slowly around her throat.

Shezayah’s eyes opened again, glowing faintly green against the darkness now while the forest sharpened around her in terrifying detail. She could hear the hunter stumbling farther ahead, his breathing ragged and panicked as branches whipped against him while he ran. He was slowing down. Bleeding more heavily. Exhausted.

And somehow her body knew it before her mind could even process it.

Her fingers twitched violently against the dirt as another growl built low in her chest, deeper this time, fuller, the sound vibrating hard enough for her ribs to ache around it. Panic should have been stronger than this hunger spreading through her body, but the fear was slipping now beneath something far more dangerous. Something instinctive.

“No,” she whispered again, though the protest lacked conviction now.

Artemis remained quiet for a moment before speaking in that same calm voice that somehow made everything worse.

He would have killed you.

Shezayah’s jaw tightened instantly because that part was true. The hunter had not come into those woods by accident. Silver traps lined the trees deeper in the forest, and she had seen the symbols burned into the blade he carried before she snapped his wrist trying to take it from him. He knew exactly what he was hunting.

And somehow…

So had she.

The realization hit hard enough to make her stomach twist.

“You knew what he was before he attacked,” Artemis said quietly. “That is why you followed him into the forest.”

Shezayah swallowed hard as memories replayed themselves differently now. The unease she felt the second she spotted him near the tree line. The immediate anger curling beneath her skin before he ever spoke a word. The instinct that told her he was dangerous long before she understood why.

Not anger.

Recognition.

A branch snapped somewhere ahead.

The hunter had fallen.

And before Shezayah could stop herself, her body moved.

Shezayah barely registered pushing herself upright before her legs took off through the forest, boots slamming violently against the ground while cold air tore through her lungs. The speed hit her first. Trees blurred past so quickly they stopped looking solid altogether, shadows and branches melting together around her while instincts she didn’t understand guided every movement without hesitation. She should not have been moving this fast. No human could.

But Artemis said nothing now.

The wolf didn’t need to.

Because Shezayah could feel her.

Every pulse of excitement. Every sharpened instinct. Every flicker of anticipation curling through her body as the scent of blood grew stronger with every step.

Ahead of her, the hunter struggled desperately through the trees before crashing hard against the forest floor again. She heard the impact clearly, heard the strained groan that followed, and by the time he looked up, Shezayah was already standing several feet away from him in the darkness.

The fear that crossed his face made her stomach twist.

Not with guilt.

With satisfaction.

Her breathing turned uneven again as the realization hit her almost immediately afterward. She should have hated this feeling. Instead, something inside her leaned toward it hungrily, drinking in the panic radiating off him while the glowing green in her eyes brightened faintly against the night.

“Please,” the hunter rasped, scrambling backward weakly through the dirt while blood soaked through the torn side of his jacket. “Please don’t—”

A growl cut him off before he could finish.

This time Shezayah couldn’t tell if the sound came from her or Artemis anymore.

The hunter’s eyes widened as Shezayah stepped closer, her movements slower now, almost cautious despite the violent pulse roaring beneath her skin. Moonlight filtered weakly through the trees overhead, catching against the dark claws extending from her fingertips and the faint green glow burning inside her eyes. She saw the exact moment he realized she was no longer entirely human.

“You’re a monster,” he breathed.

The words should have hurt.

Instead, anger rolled through her so fast it almost made her dizzy.

Before she could stop herself, Shezayah grabbed him by the front of his jacket and slammed him hard against the base of a tree. The impact knocked the air from his lungs instantly while her claws pierced through the fabric just enough for blood to surface beneath it. Her breathing came rough and uneven now, every instinct inside her screaming at her to finish this, to tear into him before he could become a threat again.

But beneath the rage, another feeling fought violently to stay alive.

Control.

“I’m not a monster,” she snapped, though the growl bleeding into her voice weakened the argument immediately.

The hunter stared at her in horror. “You killed three of my men,” he rasped.

Images flashed through Shezayah’s mind so suddenly it nearly made her stagger. Silver traps hidden beneath leaves. Dead wolves hanging skinned from trees deeper in the woods. Blood soaking into the ground while men laughed nearby.

Her stomach twisted hard enough to hurt.

Artemis rose instantly inside her chest, furious now.

He lies to himself so he can sleep at night.

Shezayah’s grip tightened without thinking.

The hunter choked sharply before forcing out another terrified breath. “People like you shouldn’t exist.”

Something in her snapped.

Not fully.

Not enough to lose herself completely.

But enough for the wolf to surge forward.

Pain rolled violently through Shezayah’s body as another sharp crack tore beneath her skin, but this time she didn’t fight to push it away. Her breathing stayed strangely steady while she looked down at the claws extending farther from her fingertips, moonlight catching against the dark curved edges as if they had always belonged there. The hunter’s fear filled the forest around her so heavily now that she could practically taste it, and instead of panicking, she found herself focusing on it with dangerous curiosity.

