Riley POV We didn’t plan to meet them. Which, in retrospect, tracks. Every truly life-altering disaster in my existence has arrived uninvited and very confident about it. The forest had shifted again—not dramatically, not loudly. Just enough that the birds stopped lying. You learn the difference when you’ve been hunted long enough: silence is not peace. Silence is coordination. Lumi felt it first. She always did. Her hand came up—two fingers, low, sharp. Stop. I obeyed, because pregnancy has taught me many things, chief among them: gravity is not a suggestion, and ignoring Lumi gets you killed. We were in a narrow corridor of birch and pine, frost crusting the ground in thin, treacherous sheets. My breath came shallow—not panic, not yet. Calculation. The baby shifted, as if bracing. “Not Crown,” Lumi murmured. “Too quiet.” That somehow made it worse. I inhaled slowly. Werewolf. Not lycan. No iron tang. No sanctified arrogance. Just earth, sweat, old blood, and fear held t
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-02-02 อ่านเพิ่มเติม