The roar came again.
Louder.
Closer.
The mountain range beyond the forest trembled.
Birds exploded from the treetops.
Animals fled in every direction.
Even the hunters looked shaken.
Denise felt it in her bones.
Something ancient had awakened.
And somehow—
it knew she existed.
The bond pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Then a voice echoed inside her mind.
NOT YET.
Denise froze.
The voice wasn’t the same one she’d heard before.
This one sounded deeper.
Older.
As if it had slept beneath the world for thousands of years.
“Liam…”
His head snapped toward her.
He had heard it too.
She knew he had.
The look in his eyes confirmed it.
Gold flickered through his irises again.
Brighter this time.
More difficult to hide.
The oldest elder stepped backward.
“No…”
The word came out as a