Interesting.

The realization alone should have disturbed her more than it did.

The hunter stared at her like she had crawled out of a nightmare, struggling backward through the dirt while blood poured from the cuts across his chest. “Monster,” he breathed again, though the word shook badly this time.

Shezayah tilted her head slightly as she watched him. Calm. Observing. The fear in his eyes felt deserved now, and that truth settled into her chest far easier than it should have.

A low rumble slid through her mind.

Now you understand.

Another pulse moved through her body, stronger this time, and instead of resisting it, Shezayah let herself feel it fully. The sharpened instincts. The strength coiling beneath her muscles. The violent awareness pressing against every sense she had. Nothing about it felt unnatural anymore. If anything, it felt familiar in a way she couldn’t explain.

“This should scare me,” she said quietly, more to herself than the wolf.

Artemis sounded almost amused by that realization.

But it does not.

Shezayah slowly lifted her eyes back toward the hunter while the faint green glow behind them brightened against the darkness.

“No,” she admitted calmly.

And that honesty changed something between them instantly.

The hunter must have seen it too.

That calm acceptance.

Because whatever hope he had left disappeared from his face almost instantly.

He pushed himself backward again, shaking his head so hard it looked painful while his eyes stayed locked on the glowing green staring back at him through the darkness. “Stay away from me,” he rasped, his voice breaking under the panic now. “You’re sick.”

A quiet laugh almost left Shezayah at that.

Not because it was funny.

Because the fear pouring off him felt so overwhelming now that it wrapped around her senses like heat. She could hear every uneven beat of his heart stumbling against his ribs, could smell the adrenaline burning through his bloodstream, and somewhere deep inside her chest, something sharp and possessive leaned toward it hungrily.

Artemis did not speak.

She did not need to.

For the first time since the voice appeared, Shezayah understood her without words.

The hunter finally managed to force himself back onto his feet before turning to run again, but this time Shezayah moved before she consciously decided to. One second he was stumbling into the trees, and the next she was in front of him, fast enough that his body nearly slammed directly into hers.

His breath caught violently.

So did hers.

Not from fear.

From the realization of what she had just done.

The forest had barely shifted around her at all.

She had crossed the distance impossibly fast.

A slow grin tugged at the corner of Shezayah’s mouth before she could stop it. “Huh,” she murmured softly, glancing down at her claws with open curiosity now instead of panic. “That’s new.”

The hunter looked ready to collapse where he stood.

And somehow that only made the grin deepen slightly.

The hunter must have seen the shift in her expression because panic swallowed whatever fight he had left almost instantly. He stumbled backward again, breathing hard while his eyes darted between her claws, her glowing eyes, and the unnatural calm settling across her face.

Inside her head, Artemis let out a low satisfied rumble.

Aren’t we awesome?

A grin spread slowly across Shezayah’s face, sharp and reckless beneath the moonlight. “Most certainly.”

The words came easier than they should have.

Natural.

Like answering Artemis felt no different than answering herself.

The hunter turned to run again, but Shezayah barely paid attention to him now. Her focus had shifted inward completely, toward the power flooding through her body with every passing second. She could feel Artemis moving beneath her skin like something finally waking up after years of being trapped asleep. The strength. The speed. The sharpened senses. Every part of it felt intoxicating in a way Shezayah wasn’t interested in denying anymore.

Then give in to me, Artemis murmured.

The words wrapped themselves around her thoughts smoothly, without force, without pressure.

An invitation.

And somehow that made it even easier.

Shezayah exhaled slowly before rolling her shoulders back, the movement followed immediately by another violent crack spreading through her spine. Pain shot through her body, but this time she welcomed it. Her claws lengthened further as dark fur slowly began spreading across her arms, muscles twisting beneath her skin while the forest around her sharpened into terrifying clarity.

The hunter’s scent hit her again.

Fear. Blood. Prey.

A deep growl rolled from her chest as Shezayah finally lifted her head toward the sky, glowing green eyes burning against the darkness while Artemis surged forward completely.

And this time…

Shezayah did not stop her.

The hunter barely made it three steps before the sound of claws tearing through dirt echoed behind him.

Then silence.

A strangled breath caught in his throat as he turned slowly, and whatever he saw standing there drained the remaining color from his face.

Shezayah no longer looked entirely human.

Dark fur crept along her arms and shoulders beneath torn fabric while her glowing green eyes burned unnaturally bright against the darkness. Her claws had lengthened into something far deadlier now, sharp enough to catch silver streaks of moonlight along their edges, and the low growl vibrating from her chest no longer sounded like it belonged to a person at all.

