Lily POV
I jerked awake as sothing cold and sharp crashed into my chest. For a second, I couldn’t move. The shadow voices that had been talking in my head for days suddenly went silent, leaving alone in my own mind for the first ti in what felt like forever.
"What’s happening?" I gasped, sitting up in bed so fast the room spun around .
Dr. Chen rushed to my side, checking the monitors that beeped furiously around my bed. "Lily? Can you hear ? Are you... you?"
I blinked at her, confused. "Of course I’m . Who else would I be?"
The relief on her face was so strong it scared . "You’ve been unconscious for three days," she explained quickly. "And when you were awake, you weren’t... acting like yourself."
Pieces of mory ca rushing back - dark voices telling to hurt people, my own hands moving without my control, saying terrible things to Luna about Caleb. I covered my face with shaking hands.
"The shadow wolves," I whispered. "They were in my head."
"Are they gone now?" Dr. Chen asked, her voice tight with fear.
I searched inside my mind carefully. The cold presence was still there, but it felt faraway, like sothing watching from far away instead of controlling . "I think so. For now."
"Good. The pack is having an ergency eting downstairs. Alpha Marcus wants everyone there to talk what’s been happening. Do you feel strong enough to attend?"
I nodded, even though my legs felt like jelly when I stood up. I needed to apologize to everyone for whatever I’d done while the shadows were ruling . Especially to Luna, who I rembered frightening.
Walking down the stairs was harder than I expected. Every step made my head pound, and I had to grip the bar to keep from falling. When I reached the main hall, I saw the entire pack gathered in a big circle.
Everyone turned to look at as I entered. So faces showed relief, others showed fear, and a few looked angry. I couldn’t bla them.
"Lily," Marcus said gently. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I got hit by a truck," I revealed, trying to smile. "But I’m again, if that’s what you’re asking."
I looked around the circle until I found Luna. She was sitting as far from as possible, her face pale and scared. "Luna, I’m so sorry for whatever I said to you. I wasn’t myself, but that doesn’t make it okay."
She nodded quickly but didn’t speak. I could see her hands shaking in her lap.
"The important thing is that you’re back," Marcus added. "Dr. Chen says the shadow drug is still in your system, but your mind is clear for now. We need to figure out how to get rid of it permanently before—"
He stopped talking suddenly, his nostrils flaring. Everyone else started sniffing the air too, their faces changing as they caught whatever sll had gotten Marcus’s attention.
That’s when I slled it.
The sll hit like a physical blow. It was warm and woodsy, like cedar trees and old books, with sothing underneath that made my heart race even though I didn’t understand why. My knees went weak, and I had to grab the nearby chair to keep from falling.
"Caleb," I breathed, not even realizing I’d spoken out loud.
He was standing in the hallway, looking tired and sad. When our eyes t across the room, sothing strange happened. I didn’t rember loving him - that feeling was still gone, wiped by whatever the shadow wolves had done to us. But my body rembered him.
My pulse quickened. My skin felt warm. I found myself taking a step toward him before I even knew I was moving.
"Lily?" he said softly, and his words made sothing deep in my chest flutter.
"I don’t understand," I whispered, putting a hand to my racing heart. "I don’t rember you, but my body does."
Caleb moved closer, and with each step, the sll got stronger. It was like my cells were waking up after a long sleep, recognizing sothing my mind couldn’t understand.
"I can sll you," I said, my voice barely audible. "And it’s... familiar. Like coming ho."
Dr. Chen stepped forward, her eyes wide with joy. "Physical mory," she said quickly. "The shadow wolves erased your emotional mories, but they couldn’t remove what your body knows. Your wolf knows her mate even when your human mind doesn’t."
Caleb was only a few feet away now. I could see the hope starting to grow in his eyes, mixed with fear that I might disappear again.
"Can I..." he started, then stopped. "Would it be okay if I ca closer?"
I nodded, not trusting my voice. When he took another step, my whole body responded. My skin tingled. My breathing got faster. It was like every cell in my body was saying "yes, this is right" even though my brain was completely confused.
"This is incredible," Dr. Chen whispered to Marcus. "If her body rembers the mate bond, we might be able to use that to restore her emotional mories."
But as Caleb reached out his hand toward mine, the shadow voices suddenly roared back to life in my head.
"NO!" they scread, and pain exploded through my brain. "You will not rember! You will not bond with him again!"
I doubled over, clutching my head as pain tore through . The shadows were fighting back, trying to recover control now that they realized my body was rembering what they’d tried to erase.
"Fight them, Lily!" Dr. Chen shouted. "Your body knows the truth!"
Through the pain, I could still sll Caleb’s scent. It was like an anchor in the storm of shadow voices, sothing real and good to hold onto. I forced myself to stand up straight, reaching out toward him even as the shadows scread in rage.
Our fingers touched, and the mont our skin made contact, sothing amazing happened. A warm golden light began to glow between our hands, getting brighter and stronger despite the shadows’ rage.
"The mate bond," Elder Iris gasped from sowhere behind . "It’s still there, hidden deep. Her body is calling it back!"
But the shadows weren’t giving up. As the golden light grew brighter, I felt sothing else waking inside - sothing dark and hungry that had been sleeping in the shadow poison.
"If I cannot have you," the shadow voice hissed through my lips, "then no one can."
My hand began to change, fingertips growing into razor-sharp claws that glead with black poison. The part of that was still really scread in horror as I realized what was about to happen.
The shadows were going to make kill Caleb with my own hands.
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