MasukI turned to him fully now. “Ben. Stop.”He froze.The word carried more than sound. It carried weight. Authority. Something old and deep in my chest rose up, steady and undeniable, settling into place like it had always belonged there.“You do not get to override me,” I said. “Not in this.”His eyes
Morning arrived without ceremony.Gray light slid across the floor of the cabin and pooled against the baseboards, turning dust into a fine silver haze that shifted when I breathed. I woke to the sound of water boiling on the small stove and the faint, bitter smell of cheap coffee burning just a lit
Ben’s voice dropped to almost nothing. “And my mother.”Sally closed her eyes for a moment, lashes trembling. When she opened them again, the pain was still there, but it had been tempered by something harder.“She refused him,” Sally said. “He wanted to know where I was hiding. Who was helping me.
The second safe location sat farther from any recognized border, tucked into a stretch of scrubland that looked forgotten by both packs and people. The land flattened out here, scrubby bushes clawing at dry soil, wind worrying at loose stones. A low concrete structure half buried into the hillside w
I exhaled shakily and leaned my head back against the seat, the vinyl cold against my skin.Ben watched me carefully. “She didn’t pull you.”“No,” I said. “She chose.”His grip tightened on the steering wheel, knuckles whitening. “Ezra’s not going to like that.”“He never does,” I said quietly.We d
The engine rattled like it might give up at any moment, a dry metallic clatter that vibrated up through the floorboards, but it held as Ben eased the stolen sedan down the narrow back road. Dawn bled slowly into the sky, pale light seeping through the treetops and washing the forest in thin gray ban







