ALARIC POV
Forty-five minutes.
That was all the flight was supposed to take.
Forty-five minutes from the moment the helicopter blades tore into the air above Greenwood territory to the moment my boots—or my paws—would hit the ground near Crescent Moon.
It felt like an eternity.
The kind of eternity measured not in minutes but in heartbeats, each one heavier than the last, stacking on top of the other until breathing became something I had to remember how to do.
I’d called her number again.
And again.
And again.
No answer.
Nothing.
And I prayed the Goddess they were all okay.
I clenched my jaw and forced my hand to relax before the phone cracked in my grip.
Across from me, Elias shifted his weight for the third time in under a minute. He’d been acting weird all the flight, jaw
