Snowmelt whispered beneath the pines.
Sophia crouched behind a fallen log, watching the skirmish unfold below.
Caesar's men clashed with imperial scouts—steel against steel, curses crackling like sparks in the air. The scent of blood drifted up the ridge, sharp and warm.
Perfect distraction.
She tightened the saddle straps on the gray mare she'd stolen from the edge of camp.
Then mounted.
The chain between her ankle and Caesar's?
Filed through two nights ago.
She hadn't told him.
She wouldn't.
Not when her freedom was this close.
Sophia kicked the mare into motion.
The cold wind screamed as they galloped through the woods, trees blurring past.
Her wolf blood surged, pulse racing. Every heartbeat felt sharper. Stronger.
But the moment she crossed into open land—onto the cracke
