The road south had never felt so long.
A line of wolves stretched across the narrow forest path, moving slowly through the cold morning mist. Some walked in silence. Others carried children or what little they had managed to gather before the land forced them out.
Blankets.
Tools.
Fragments of homes that no longer existed.
No one spoke loudly.
The forest behind them still felt too close.
Too watchful.
A young warrior near the front of the column stopped walking and looked back toward the north.
The others noticed immediately.
“Keep moving,” one of the older Betas muttered.
But several wolves turned anyway.
The forest wall was visible even from miles away.
A dark line across the horizon.
The trees had grown impossibly tall, their trunks twisting together like ancient pillars.
