I learned quickly that nights in Crescent Valley were different from days.
During the day, the town pretended. People smiled when they had to. Shops opened and closed on time. Life went on in careful, controlled motions. But at night, the pretending stopped. The darkness pulled the truth closer to the surface, and no one bothered to hide it from the forest.
I stood at the window of the pack house, watching fog roll low across the ground. It moved slowly, like something searching. The moon hung above the trees, not full, but bright enough to cast long shadows that stretched and twisted against the earth.
I hadn't planned to be awake.
Sleep had simply refused to come, the same way it had been doing since I arrived. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt watched. Not hunted yet but observed. Measured.
I wrapped my arms around myself and exhaled slowly.
You're safe, I told myself.
But even as the thought formed, I knew it wasn't true. Not completely.
Footsteps sounded behind me. I didn't turn right away. I already knew who it was.
"You should be resting," Kael said.
His voice was low, controlled, but there was something else beneath it tonight. Tension. Strain.
"I tried," I replied. "Didn't work."
He came to stand beside me, close enough that I could feel the warmth of him without touching. He smelled like earth and pine and something sharper underneath. Wild.
"You're not used to this place anymore," he said. "Your instincts haven't adjusted."
"My instincts keep telling me something's wrong," I said quietly.
He didn't argue.
That alone unsettled me.
We stood in silence for a moment, watching the forest. Somewhere in the distance, a howl rose and fell. It wasn't threatening. It wasn't comforting either. It was… purposeful.
"Is there a reason the pack looks like it's preparing for war?" I asked.
Kael's gaze stayed fixed on the trees. "We're preparing for defense."
"Against what?"
His jaw tightened.
I turned to face him fully. "Kael."
He finally looked at me then. Really looked at me. His eyes were darker tonight, the gray edged with something almost silver under the moonlight.
"You keep pushing," he said. "You don't know what you're pushing against."
"Then stop pretending I don't deserve answers."
For a long moment, he said nothing. I could feel him weighing something, measuring risk against restraint.
"There are boundaries," he said at last. "Lines that exist for a reason."
"And who decides where those lines are?" I asked. "You?"
"Yes."
The bluntness of the answer made my chest tighten.
"I didn't choose this," I said. "I didn't choose Crescent Valley. I didn't choose the forest. And I didn't choose whatever secret everyone keeps circling around me like I'm the problem."
His expression shifted just slightly but I caught it. Guilt.
"You came back," he said.
"For my grandmother," I snapped. "Not for this."
Something moved at the edge of the clearing.
Kael reacted instantly. His body went rigid, every muscle locking into place. He stepped in front of me without thinking, one arm lifting slightly as if to shield me.
That's when I saw it.
Not clearly. Not fully.
A shape slipped between the trees too large to be a normal animal, too fast to track properly. The air changed, thickening, buzzing with something that made my skin prickle.
"What was that?" I whispered.
Kael didn't answer.
Instead, he turned sharply and grabbed my wrist. Not painfully but firmly.
"You need to go inside," he said.
"No," I said, pulling back. "I'm not a child."
"This isn't a debate."
"Then tell me what I just saw."
His grip tightened slightly. "You didn't see anything."
I laughed softly, the sound was shaky. "You're a terrible liar."
For a second, something dangerous flickered across his face. Not anger, fear.
"For once," he said quietly, "listen to me. Whatever is moving out there… It's testing the edges. And you don't want its attention."
Too late, I thought.
Because even as he spoke, I felt it.
That sensation again. The unmistakable awareness of being seen.
The air vibrated, low and tense. Somewhere deeper in the forest, something answered the howl with a sound that wasn't quite animal. It carried intelligence. Intent.
Kael swore under his breath.
He turned, lifting his head, and let out a sharp, commanding sound that echoed across the trees. It wasn't a howl not exactly but it carried authority. Power.
Movement exploded around us.
Figures emerged from the shadows, fast and silent. Pack members. Their expressions were grim, focused. Some of them weren't entirely… human anymore. Their eyes reflected the moonlight too sharply. Their movements were too fluid.
My breath caught.
This was the line.
The moment where pretending ended.
"Stay behind me," Kael ordered.
"What is happening?" I demanded.
"An incursion," Lyric said, appearing at my other side. Her usual playful tone was gone. "Not an attack. Not yet."
"Then what?"
"They're watching us," she said. "Same as you."
The realization hit me hard.
I wasn't just collateral.
I was part of the problem.
Or the solution.
A low growl rippled through the pack. It rolled outward, layered and deep, vibrating through the ground beneath my feet.
Something answered from the forest.
Kael shifted.
I didn't know how else to describe it. One moment he was standing there, solid and human, and the next there was something more beneath the surface, power straining against skin and bone, barely contained.
I stepped back instinctively.
He noticed.
That hurt more than I expected.
"Go inside," he said again, his voice rougher now. "Lock the door. Do not come out, no matter what you hear."
"And if you don't come back?" I asked.
His eyes met mine, sharp and unreadable. "I will."
That wasn't a promise.
It was a vow.
I backed away slowly, my heart pounding, every instinct screaming at me to run and stay at the same time. As I reached the door, I paused.
"Kael," I said.
He turned.
"I don't want protection built on lies."
For a moment, he looked like he might say something. Something real.
Instead, he said, "Survive tonight."
The door closed behind me with a final, hollow sound.
I locked it. Then I stood there in the dark, listening as the forest came alive.
Growls. Footsteps. The sound of bodies moving too fast.
And beneath it all, that same steady awareness.
Whatever was out there now knew exactly where I stood.
And deep down, I knew the truth I'd been avoiding.
There was no crossing back over the line.
I was already on the wrong side of it.