Even a werewolf with enhanced physiology was no match for debilitating, all-consuming fear. All the healing in the world couldn't fix her mental wounds. Her senses were misdirected, her emotions heightened to a point no human could experience, and her vision began to swim even with her werewolf sight, making an already tight space feel even smaller. She couldn't get out, she wasn't strong enough. She was going to die there. "No, please," Maia sobbed, bargaining, feeling a pain begin to surge through her freezing limbs. It was a similar sensation to a transformation but how could that be possible? It wasn't a full moon. She'd never experienced anything beyond flashing eyes and protruding claws outside of the monthly moon, and in her fear, she'd entirely forgotten the debrief she'd been given after taking the cure in Alexandria. With strong enough emotions, this could happen, and without the experience to maintain control, it would require an anchor or an alpha to turn the tide. But she had neither, the closest thing to an anchor probably waiting for her outside. She was as alone as the day Jordan had attacked her.
Crying out, she felt what she believed was her wrist snap with a loud crack, her elbow soon following suit. But she couldn't give in, not until she was dead and buried. With her unaffected arm, she continued to pull and scratch at the door until the panic began to lull into acceptance, into helplessness. Her cries quietened, muttering her pleas instead, only yelping when her shoulder felt close to dislocation. Maybe it was okay to turn in here, maybe with more force, she could get out that way. Maybe she just had to lean into it. But all thoughts were cut off with a squeak of metal, Maia stumbling forward as the door she clutched onto suddenly opened in front of her.
Relief overtook her, Maia falling into sobs again immediately, unable to even register her rescuer at first. She needed the open air, warm air, to get away from the frozen grave she currently stood in. "Oh my god, oh my god —" She stammered on a loop, clawing herself back from the acceptance of death and suffering and loneliness. Breathe with me. Adrift, Maia nodded, tears a constant stream as she tried to follow instruction, follow the voice that had saved her. In, and out. She let it ground her, let her take her away from the room she was in, let it free her from the pain that burned up her arm. Shivering, Maia stumbled forward out of the room and turned fast, sliding down the very door that had sealed her in, unintentionally holding it open.
Clutching at her twisted limb, she continued to follow the trusted voice, eyes slipping shut for a few minutes as she breathed in the fresh air, let it warm her bones. Once the rush in her head had stilled to a thud and her heart had slowed, only then did she look up and realise Isaac had been her saviour. "— Why are you always saving me?" She tried to laugh but it got caught on a sob, the jostle of her arm causing her to wince.