But the silence didn’t feel empty. It felt like pressure, like the air itself was holding its breath, waiting.
We’d only just begun to pull the pieces together. The twins still reeling from what they’d seen, Asher pacing at my side, the pack unsettled and raw. When the storm broke again.
It started small. One sentry on the eastern ridge scented her first. Then another, and another. By the time the alarm howled through Moonflare’s main clearing, I could already feel her through the bond. That dark, electric pull in the air that meant Lydia was close.
“She’s coming back.” Asher said, already shifting his stance, scanning the treeline.
“She never really left.” I answered. My voice came out low, calm, far steadier than I felt. The truth was, she’d never stopped haunting us. Her presence li
