Lion Head Mesa when he calls your name, it all fades to black

As sunset painted the walls and plateaus of Akashingo red-gold, Maegi entered her third heat.

No.

"It is time."

Not again, she reasoned aloud, voice hushed but fierce. She stalked stiff-legged through the corridors, wholly self-conscious of the fragrance that followed her. She felt completely topsy-turvy, yearning yet horrified; she wished to push herself into the arms of a lover, at the very bottom of a deep hole, where no one could witness her shame.

"It is your destiny, Peryite. To disgust and to be disgusted."

SHUT UP! She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, then dodged at the last moment to avoid careening into a sudden corner. Get out of my head, Maegi hissed. You don't know my destiny. You know nothing about me.

"I know everything about you. I know that you will hate these children as your mother hated you."

Never, she rejoined, but her tone had weakened. Resolve, weakened. She came to a shuddering stop just short of the pack's borders, falling back on her haunches, pressing her chin down into her chest.

He was right. About it all.

And short of running away and hiding herself within some deep, unknown place—at least while she burned—there was nothing she could do to stop it. To stop him.