The transition from the manicured lawns of Oak Creek to the jagged, rain-soaked shadows of the Pacific Northwest took three days and four hotel rooms. We moved like ghosts through the interstate system, stopping only for fuel, caffeine, and the ritualistic vitals checks that had become the new rhythm of our lives. In the back of the minivan, the triplets were a tangle of limbs and sleeping bags. To any passing traveler, we were just another family on a cross-country move. To me, we were a high-stakes transport of volatile biological material.Killian drove with a steady, relentless focus. He had traded his crown for a baseball cap and a pair of polarized sunglasses, but the way he scanned the horizon remained the same. He was a man stripped of his wolf, yet his human senses had sharpened to compensate. He could feel the weight of the air, the subtle shift in pressure that preceded a storm or, more importantly, a pursuit."You should sleep, Elara," he said, his voice a low rumble that
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