Isabelle started to move, to run—either from the horror she had helped unleash or from the sudden exposure—only to find River already moving past the two men. River did not look back. Her shoulders were steady; her face held no triumph, only the hollow exhaustion of a woman who had been forced to fight for the basic right to be left in peace.
Heiko’s breath fogged in the cold. He kept Damon pinned until Alpha Taylor’s guard arrived, summoned by the commotion. Damon’s expression as the guards hauled him away was not of contrition but of boiling, impotent rage—an oath that did not end with the clearing.
River sank to a tree root, hands trembling, the forest closing around them like a held breath. Heiko slid to her side, gathering her up without question, his own hands fierce but gentle as
