The Old Den smells like pine and wet earth and something older.
Like the forest remembers what this place was.
Mara talks for an hour.
I don't interrupt.
She tells me about the thirty wolves behind her. Where they came from. What Elias did to them. A pack from the southern border, scattered when he sent hunters through three years ago. A woman named Dara who lost her mate in the purge and raised her son in the trees for two winters.
A man named Colt who was a Moonridge guard once, until Elias had him stripped of rank and thrown out for asking too many questions.
People Moonridge failed.
People Rylan failed.
People I failed, because I wasn't there.
I don't say that last part out loud. But it's there.
Kell listens without moving. He's good at that. Sitting still.
Taking it in.
