JORDAN

"DAPHNE!"

Her name tore at my throat, a desperate cry that burned into my lungs. My vision spun wildly—one moment I was there, trembling beneath the crackling energy that surrounded me, and the next I was swallowed by utter darkness.

The ground sank beneath her. The air turned icy. Her scent—soft lavender and wild pine—vanished like smoke in a storm.

I leaped forward, claws slicing through the fog, but there was nothing to catch—nothing to hold onto. Only air. Only loss.

“No… no, no!” I roared, pounding the ground, my body shaking violently. The world around me was chaos—the council shouting, Teo calling my name, the elders running toward me—but none of it reached me.

I only heard the sound of his fall… his voice echoing in the dark void.

Then came that whisper.

That poisonous, ghostly whisper that had haunted me for weeks.

"You can't save her, Jordan. You never could."

"Draco," I growled through gritted teeth, my eyes flashing red. "What have you done?"

A low laugh curled in