The scream came at dawn.
Not loud. Not panicked. Just wrong.
Like something had been trying to stay quiet and failed.
Cassian shot upright, already reaching for his blade. I was moving before I even thought about it, body reacting to danger before my mind caught up.
We didn’t speak. We didn’t need to.
We ran.
The sound had come from the eastern slope—deep woods where even the animals kept their distance. The trees grew too close together here, bark slick with moss and something that smelled like rot.
I caught the scent first.
Blood.
Heavy. Metallic. Sharp in the back of my throat.
Cassian slowed, crouched low. I followed, every muscle strung tight. The trees parted just enough to reveal a shape crumpled in the brush ahead.
A man.
No—*wolf.*
Barely conscious, body twisted at an
