Chapter 38. No Way Back

Daniel POV

A wave of pure desperation flickered across Elizabeth’s eyes and instantly set my nerves alight. Not long before, she had been calm—sitting beside me, speaking softly, holding conversation in measured tones. But in the blink of an eye, that composure evaporated. She lurched to her feet, mouth curved in a hiss: “No!”

In that moment, her Wolf stirred close to the surface, her figure blurring at the edges as if she teetered between human and something wilder. She began pacing the room, paws invisible on the floorboards, a tethered animal thrashing at the confines of its cage.

I took a cautious step forward, voice low and soothing. “It’ll be okay. I promise you, I’ll be okay.”

She whirled on me, eyes flashing. “No! That’s not what I’m talking about!”

Her words caught me off guard. I blinked, baffled. Was she still worried about my sparring match with the three Onyx Moon warriors? I replayed our earlier discussion in my mind, searching for the