**VAMPIRE LUCIAN**
Distance has always been my greatest weapon.
Not claws. Not fangs. Not brute force.
Patience.
I stand just beyond the edge of the tree line where the forest thins into that uneasy stretch of land the wolves insist on calling a border, close enough to feel the pulse of their territory, far enough that none of their precious patrols pick up my scent. The air here hums with werewolf energy, layered and territorial and thick with possessiveness, but beneath that there is something else.
Fracture.
It is subtle. Barely perceptible. But it is there.
Atticus paces the line with rigid discipline, shoulders tight, jaw clenched, eyes scanning shadows that are not empty, even though he believes they are. He has the look of a wolf who has not slept properly in days, the kind t
