It was Kael's call to retreat. Not an operational necessity; the border was secure, the cyber fronts quiet. It was a biological one. The air in the Haven had become wan, filtered through specters of fear and distrust. The pack was hungry for something their technology could not provide: wildness.
And so they entered the forest. Not on assignment, not in training, but to be. The oldest Carpathian forest, which held their secret haven, was the closest thing to a church. The pines stood watch, great silent ones whose limbs carried loads of snow that sparkled in a ribbon of moonlight. The wind was a biting, icy draught of pine resin, cold soil, and the fresh, bitter smell of night.
There was nothing but the sound of their leaving for the first hour. The quiet crunch of snow beneath their fee
