THE CLAIMED ALPHA
The tremor did not return.
That was what unsettled Elara most.
By morning, the forest looked unchanged. Mist drifted between the trees as it always did. Birds resumed their cautious songs. Patrol reports came back clean.
Nothing crossed the boundary.
Nothing visible disturbed the soil.
And yet the air felt different.
Denser.
Like the world had taken a breath and not fully released it.
Kael stood at the eastern ridge long before the sun crested the horizon. Elara found him there, silhouetted against pale light, motionless except for the slow rise and fall of his chest.
He hadn’t slept.
She could feel that through the bond.
Not exhaustion.
Alertness.
He turned slightly as she approached, though she had made no sound.
“You’re listening again,” she said quietly
