Lyla stepped through the Gate.
But she was not the same.
She could feel it in her bones, in the very fabric of her being. The moment her foot touched solid ground, the forest shifted. The earth hummed beneath her, the trees whispered differently, and the air felt charged with something unseen.
Her pack stood frozen.
Jonas. Mason. Dani.
And Eli.
She felt their eyes on her burning, questioning, fearing.
Not the Marked Ones, who stood silently behind her.
Not the Gate, which pulsed faintly in the background, still open, still waiting.
But her.
And the power that followed her through the Gate.
Lyla exhaled slowly, trying to steady herself.
But even as she stood still, the shadows around her shifted.
It wasn’t natural.
It wasn’t normal.
Her fingers twitched, and the darkness at h
