Chapter Ten: The Nightmare Awakens

The sky bled crimson as the dream took her.

Ava stood alone in a snow-covered forest, the trees twisted like claws, and the air heavy with the stench of ash. A blood moon loomed above, watching — always watching. Her bare feet sank into the cold ground, but it wasn't the chill that made her tremble.

It was the silence.

Too still.

Too wrong.

Then came the growls.

Dozens of eyes blinked open in the darkness between the trees — not human, not animal. Hungry. Hunting. A snarl tore through the air, and wolves lunged from the shadows, jaws snapping. She turned to run, but her legs refused to move. She was frozen.

And then she saw him — not Rhett.

Someone else.

A man cloaked in darkness, his face obscured by a hood, a cruel smile slicing across pale skin. He moved through the wolves like their master, untouched by fang or fury. His voice slithered into her mind, low and ancient:

"You were marked long before you met him."

The mark on her neck pulsed — not its usual soft warmth, but searing, burning. She screamed, falling to her knees as flames danced around her, licking her skin but not consuming it. The forest burned. The wolves howled. And the man reached toward her—

She woke up with a gasp, drenched in sweat, sheets tangled around her.

The room was dark, but the mark on her neck glowed with a dull, ominous red.

Her hands shook as she touched it.

Still burning.

Still real.

She wasn't alone anymore. Something had crossed over. And it was coming for her.