Easton
The forest went silent.
Not the peaceful kind of silence that settled after the birds tucked themselves away for the night.
This silence felt wrong.
Predatory.
The kind that made every instinct I’d spent years sharpening stand at attention.
I kept one arm around Arianna while my eyes swept across the trees, refusing to linger in one place for more than a second. The stranger had vanished, but that didn’t mean he was gone. If anything, it made him more dangerous. Wolves hunted by scent. Shapeshifters hunted by patience.
They were built differently.
Around us, my warriors spread into a defensive circle without needing a single order. We’d trained together long enough that everyone knew their role. Two moved deeper into the woods, searching for any sign of movement. Another pai
