Elara’s POV
The next few days had a new edge. The forest felt totally different after Kael’s visit. The quiet felt like a held breath. The green light felt like watching eyes. My training got more desperate. It was not a theory anymore. We had an enemy who could talk in our minds.
Lucian pushed me harder. Wards, masking, and now, very basic fighting for self-defense.
“You do not need to beat a wolf,” he said, moving around me in the clearing like a predator looking at a prey. “You need to live for one minute. Long enough for me to get to you. Or for you to run to a safe spot we have chosen."
He taught me to break holds using not muscle but angles. To aim for the weak spots—throat, the soft place under the jaw, the eyes—with anything nearby: a thick stick, the silver-tipped pen I now ke
