He was at the tributary when I found him.
Or — I found him there because my wolf had been noting his direction in the pack bond's ambient awareness since he joined the compound, the specific signature of someone adjacent to the bloodline, close enough to register, different enough to be distinct. My wolf had made her assessment of Zane early and had been consistent about it: not threat, not pack, not the warm constant of Darius or the specific familiar warmth of Kira. Something else. The Navigator's frequency. A compass settled.
He was sitting on the bank with his feet at the water's edge, his shoes off, looking at nothing in particular with the focused quality of someone doing their actual thinking rather than organizing their thoughts.
He heard me come.
"Sera," he said, without turni
