Kael's POV
The forest was too quiet.
I pushed through the thick brush, branches clawing at my jacket as I followed where my scout pointed. He didn't need to speak, the ground told me everything.
Broken branches, their insides still wet and pale. Fresh footprints pressed deep into the soft earth. A scent trail so urgent it made my teeth ache.
Then I caught it. Her scent.
My pulse spiked so violently I had to stop moving. Pine and wildflowers and something that was purely Elysia, cutting through every other smell in the forest like a knife. My wolf surged against my control, demanding to be released.
There is no way Elysia isn't close around.
I raised my fist. Behind me, twenty wolves froze mid-step. The silence that fell was absolute no breathing, no movement, nothing but the diffe
