Two days passed without trouble.
The pack worked. The fence was finished. The stores were full. The pups trained with the warriors every morning.
It felt wrong.
Too quiet.
Darian felt it too. He did not sleep well. He walked the perimeter at night even when Victor said it was not needed.
Something is coming he said.
I knew he was right.
The bond between us hummed low and steady. Not danger. Not yet. Warning.
On the third morning Mara came to us with blood on her hands.
Not hers.
A scout is dead she said. Found at the west border. Throat torn out.
Rogues I asked.
No she said. Too clean. Too fast.
Darian went cold.
Something else he said.
We went to see the body.
The scout was young. Eighteen. Name was Kade. He had been one of the first to trust me.
His eyes were open. Not a
