Kael discovered quickly that leaving the pack was not the same as being free of it.
The first hours after dawn passed easily enough. Movement steadied him. Purpose sharpened his senses. The forest welcomed him with cool air and familiar rhythms — birdsong threading through branches, the crunch of leaf litter beneath his boots, the quiet certainty of ground that did not judge his footsteps.
But when the sun climbed higher and the land stretched open before him, the weight returned.
Not doubt.
Memory.
He moved through a shallow valley where the trees grew thin and the ground sloped gently upward, stone breaking through soil in pale ribs. The air smelled of damp bark and cold water, and every sound carried farther than it had at night. Kael slowed, letting awareness spread outward.
You’
