We moved fast.
Lucian, Caelan, Thane, and I cut through the morning-dark forest, boots hitting packed earth as dawn barely bled across the sky. No one spoke. The tension buzzing through the pack link said enough.
With each step north, the mark on my arm burned a little hotter. The heat threaded through my ribs, pulling at something deep inside my chest—steady, insistent, directional.
Shade leaned into it. This way, he murmured. The veil is thin.
Three patrol wolves waited when we broke through the trees. Tessa stepped forward, face tight.
“Alpha. Pressure dropped a few minutes ago—hard. The ground glowed right over there.” She pointed toward a shallow dip between two moss-covered stones. “Like something was under it.”
“Show us,” Lucian said.
We approached the hollow. Even before I s