It sounded territorial.

Hungry.

Alive.

The hunter stumbled backward again, but Artemis moved faster than fear could carry him.

One second Shezayah stood several feet away.

The next, her claws slammed through his chest hard enough to pin him against the nearest tree.

Blood sprayed across her arm in violent warmth.

The hunter choked sharply, eyes widening in shock while his body twitched helplessly against her grip. For half a second, the forest went completely still around them except for the wet sound of blood dripping steadily onto the ground below.

Then Shezayah stepped closer.

Very slowly.

The green glow in her eyes reflected against the hunter’s terrified face while his pulse hammered wildly beneath her claws, weaker now with every passing second.

“You hunted wolves,” she said calmly, her voice layered strangely with Artemis’s beneath it. “Looks like one finally hunted you back.”

The hunter opened his mouth like he wanted to beg.

Artemis didn’t let him.

With one violent pull, Shezayah ripped her claws free from his chest, and the hunter collapsed lifelessly into the dirt at her feet.

Silence swallowed the forest immediately afterward.

For a moment, Shezayah simply stood there breathing hard while blood dripped slowly from her claws. Then her eyes lowered toward the body sprawled beneath her boots, and instead of guilt twisting through her chest…

Satisfaction settled there instead.

Deep inside her mind, Artemis purred approvingly.

Good girl.

The words settled warmly in Shezayah’s chest in a way that should have disturbed her far more than they actually did. She stood there beneath the trees breathing slowly while blood dripped steadily from her claws onto the forest floor below, the hunter’s body lying motionless at her feet as cold night air moved through the branches overhead. The scent of blood hung thick around her now, sharp enough that she could taste it every time she inhaled, but instead of sickness turning her stomach, she only felt that same dangerous satisfaction still curling deeper and deeper through her chest.

Artemis stretched comfortably through her mind like a creature finally released from a cage after years of confinement, calm and pleased beneath the surface of Shezayah’s thoughts.

See how easy that was?

A quiet grin tugged slowly at Shezayah’s mouth while she lowered her eyes toward the dark blood coating her claws. “You make murder sound very therapeutic,” she muttered, rotating her wrist slightly as moonlight reflected against the sharpened edges extending from her fingers.

A rough amused sound echoed through her head at that, low and satisfied in a way that almost made Shezayah laugh with her.

You say murder, Artemis replied smoothly. I say survival. Hunters do not stop hunting simply because prey asks politely.

Another sharp crack rolled through Shezayah’s body suddenly, but unlike before, the pain no longer felt invasive or frightening. Her muscles shifted naturally beneath her skin while dark fur slowly receded from her arms and shoulders inch by inch, the transformation easing itself backward without resistance now that she had stopped fighting it. Even as the claws shortened gradually and her breathing steadied again, she could still feel Artemis completely. Present. Awake. Watching the world through her eyes alongside her.

That realization should have unsettled her.

Instead, Shezayah tilted her head slightly, almost curious about the feeling settling between them now. “You’re staying?” she asked finally while stepping away from the hunter’s body.

Artemis sounded genuinely offended by the question.

Obviously. You are mine now, and I am yours. That does not disappear simply because your claws retract.

The possessiveness in the words should have made her recoil, but Shezayah only glanced down at her hands thoughtfully before looking back toward the darkness stretching deeper into the forest ahead of her. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear wolves howling faintly through the night air now, the sound carrying across the woods in a way that made something inside her chest tighten instinctively.

For the first time in her life, the sound felt familiar.

A slow smirk spread across Shezayah’s face.

“Good,” she said calmly before turning toward the deeper parts of the forest, blood still drying across her hands while Artemis’s satisfaction settled warmly beside her thoughts like she had always belonged there.

Shezayah had only taken a few steps before another scent drifted through the forest air, sharp enough to pull her attention instantly away from the hunter’s body behind her. It wasn’t blood this time. It carried something colder beneath it, something unnatural that pressed strangely against her senses now that they had sharpened. Magic.

Every muscle in her body tightened instinctively while Artemis stirred immediately inside her mind, no longer calm and relaxed the way she had been moments earlier.

We are not alone, Artemis warned.

The forest itself seemed to shift around the realization. The wind moved differently through the trees now, carrying the faint sound of footsteps approaching from somewhere ahead while the woods around her fell unnaturally quiet. Shezayah stood still beneath the moonlight, claws flexing slowly at her sides while her glowing eyes scanned the darkness between the trees.

The footsteps were controlled.

Careful.

Nothing like the panicked crashing of the hunter earlier.

Whoever approached knew exactly what they were doing.

Artemis’s presence pressed tighter against her thoughts.

Dangerous people.

