Aria’s POV
We didn’t wait for another remnant to come to us.
By midday, the pack was moving in pairs. Every tunnel, every old ward-node, every place the Debt had bled into the stone. If there were more loose pieces down there, we’d find them before they found us.
Ridah split us up by territory.
“Marsh line takes the east tunnels,” she said. “Black Ridge wolves take west. Lyra, you and Tav sweep the old quarry veins. Coren, you’re with me at the main node. We need the Warden’s pulse in real time.”
I got the north run with Darian and Mara.
The air down there was different now. Not just quiet—attentive. Every time we paused, I felt it. The Warden, watching through the stone, tracking our steps.
It didn’t speak unless we asked. But its pulse was steady under our boots, a low
