They ran in silence for the first hour.
Not the uncomfortable silence of strangers — the focused silence of wolves covering ground, conserving energy, processing terrain. The forest was different this far east of Silver Fang territory — denser, older, the canopy so thick that the dawn light filtered through in thin, golden needles that barely reached the floor. The air smelled like pine resin and wet stone and the faint, mineral tang of a river somewhere ahead.
Ember ran well. Levi noticed this the way he noticed everything about her — involuntarily, comprehensively, with the obsessive attention of a man whose wolf had imprinted on someone three days ago and was now cataloging every detail with the desperate thoroughness of a librarian who had been given one book and told it was the only
