Night patrols always felt different from daytime ones, and tonight the forest felt so tense that every sound seemed sharper and every shadow looked like it might suddenly start moving.
I walked behind Ezra and Declan along the narrow trail near the eastern border while the damp ground muffled most of our footsteps, and the cold night air carried the scent of pine and wet soil through the trees.
The moon was barely visible behind a layer of cloud, which meant the forest stayed mostly dark except for the weak silver light slipping through the branches overhead.
That should have been calming, but it was not. The matebond pulsed steadily beneath my skin while Ezra moved ahead of me with that quiet lethal focus he always carried when he was working, and even without seeing his face I knew hi
