Cierra
The moment we crossed the ridge, the air shifted.
Not warmer. Not safer.
Just… different. Like the forest itself refused to step further, as if whatever hunted us was content to stalk the tree line but not breach the territory marked by the burning torches below.
Dominic let out a breath I hadn’t realized he’d been holding, though he didn’t loosen his grip around my waist. Dane sagged between us, his weight suddenly heavier, as if his last drops of strength bled out the moment we stepped onto pack soil.
And for the first time since the voice spoke from the dark, I felt my knees threaten to buckle.
But I didn’t fall.
Dominic wouldn’t have let me.
Dane wouldn’t have allowed it.
Even half-conscious, Dane’s hand tightened around mine with instinctive, possessive desperation—lik
