Back at Duskthorn pack.....
The forest was too quiet.
Even the birds had gone still.
I slowed near the treeline, my wolf pacing just under my skin. Every sense sharp. Every breath careful.
We weren't supposed to be out this far from the western ridge, but something had pulled us off course. A scent on the wind—musky, burnt pine and damp fur. Old. Wrong. Unfamiliar.
"Stop," I ordered in a whisper. "Look there."
Through the thinning trees, just beyond the moss-covered slope, was the old training field.
It hadn't been used in years—not since the heir left. Not since the Alpha ordered all outer territory drills relocated to the southern ring.
And yet...
Movement.
Two figures slipped from the shadow of a crumbling pine, low to the ground. Wolves. Mangy and unmarked. They crept like ghosts from the brush, paused beneath a dead tree, and then—
One sniffed the air.
The other turned sharply. Eyes glowing dull yellow.
Not pack.
Definitely not ours.
My pulse kicked. I raised a hand, signaling the team to stay low.
We watched in complete silence as they sniffed around the bark of the old oak—the one we used to use for climbing drills and scent training. They seemed... drawn to it. Like they knew what it used to be.
And then, just as quickly as they came, they vanished.
Retreating north.
No sign of urgency. No stolen prey. No blood. Just that eerie quiet trailing after them like a second shadow.
"Go," I said. "We report. Now."
-----------------------------------------------------------
The fire crackled low in the hearth, the only sound in the stone-walled chamber as we stood before the two most powerful wolves in the region.
Alpha Duskthorn towered at the head of the long table, arms folded, jaw clenched. His wolf,Anubis, sat just beneath the surface—silent but watchful. Ancient. Coiled like smoke behind his silver-flecked eyes.
At his left stoodBeta Parker, one hand braced on the table edge. Calm. Strategic. His wolf,Aspen, exuded the kind of chill that warned of buried rage, not absence.
"You're certain they weren't pack?" Parker asked, voice low.
I nodded. "Unmarked. Thin. Moved like rogues but with purpose. They didn't stumble through—theyknewthe terrain. They stopped at the old training field, sniffed around, and then left heading northwest."
Alpha Duskthorn's face didn't change, but the air thickened.
"No sign of a kill?" he asked.
"No, sir."
"No sign of blood, injury, or a tracker left behind?"
"Nothing. But... they weren't just passing through."
"They were looking for something," Parker murmured.
"Orsomeone," the Alpha added.
The silence that followed was long. Weighted.
"Double the western patrols," Duskthorn said finally. "And send a scouting pair up the northwest ridge. I want every abandoned clearing and den site checked by dawn."
"Yes, Alpha."
Parker turned to him. "You think this is random?"
The Alpha's eyes sharpened. "Nothing that close to the old training grounds ever is."
==================================================
The fire was already lit when Beta Parker returned.
I heard the front door open with that sharp hinge-creak, followed by the weight of his boots echoing through the stone entryway. Mera sat curled on the couch across from me, a hand resting lightly on her stomach like she was posing for a painting. Her smile tilted upward when she saw him, soft and sweet in that way she'd perfected.
I rose to meet my father, but his expression stopped me cold.
Something had happened.
"Border patrol picked up rogue activity," he said, wasting no time. "Western edge, near the old training fields."
My stomach dropped. "Rogues? That close?"
He nodded, eyes flicking briefly to Mera before settling back on me. "Two of them. Slipped past the third quadrant patrol and loitered under the northeast pine. No attacks. No howling. No blood. But they knew the terrain."
"They were looking for something," I said quietly.
"They were looking forus," my father corrected.
Mera shifted slightly on the couch. "But that's nearly inside the pack's stronghold," she said, voice wrapped in concern. "Why would rogues risk coming so close?"
"She's right," I murmured, stepping closer to the hearth. "They'd never get that deep unless they knew how to move like one of us."
Beta Parker said nothing at first. Just watched me—too long. Too carefully.
Finally, he spoke. "Alpha Duskthorn believes this wasn't a scouting mistake. It was amessage. Someone's testing our blind spots. Patrolling our history. The old field isn't on any new maps. They had to have been told."
"By who?" I asked.
No one answered.
Mera stood slowly, her face the picture of quiet worry. "Maybe you should rest, Kael," she said, slipping her arms gently around mine. "Your father and the Alpha will figure it out. You've done enough tonight."
But the way her hand tightened—just a little—against my wrist... I noticed that.
I didn't know why it made me pause.
My father caught it too. His gaze dropped to her hand, then to me, sharp as a drawn blade.
"She's right," Parker said after a beat. "You'll be needed soon enough. Keep your senses sharp. Watch your flank."
"I always do," I muttered.
But even as I said it, I felt off balance. Like I'd stepped onto a battlefield without knowing it.
My father left without another word, his boots thudding against the floor until the door snapped shut behind him.
Mera turned to me then, lips curved upward, eyes too calm.
"Come to bed?" she asked.
I hesitated, and I didn't know why.
Maybe it was the patrol report. Maybe it was the look in Parker's eyes. Maybe it was the ghost of a girl who used to race me through those training fields. A girl with starlight eyes and a laugh that once made my wolf,Echo, howl like the moon hung from her voice.
But I pushed the memory down. Swallowed it like bitter root.
She was gone.
This was my life now.
Mera—pregnant, sweet, loyal Mera—wrapped herself around my arm again. "You're thinking too much," she murmured. "Come lie down. For us."
I nodded slowly.
Still, as we climbed the stairs, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had just been warned.
And I hadn't listened.