The silence after the release was worse than the struggle.
It rang—thin and sharp—through Elara’s chest, through the bond, through the places where strain had just been torn away too quickly. She lay still for a moment longer than she should have, letting her breathing slow, letting the world stop tilting.
Rachel’s face hovered into view. “Hey. Stay with me.”
“I am,” Elara rasped. “Just… recalibrating.”
Rachel snorted, half relief, half frustration. “You’re not a machine.”
“Debatable,” Gina muttered, kneeling on Elara’s other side. Her hands trembled as she checked the man who’d collapsed at the center of the camp. “He’s breathing. Weak, but stable.”
Maera’s wolves moved through the ravine in fluid silence, nudging the remaining watchers back without violence. No one fought. Most loo
