The room was charged with a heavy, suffocating silence as Sofia's eyelashes finally fluttered open. The pleading, broken voice of Damien still echoed in the back of her mind like a fading dream. She blinked, her vision slowly adjusting to the healer seated before her and the former Alpha standing near the door.
"You are awake," the healer said, her voice filled with a relief that Sofia didn't share.
Sofia's gaze drifted past them, landing on Damien. He was leaning against the far wall, his face a mask of exhaustion and lingering shadows.
Why is he here?
Her heart raced as her eyes found him. I should be dead. I wanted to be dead. So why am I still breathing?
As the memories of the training yard and the knife flooded back, she instinctively inspected her body. To her shock, the jagged wound on her throat was gone. The soreness in her legs, the bruises from the guards—all of it had vanished, leaving only tiny, invisible marks.
