POV: Lucan
Lucan crouched beside the carved tree, fingers hovering over the darkened bark where the rogue’s symbol still lingered, burned into the pine like a brand. The air around it felt… wrong.
“That’s not natural fire,” he muttered. “Not even magical fire. This was placed.”
He sniffed, then stood, brushing snow off his gloves. Behind him, footsteps approached—too light to be Torren, too precise to be Kael.
Mira.
“You’re early,” he said without turning. “Didn’t think a Beta Female needed to walk through cursed woods before breakfast.”
“Didn’t think a Gamma would be dumb enough to poke dark sigils with his bare hands,” she replied smoothly, stepping beside him. Her long braid whipped over one shoulder, her eyes glowing faintly under her hood.
Lucan grinned. “What can I say? I live
