Declan’s POV
Peace never lasts long enough to get comfortable.
I wake before dawn, not from a sound but from the absence of one—the house too still, the bond too quiet. It’s the kind of silence that comes right before something shifts.
Mara is asleep beside me, curled on her side, breath even. I watch her for a moment longer than necessary, committing the sight to memory like I always do when the world feels unstable.
This is what they don’t understand.
This—her—isn’t my weakness.
It’s my line in the ground.
My phone vibrates once on the nightstand. I reach for it carefully, easing out of bed without waking her.
Marcus.
We’ve got movement. Not council. Not Kieran. Something else.
I’m dressed and in the hall before the second message comes through.
It’s the remnants. Packs that d
