Chapter 9
We ran until our legs threatened to give out.
The howls stayed behind us but never fully faded. Kael led the way through thicker and thicker trees, choosing paths that would slow anyone tracking by scent. Lila stumbled more than once. Each time Kael or I caught her before she fell. My own body felt heavy with exhaustion and the leftover heat from the shelter still simmered under my skin.
Finally, Kael raised a hand. “Here.”
He pushed aside a wall of dense bushes to reveal a shallow rock overhang hidden by hanging vines. It was not much, but it blocked the wind and gave us cover from above. We crawled underneath. The space was tight. The three of us barely fit.
Lila collapsed against the rock wall almost immediately. Within minutes, her breathing evened out into exhausted sle
