The Wolf Queen (The Queen's Slave, Book 2)

Thirty Seven: Reborn

"No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side.

Or you don't."

-Stephen King

Lifeline By: We Three

I floated on the edge of the aether in a timeless loop, existing in spirit and not flesh. I was nothing and everything. I could not see, taste, or hear, but I remembered what these things were and I knew that I very much wished to experience them again.

Which is why the day I woke up in my body, six feet under ground and unwillingly inhaling dirt and bugs, came as such a shock.

My body, as lifeless as it was, acted without my permission, clawing at the walls of this rank and unforgiving prison with broken nails. My breathing came in panicked bursts, and it startled me to see my skin shift and feel my bones ache. I couldn't see anything, it was so dark that even my lupine vision failed me. As waves of claustrophobia sunk in, I screamed, the sound cut short as dirt fell into my mouth. Spitting out as much as I could, my trembling fingers tentatively probed my neck, finding the thick ropy scarring that now donned my skin.

I can't breathe.

I started to hyperventilate, black spots hovering over my vision as my fractured mind gave in to the mind numbing panic. My head started to throb with pressure, like a balloon was slowly filling inside my head. I couldn't contain my screams as pain sharp and burning attacked my skull. In my minds eye I watched as the golden threads of a soul bond slowly started to knit back together. I gripped fistfuls of my hair and groaned as the pressure finally receded, releasing all the dammed up memories.

Elizabeth. My eyes squeezed shut as I was sucked in.

I saw myself through her eyes, my body lifeless and my eyes blank, my throat torn to ribbons.

My chest ached as I watched Camille beg me to hold on, my last words meant to be an apology for not full-filling my promise and reuniting her with Michael.

I watched Elizabeth scream and scream, cradling my dead body to her breast, begging me to come back, begging me not to leave her. I watched her eyes turn black as she fled deep within herself, surrendering control to her kindred spirit.

I watched my family wail and plead, the pack mourning my death under the watchful eye of the moon. I watched as Kore commanded them to leave and heard the war within her words when she spoke of her feelings for me to Owen, her confusion at it all but her faith in my revival.

Memory after memory poured in, too fast for me to track, which I was thankful for given my current state. When the last of the threads wound into place, the bond snapped into place and our minds collided with such wildness that I reeled back in shock. I noticed the change immediately as raw power flooded my thoughts, wrapping them in a tight embrace. Since she was a goddess, I couldn't sense Kore's feelings unless she wished me to, which is why I was so surprised when she allowed me into her mind with no hesitation.

I sensed an overwhelming amount of relief and a bit of shock, which would've made me laugh had I been able to.

"Can't.....breathe." Was all I could manage, the fear of being crushed to death pressing on my mind.