Darkness swallowed everything. The forest was silent. Too silent. Snow whispered beneath my boots as I stepped into the clearing along the northern border—the same clearing where I had trained countless mornings before sunrise. But something was wrong. The air felt heavy. Wrong. My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my ribs.
Then the shadows moved.
Four figures stepped slowly from the trees.
My stomach dropped.
No.
Not again.
I tried to move, but my legs wouldn’t respond. It felt like the snow had hardened around my boots, trapping me in place. The rogues spread out, circling me like wolves around prey. Their smiles were cruel. Knowing.
“Well, well,” one of them sneered. “Found you again.”
My heart pounded as I tried to fight, tried to move, tried to do anything. But my body wouldn’t co
