Kieran P.O.V
The trees thinned before the border.
Not in the usual way—not gradually, not with fading underbrush—but in a sudden, sharp line where the forest felt… different. The air tasted heavier, richer with magic that wasn’t ours. Shade slowed inside me, ears pricked.
This is it, he said quietly. A pack territory begins just ahead.
Lucian slowed with me, his massive black wolf form lowering into a cautious prowl. Caelan and the four warriors fanned out behind us in a half-circle.
We reached the ridge.
Lucian gave a low grunt through the link.
Shift back.
One by one, all eight of us slowed, paws sinking into frost-hardened earth before our bodies shimmered, cracked, and reformed. Bones reshaped, fur receded, claws dulled, and the cold air hit bare skin in one sharp sweep.
We gr
