~Jada~
The chill night air bit at my exposed skin as Shushila and I finally reached a kind of concealed base. It was less a building and more a scar on the hillside, a crude metal hatch set flush against the earth, painted a drab green that barely matched the surrounding grass. We were in an uninhabited section of human territory, far from the Celestial Moon. The silence here was oppressive.
Shushila knew precisely where to go and what to avoid. That was one perk of having a wolf. They knew things—sensed things you wouldn’t ordinarily know.
Panting, Shushila trotted up to a metal hatch, her ears twitching as she listened. Once she was satisfied that there was no danger, she lowered herself and allowed me to climb off her back. My legs trembled as I touched solid ground, the adrenaline o
