Kaela's POVTwo days after the warehouse, I went alone to find Mateo.The mountain house was quiet when I arrived. It sat above the treeline, with stone walls and dark wood, a view out over nothing but grey sky and distance. No pack guards at the gate. No cars in the driveway. Just Mateo standing on the front steps with his hands in his pockets, watching me walk up the path like he had been expecting me for a long time.I had not told him I was coming. He had no reason to expect me, yet he was already outside when I arrived, like something in him had known.He opened the door before I reached it and said nothing. I followed him inside. A fire was going on in the main room. Two chairs faced it, close enough to feel the heat. He sat in one, and I sat in the other, and neither of us spoke for a moment."You want to know about the nickname," he said."Yes," I said.He looked at the fire. "You were seven. I was eight. I had followed a scent trail too far into the old Voss borderland and go
Last Updated : 2026-05-20 Read more