The journey north was brutal.
Rain for two straight days. Roads that turned to mud. A river crossing that nearly swept the truck away. They forded through water up to the doors, engine groaning in protest, tires spinning against slick stone that threatened to drag them under. Dax had to push at one point — his Alpha strength the only thing that kept them from being swept downstream into the rocks below.
Lumi handled it better than any of them.
She didn't complain. Didn't ask to stop. Didn't cry when the rain soaked through the canvas roof and dripped onto her face, when her clothes grew damp and stayed damp, when the cold seeped into her bones and refused to leave. Just sat in the backseat, eyes closed, whispering numbers and locations like a compass pointing toward suffering.
"Twelve
