Mag-log inLyra POV It doesn’t make sense.That’s the first thing my mind does—reject it before I can even fully process it. Because it can’t be real. It shouldn’t be real. I know what I saw. I know what I buried. I know what I stood in front of and forced myself to accept even when every part of me refused to.Kael is dead.That truth is carved into me in ways nothing else ever has been.So when the scent hits me—Clear.Sharp.Unmistakable—My entire body locks.I stop mid-step, the path back to the village forgotten instantly, my breath catching in a way that feels almost painful. For a second, I don’t move. I don’t think. I just stand there, my senses flooding with something that shouldn’t exist.Kael.It’s him.Not faint.Not imagined.Not something my mind is twisting out of grief or memory.It’s there.Real.Present.I inhale again, deeper this time, like I’m trying to prove myself wrong.But it only gets stronger.The scent wraps around me, familiar in a way that hits harder than anyth
Lyra POV I don’t move right away.Even after they disappear into the trees, even after their scent begins to thin and scatter just enough to make pursuit less certain, I stay where I am, my body still, my senses stretched wide.Because something about it doesn’t feel finished.It should.They came. They revealed themselves. They left.That should be the end of it.But it isn’t.The forest hasn’t settled.The air still feels wrong.I inhale slowly, searching for what’s left behind, for anything I might have missed in the moment when everything shifted too quickly to fully process.Their scent lingers faintly, broken now, harder to follow, but not gone.Two.Still just two.No—I pause.My head tilts slightly, my focus sharpening as I draw in another breath.There’s something else.Fainter than the second scent had been before.So faint I almost dismiss it.Almost.But instinct doesn’t let me.My chest tightens slightly.That wasn’t there before.I’m sure of it.I shift my stance, turn
Lyra POV I don’t go back to the village.I tell myself I should. Every instinct shaped by duty, by responsibility, by everything I’ve learned as Luna says to turn around, gather the warriors, do this the right way. That’s what I should do.But my feet don’t listen.Because the scent is still there.Because it’s fresh.Because if I leave now, whoever crossed into our territory disappears into the dark and we lose whatever chance we have of knowing who they are or why they came.And I need to know.So I turn back.The forest feels different now that I’ve made the decision. It’s no longer quiet in a peaceful way. Now every sound feels like something I need to measure, every shift in the wind something I need to question.I move carefully, stepping back onto the narrow trail before veering slightly off it, following the faint pull of the scent deeper into the trees. My breathing stays even, controlled, my body settling into something instinctive, something sharper than thought.This is f
Lyra POV The forest didn’t feel the same that night.It wasn’t obvious at first. Everything looked as it always did—the tall trees stretching upward, the soft rustle of leaves shifting with the wind, the quiet hum of life that never truly went silent. It should have felt familiar. It should have felt like every other night I had walked these paths.But it didn’t.There was something else beneath it.Something I couldn’t name.I moved slowly along the narrow trail, my senses stretching outward without me forcing them to. It had become instinct again, something I had lost for a while and only recently begun to trust. The pack was stable, the territory secure, but that didn’t mean I stopped paying attention.If anything, it meant I needed to pay more.Peace didn’t last if you stopped guarding it.A breeze shifted through the trees, cool against my skin, carrying the usual scents of earth and bark and the faint trace of distant water.And then—Something else.I stopped.It was subtle. F
Rowan POV I didn’t notice it at first.Not because it wasn’t obvious, but because I had stopped looking for moments like that. For a long time, every shift in her had felt fragile, like something I had to watch carefully, like if I paid too much attention it might disappear.But this—This wasn’t fragile.It didn’t feel like something that would break if I looked at it too closely.It started small, like most things with her did.We were near the training grounds again, but not in the middle of anything serious. The younger wolves had finished their drills for the day, and a few of them had stayed back, restless in that way they always were when they still had energy to burn but no structure left to contain it.Someone suggested a mock challenge.Not formal.Not strict.Just something loose, something meant to burn off energy and maybe stir a little harmless competition.I stayed at the edge of it, not stepping in, not needing to.Lyra stood a little closer this time, not fully in t
Rowan POV The pack hadn’t felt like this in a long time.Not quiet in the way grief had made it quiet. Not careful, not restrained, not waiting for something to go wrong. This was different. The kind of stillness that comes after something settles into place, when nothing needs to be forced and nothing feels like it’s about to break.Peace.I hadn’t realized how much we’d been missing it until now.The ceremony hadn’t been loud or dramatic, but its effect lingered. You could feel it in the way the wolves moved through the village that evening, the way conversations carried a little easier, the way laughter didn’t feel like something borrowed or temporary. There was no tension sitting under everything, no constant awareness of what had been lost or what could still go wrong.For the first time in a long time, the pack felt whole.Not the same as before.But whole.I stood near the outer edge of the clearing, watching it all unfold without stepping into it right away. Fires had been li
Rowan pov The first call came from the clearing.Low.Carried through the night air like a signal.It wasn’t loud.Didn’t need to be.Everyone knew what it meant.It was time.---Lyra didn’t move.She stood where she was, arms at her sides, gaze fixed somewhere ahead that didn’t exist.The moon
Rowan POV Grief changed the way a place sounded.It wasn’t just quieter.It was… restrained.Like every voice had learned to soften itself, to step carefully around something fragile that could break again if disturbed too harshly.Silver Ridge felt like that now.Held together.I moved through th
Rowan POV No one moved. Not for a long time.The clearing stayed frozen in that heavy, unbearable silence, every eye fixed on Lyra as if waiting for something to shift—something to break.But it didn’t. Not at first.She stood exactly where she had been when the words were spoken. Shoulders strai
Lyra POV The morning felt wrong.There was no other way to describe it.Not quieter.Just… off.I stood by the window in the Alpha house, fingers resting lightly against the wooden frame as I looked out over the village. The sky was pale, almost colorless, and the usual early movement felt strain







