ULRIC KNIGHT
The border appeared like a scar cut into the earth, a deliberate separation between what lay beyond and what I had chosen to protect. The road narrowed the closer we drew, gravel crunching under the weight of the car, the sound sharp in the otherwise suffocating quiet of the forest. Pine pressed thick on either side, their tall shadows swallowing what little light managed to fight its way down. I could feel eyes on us already, not just from the guards stationed at the gate ahead, but from the pack's sentinels hiding where they thought they could not be seen.
