Elara arrived without announcement.
No challenge howl.
No request for entry.
No respect for boundaries.
Lila felt her before she saw her.
The scent hit first—sharp grief soaked in old pine and bitterness, tangled with something sour that made Lila’s stomach tighten. It wasn’t the scent of a mother anymore. It was the scent of loss that had never healed.
Caleb froze mid-step beside her.
His entire body went rigid, as if the past had reached out of the forest and wrapped a hand around his throat.
“Elara,” he said quietly.
She stepped out from between the trees like a ghost that refused to stay buried.
Time had not softened her.
Her long brown hair hung loose and dull, darker than Lila’s but close enough to make the resemblance unsettling. Her blue eyes—once warm, once laughing—wer
