VALIK POV
There was nothing.
The forest had gone quiet.
The woods breathed around us, leaves whispering against one another, distant birds shifting branches. But the thread I’d been following, the thin pull at the back of my skull that said this way, had gone slack.
I stopped.
The others did too. No questions. They’d learned quickly not to fill the space when my wolf went still.
I dragged in a breath, deep and sharp, forcing my lungs to work past the burn. Her scent was everywhere and nowhere all at once—ghosted along bark and soil, torn apart by wind and ash and time. Too much time.
My hand curled without permission, eyes closed tight in regret.
The feeling overwhelmed me.
My fist struck out.
The tree was old. Thick trunk, deep roots. It didn’t move when I struck it—but the soun
