I watched him leave from the balcony.
The dusk was bruised purple above the mountains, the last light bleeding from a sky that looked wounded. Darien and Cain moved through the gates on foot, their packs strapped tight, their movements swift and efficient. They would shift once they reached the tree line and run through the night to rejoin the others.
Darien looked up one last time. Found me on the balcony the way he always did, as though the bond drew his gaze to me like gravity.
I pressed my hand to the mark on my neck. He pressed his fist to his chest.
Then they were gone, swallowed by the darkness and the snow that had begun to fall in thin, silent sheets.
I stood there until the cold seeped through my clothes and into my bones. Until the sky turned fully dark. Until Keanu appeare