A small smirk tugged at the corner of Shezayah’s mouth despite the tension settling through her body. “Good,” she murmured quietly. “I was getting bored.”

The footsteps stopped.

Silence stretched through the forest for half a second before a faint violet glow flickered between the trees ahead, illuminating the outline of a girl standing several feet away with silver-purple eyes locked directly onto her.

Azaliyah.

Recognition hit instantly, though Shezayah had no idea why.

Beside her stood a tall figure dressed in black whose attention moved slowly from the dead hunter on the ground to the blood drying across Shezayah’s claws. Unlike Azaliyah, who looked tense and visibly caught between caution and curiosity, the dark-haired man remained almost unnaturally calm.

Camron.

And the look in his eyes irritated Shezayah immediately because it didn’t resemble fear.

It resembled understanding.

The silence between them stretched tightly beneath the trees while violet light flickered softly around the girl standing ahead of her. Shezayah’s glowing eyes moved over her carefully, taking in the confidence in her posture, the magic practically woven into the air around her, and the fact that neither of them seemed particularly disturbed by the corpse bleeding into the forest floor nearby.

Interesting.

The girl finally stepped forward first.

“My name is Azaliyah Starrfall,” she said calmly, though caution still lingered beneath her voice while her silver-violet eyes stayed fixed on Shezayah. “Daughter of Michelle and Dominic Starrfall. Ruler of the Fae Realm.”

For half a second, silence sat between them.

Then Shezayah laughed.

Not loudly.

Not nervously.

The sound came sharp and amused while she slowly dragged her eyes over Azaliyah again before glancing toward Camron beside her. “Ruler of the Fae Realm?” she repeated, clearly entertained now. “That’s a hell of an introduction.”

Azaliyah’s expression tightened slightly at the mockery, but Shezayah barely noticed because the title itself sounded ridiculous in the middle of a blood-covered forest.

“What were you expecting me to do with that information exactly?” Shezayah continued with a grin. “Bow?”

A low sound that suspiciously resembled amusement escaped Camron beside Azaliyah before he covered it quickly with a cough.

Azaliyah shot him an irritated glance immediately. “You’re not helping.”

“Oh, I’m absolutely helping,” Camron replied calmly, though the faint smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth made it clear he was enjoying this far more than he should have.

Shezayah’s eyes narrowed slightly at that interaction while Artemis shifted approvingly inside her mind.

I like him.

Azaliyah’s eyes stayed locked on Shezayah while violet light flickered faintly beneath her skin, reacting instinctively to the blood soaking the forest floor around them. The tension pressing through the clearing felt thick enough to choke on now, but what unsettled Shezayah most was the expression on Azaliyah’s face.

Recognition.

Like she had been expecting this.

Like she already knew her.

“We’ve been looking for you,” Azaliyah said finally, her voice quieter than before.

Shezayah’s smirk pulled slightly at the corner of her mouth again, though this time it held less amusement behind it. “That sounds more like your problem than mine.”

Camron let out the faintest breath beside Azaliyah, almost like he was stopping himself from laughing again, but his attention never fully left Shezayah. He watched her too carefully for her liking, like he noticed things other people usually missed.

Azaliyah ignored him completely. “You don’t understand,” she continued, taking another cautious step forward. “I’ve seen you before.”

The words immediately sharpened the air around them.

Artemis shifted hard inside Shezayah’s chest at the same moment her glowing eyes narrowed slightly against the darkness. Careful, the wolf murmured.

Shezayah crossed her arms slowly, claws still partially extended beneath drying blood. “I can promise you we’ve never met.”

“Not in person,” Azaliyah replied.

For the first time since the transformation started, something uneasy twisted through Shezayah’s stomach.

Camron finally stepped forward then, calm and steady in a way that felt strangely familiar to her already. Unlike Azaliyah, who carried herself like contained magic waiting to erupt, Camron felt quieter. Controlled. Dangerous in the same restrained way she suddenly realized she was.

“Since the gate opened,” he said carefully, “Azaliyah’s been having visions.”

Silence settled immediately after the words left him.

Shezayah’s smirk disappeared completely.

“She was always there,” Azaliyah admitted while keeping her eyes fixed directly on Shezayah. “Every vision. Every fight. Every time something went wrong… it always led back to you.”

The forest shifted violently around them before Shezayah could answer. Wind tore suddenly through the trees overhead while Artemis surged forward inside her chest hard enough to make her breathing tighten.

Not fear.

Recognition.

Camron noticed the shift instantly.

His eyes darkened slightly before he looked toward the shadows behind Shezayah like he sensed something standing there alongside her.

And then Artemis finally spoke again, her voice settling heavily through Shezayah’s thoughts while a slow dangerous grin spread across her face.

They found us sooner than I expected.