I didn't sleep that night.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the body beneath the cedar tree. Not his face, but the way he had been left there deliberate, intentional, like someone wanted him to be found. Like someone wanted to be seen.
The pack house never fully rested. Even in the hours before dawn, I heard movement, quiet steps, doors opening, low voices murmuring through walls too thin to keep secrets. Whatever Kael had ordered after the gathering hadn't ended with the howls.
It had begun with them.
I lay on my side, staring at the narrow strip of moonlight on the floor. My chest still felt tight, as if the forest had reached inside me and wrapped its fingers around something fragile and essential.
You're waking up.
Kael's words repeated in my head, refusing to fade.
I didn't know what that meant. I wasn't glowing. I wasn't stronger. I didn't feel powerful.
I just felt… pulled. Like something had shifted slightly out of place, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't settle back into who I used to be.
At some point, exhaustion won.
When I woke again, the sun was already high, light spilling through the narrow window. For a moment, I forgot where I was. Then I heard the steady rhythm of the forest beyond the walls, alive and waiting.
I dressed quickly and stepped into the hallway.
The pack house felt different.
Not tense like before. Focused.
People moved with purpose now. Some carried supplies. Others spoke in clipped sentences, maps spread across tables, fingers tracing paths through familiar territory. No one stopped me, but I felt their eyes on me all the same.
I found Lyric near the back of the house, grinding herbs into a stone bowl. Dark circles shadowed her eyes.
"You didn't sleep either," I said.
She snorted softly. "No one did."
"Are they going after it?" I asked.
She didn't ask who I meant. "Patrols are doubled. Borders reinforced. Kael's not taking chances."
"Is that enough?"
Her hands stilled. "Nothing is enough when the forest decides to test us."
That didn't make me feel better.
I left the house shortly after, unable to stand still. The air outside was sharp, cold enough to sting my lungs. I followed the path toward the edge of the clearing, stopping where the trees thickened.
This was as far as I was supposed to go.
I stayed anyway.
I didn't cross the boundary this time. I just watched.
The forest watched back.
I didn't know how long I stood there before I noticed the tracks.
They were subtle—pressed deeper into the soil than the others, longer, heavier. Not a wolf. Not human. Something in between.
I crouched to study them, my fingers hovering just above the ground. The earth felt warm, faintly pulsing beneath my palm.
I jerked my hand back.
That was new.
"Elara."
I turned.
Kael stood behind me, his expression unreadable. He looked exhausted, tension carved into the lines of his face like something permanent.
"You keep doing things that make my job harder," he said.
"I didn't cross the line," I replied.
"You don't need to," he said quietly. "You're already standing too close."
I rose to my feet. "You told me to leave."
"Yes."
"I stayed."
"I noticed."
For a moment, neither of us spoke. The forest loomed behind me, patient and dark.
"What happens now?" I asked.
Kael's gaze flicked to the tracks, then back to me. "Now you learn the cost of that choice."
That afternoon, the cost made itself known.
It started with a scream.
It tore through the pack house, sharp and sudden, followed by the unmistakable sound of chaos. Shouting. Footsteps. The crash of something heavy hitting the floor.
I ran toward the noise without thinking.
They had brought someone back.
A boy no, a young man lay on the floor of the main room, blood staining his clothes. He was alive, barely, chest rising in shallow, uneven breaths. Deep gashes marked his side, wrapped hastily with cloth already soaked through.
"He wandered past the ridge," someone said. "Didn't listen."
Kael knelt beside him, his hands steady as he assessed the damage. "He shouldn't have survived this."
The words sent a ripple through the room.
"Then why did he?" I asked.
Kael looked up at me sharply.
Because it wanted him to.
No one said it out loud, but I saw it in their eyes.
The boy's gaze flickered open, unfocused and terrified. His lips moved.
I stepped closer before anyone could stop me.
"What did you see?" I asked gently.
His fingers twitched, clutching weakly at my sleeve.
"Gold," he whispered.
The room went silent.
Kael froze.
"What?" I breathed.
"Gold," the boy repeated, panic rising in his voice. "In the dark. Watching."
Kael stood slowly. "That's enough."
But it was too late.
Every pair of eyes turned to me.
I took a step back, my heart pounding. "That doesn't mean"
"You need to leave the room," Kael said, his voice tight.
"I didn't do anything!"
"That's exactly the problem," he snapped.
The boy screamed then, body arching violently before going still.
Too still.
Someone pulled me away as the room erupted into motion. Orders barked. Doors slammed. Lyric caught my arm, her grip firm.
"Come with me," she said urgently.
She led me out of the house and toward a smaller structure near the tree line. Inside, the air smelled of herbs and smoke. Wards—actual wards lined the walls, carved deep into the wood.
"You're not safe anymore," Lyric said once the door was shut.
"I was never safe," I replied, my voice shaking.
She studied me, eyes sharp. "No. You were protected."
"By what?"
She hesitated. "By ignorance."
Silence stretched between us.
"They know about me now," I said.
"Yes."
"And whatever's out there"
"I know you better."
That night, Kael came to see me.
He didn't knock.
"You should have listened," he said.
"I listened," I shot back. "You just didn't tell me anything worth hearing."
He closed the door behind him. "Hunting doesn't kill randomly. It provokes. Tests. Draw lines."
"And now?"
"And now," he said, his gaze locking onto mine, "it's decided you're worth noticing."
Fear curled low in my stomach.
"What does it want?" I asked.
Kael's voice dropped. "To see what happens when the forest finally stops holding back."
I swallowed.
Outside, the wind rose, trees creaking as though adjusting their stance.
I stayed awake long after Kael left.
Because deep down, beneath the fear, beneath the dread
I knew something else.
Whatever had started this wasn't finished.
And staying in Crescent Valley had just made me part of the answer.