The howl echoed through the mountains long after it ended.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
The forest had gone unnaturally still.
No birds.
No insects.
No movement in the trees.
Nothing.
Just silence.
The kind of silence predators leave behind.
Aria stood frozen beside the tracks.
Her face had lost all color.
Even in the moonlight, I could see the fear she was trying and failing to hide.
For the first time since meeting her, she looked vulnerable.
Human.
And that terrified me.
Because if Aria feared Lucien, then Lucien wasn't just dangerous.
He was something worse.
Something that had haunted her for decades.
Rylan finally broke the silence.
"We're going back."
Nobody argued.
Not even Mara.
Because whatever confidence we'd walked into the forest with had died the moment A
