l follo

uld've w

did

ve with grief. But her scent said otherwise. Not

h. Silver. Burned salt and bone-deep s

rneath a

dline. Hunted bloodline. The kind

dn't k

wo

ike it remembered violence. The stars thinned overhead, the pines tall

aught on the roots, but she didn't f

inch. "Where

ed for t

not an

only one

in the dark back there - too focused on her puls

make her

d at the

grass had grown here in years. Not since the ni

rcle, hesitation catchi

here he di

look at me. "Y

saw the a

ow do y

s cold through the gloves. "Because thi

en another language. "Calen di

lf from the Draven pack. That'

t part of

re abou

wind shifted. Trees groaned li

dn't moved. "Yo

l wh

n your chest. The way t

aid n

eady starte

to what?" sh

r they m

away from me - from the

it ha

pils n

- not the full s

to sc

o prove

hook her head. "No. This is just- I

ing to y

m n

blood. When the wind shifted. You f

like I'd reache

said, voice unsteady. "But I kno

Not threatening. But her should

think," I said. "He was suppos

head again,

cle. "He loved you. Enough to brea

n't let them fall. Good.

ot the whole

at

n't a

e. Her fists cl

of what

m n

hear the forest otherwise. Wouldn't smell me t

ked. "Wh

k. Spiral in the bark

rted. She d

" I asked. "It's a hunter's mark. Old blood magic

"Why would anyone

aus

d her th

he Draven pack three generations ago. And

collapse - more like her legs finally

I do?"

meone not yet burned out. She was on the edg

wasn't

close enough for her to hear the change in my

ked up. "I do

u w

fell bet

she s

zed once, violently. I caught

her head cradled in my arms, she

re... when th

red a

e I ha

n the way