~ Kaida Orion POV~
I blinked into darkness, my palm throbbing where the Silverline pendant had branded me. My eyes no longer reflected torchlight, they shimmered with faint silver light, casting ghost shapes on the wet tunnel walls. I gasped, voice shaking. "Lupus?"
Silence, then his voice followed: full of fear rather than anger. "Kaida, speak! Don't vanish in there." He sounded closer, strained, drenched with worry.
I scrabbled backward, reaching the pedestal where the ripped ink wolf had fallen to pulp. Silver threads wriggled through water down the drain like blood through cracks, each thread pulsed with faint power. I thought the pendant was protected...it was active.
"Why can't I...I feel him too," I whispered.
His footsteps clashed against tunnel stone, then his hand gripped my wrist, and I recoiled at the heat in his eyes. "Tell me your shape, I've you changed? Are you okay?"
