NEVA POV
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Three hours felt like a year.
My wolf ran a continuous thread of fear and fury the entire ride, and I let her, understanding that suppressing it now would only cost me clarity I couldn't afford to lose. Ryke's back was rigid in front of me the whole way, his knuckles white on the handlebars, and I kept my hands pressed flat against his chest, feeling his heartbeat, using it as the only steady thing available in a world that had gone entirely unsteady.
The property emerged from the trees as dawn fully broke — an old house, smaller than Vesna's estate, the specific unremarkable quality of a place designed to be forgotten rather than found.
Silo signaled the stop a quarter mile out.
"Standard approach," he said, his voice clipped with the specific focus he brought to the mo
