Kai's Point of View
The forest here feels different at night. Alive. Every rustle, every whisper of wind through the branches presses in on me, demanding attention. My side still aches with each step, the half healed wound tugging at the edge of my focus, but I grit my teeth and keep moving.
Beside me walks Nira, the Noctwyn warrior assigned to be my patrol partner. She moves like shadow itself, soundless, her eyes constantly scanning the dark. Compared to her, I feel heavy, and very obvious.
“You walk too loud,” she murmurs, her voice low enough that it barely stirs the air.
My wolf bristles at the critique. “I got clawed up with wolfsbane a few days ago,” I whisper back. “You are lucky I am walking at all.”
Her gaze flicks to me in the moonlight, sharp but not cruel. “And yet here y
