Chapter 324. In Trouble

Apphia’s POV

I’m running.

I don’t know where I’m going, only that my body is screaming at me to keep moving, to put as much distance as possible between myself and what is behind me. My lungs burn, every breath scraping my throat raw, but I don’t slow down. I can’t. The forest blurs around me—dark trunks, whipping branches, shadows that stretch and snap like claws trying to grab me.

Tears stream down my cheeks, hot against my cold skin, blinding me, but I don’t wipe them away. There’s no time. My heartbeat pounds so loudly in my ears that it drowns out my thoughts. All I know is fear—pure, animal fear that sharpens my senses and drives my legs forward even when they tremble beneath me.

Behind me, the sound of pursuit is relentless.

Thundering paws slam into the earth, heavy and