RYKER’S POV
The morning sun filtered through the jagged gasps in the forest canopy, its warmth doing little to ease the chill that clawed at my chest. Tenebrous, with its quiet, unyielding expanse, felt more suffocating than ever. The air was thick with the weight of things left unsaid, things I dared not even admit to myself.
Selenea.
Her name was a whisper in my mind, a wound that refused to close.
“Still no sign of her?” Kade’s voice broke through the silence, low and cautious.
I didn’t answer immediately. Instead, I stared out at the clearing ahead, where the remnants of last night’s operation were being cleared away. The metallic tang of blood still lingered in the air, mingling with the damp earth and pine.
“No,” I finally said, my voice clipped.
Kade exhaled heavily, stepping
