HER OWN STRENGTH
The forest was not on my side.
It was northern,older, denser, unfamiliar. The kind of terrain that didn’t know you and made no effort to accommodate you. Roots twisted where you didn’t expect them, the ground shifted differently beneath my feet, and the shadows fell at angles I hadn’t learned to read yet.
I stumbled once.
Then again.
Caught myself both times, because the wolf was fully awake now, her reflexes faster, sharper, less forgiving than my own.
Behind me,movement.
Four wolves.
No.
I listened harder, pushing past the sound of my own breath, the pounding of blood in my ears.
Three.
They were spreading out. Smarter than chasing in a straight line. One angling left, one right, one holding center.
Ashvale.
Trained.
Focused.
Ahead of me,the pull.
The com
