VALIK POV
“Alpha.” Trig’s voice cut through the forest like a blade—sharp, deliberate, meant to be heard.
I turned before the word finished leaving his mouth.
He stood just inside the tree line, chest rising fast. Dirt streaked his forearms. Leaves clung to his boots.
He hadn’t taken the easy way back.
“Talk,” I said. He fell into step beside me without being told.
“They went into the water. River bends east, shallow in most places. The trail breaks clean—no drag, no stumble. Intentional.”
His nose flared as if the scent still burned there.
“I can take you to the point it disappears.”
A controlled loss, then. Not panic. Not chaos.
That mattered more than I wanted it to.
“Good,” I said. “Lead.”
The others came into formation behind us, following Trig’s fresh trail the w
