McKenna opened her eyes and the silence finally made sense.
She was alone.
She was engulfed by darkness — a darkness so complete it felt like sound itself had been swallowed. No heartbeat of the pack house. No breathing wolves. Not even the whisper of the night wind through the trees. Just… nothing.
Except in her head.
In her head, she was anything but alone.
The pack link had turned into static and chaos — a thousand half-screamed words colliding, breaking apart, reforming. Fear surged through the bond like a virus. One thought repeated again and again, climbing over itself:
People are missing.
Gone.
Just gone.
They were there one moment and then — nothing. No scent, no trace, no fading footsteps. No goodbyes. Simply vanished into the air like mist under sun.
McKenna pressed her
