The forest had changed its mind about Lila.
She felt it in the way the wind hesitated before touching her skin, in the way birds went silent a heartbeat too early when she passed. Even the ground beneath her boots felt more watchful, like it remembered who had bled on it before.
Threat was not always loud.
Sometimes it wore patience.
Caleb walked beside her through the eastern paths, posture relaxed but senses razor-sharp. Since Elara’s return, he hadn’t let Lila out of his sight unless he absolutely had to. Patrol routes were doubled. Night watches rotated tighter. The pack was alert in the way wolves became alert when something old and angry prowled the edges of memory.
Still, Lila refused to hide.
She had learned that hiding invited hunger.
“You don’t have to come this far,” Cale
