6

Before any of us understood what was happening, Liza spun on her heel and **bolted** toward her mother’s cabin. Not running—**sprinting like something feral had snapped inside her**, like madness had taken her by the throat.

We had no choice but to follow.

“Damn,” I breathed through the link, half horrified, half proud, “when the hell did she get so fast?”

“Liza, slow down!” I called after her. “We can barely keep up. *What secret?*”

For a heartbeat—silence. I thought she’d ignore me entirely.

Then her voice cracked like glass:

**“She lied!”**

Her sob hit me like a punch to the gut.

“I asked her if I had any other family. She told me no.

There was no one.

She. Lied. To. Me!”

And she slammed the link shut so hard it echoed.

We chased her through the forest, sending calming energy through the pack link, trying to soothe the chaos spiraling inside her. It must have worked—she slowed, yanked the cabin door open like it weighed nothing, and stood there heaving breaths, doing th