LOGINFor a moment, no one spoke. The same people who had barely acknowledged me since we left the pack now watched with a different expression. Not warmth, not trust, but uncertainty. The brown wolf lifted its head weakly. Its eyes found mine before shifting toward Ash, who stood several steps away w
ELARA’S POV The pack gates stood open under a pale morning sky. Warriors and their contracted wolves filled the open ground in loose groups. Families pressed close with last reminders and small packs of supplies. Voices overlapped in a steady murmur of caution and encouragement. I stood at the rea
“Bring him.” She left and returned with the broad-shouldered figure who still smelled of cheap wine and old blood. He kept his eyes on the floor. “You failed,” I said. “The girl had already turned the corner. I only had a moment. The cut was clean. She should have bled out before anyone found h
SELENE’S POV I shut the door to my room harder than necessary and leaned my back against the wood. The crystal should have been in her hands by now. The silver whip should already have marked her back. Instead the search had turned up nothing but a filthy chewed ball and a room full of watching eye
ELARA’S POV Every eye in the room snapped toward the dug-up patch of floor. The young team member crouched lower, reached into the loose dirt, and drew the object free. He shook the soil from it with two sharp flicks of his wrist. What emerged was a crumpled, misshapen mass. An old ball, batter
There were notes about the meals they preferred after training, the drinks they reached for when they were tired, and even the little habits they displayed when they were irritated. I had never considered those things burdensome. Remembering them had become so natural that I rarely thought about i







