Jax did not wake when I shook him.
That was the first thing that truly scared me.
His body was warm, too warm, heat rolling off him in waves that fogged the night air. Blood had dried along his ribs and shoulder, dark and sticky against his skin. I pressed my ear to his chest and listened until I caught the steady, uneven beat of his heart.
Alive.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
The elders had cleared the boundary quickly after the challenge ended. Cole was gone. The witnesses dispersed. Even Derek had stepped back, giving orders in a voice that sounded distant, controlled, like he was sealing something away inside himself.
They wanted to move Jax to the infirmary.
I refused.
“He needs the forest,” I said, the certainty of it rising from a place I did not fully unde
