Micah left before sunset.
Nightfall didn’t do goodbye ceremonies. No one lined up at the gate or howled farewells. Mara shoved a bundle of food into his hands, Tamir checked the gas in his truck, and that was that.
Aria watched from the shadow of the woodshed as the engine rumbled, the sound fading down the forest road until it was just another piece of distance between her old pack and her new one.
He hadn’t tried to hug her on the way out. Hadn’t said her name again. Just: “I’ll do what I can,” and a look that held too many years and too many should haves.
Good, she thought. Hugs would have broken something she’d just barely managed to set.
“You’re chewing the inside of your cheek again,” Lena said, appearing at her shoulder like a ghost with sarcasm.
“I have limited coping mechani
