The forest was too quiet.
The kind of quiet that made every instinct in my body scream danger.
The silver eyes hadn’t moved since I first saw them. They just stared from the darkness — calm, unblinking, too steady to belong to a wild animal. I could feel the hair rise along my arms, and Oakley pressed hard in the back of my mind, tense but ready.
“Jax.” I whispered, keeping my voice low. “You see that?”
He didn’t answer right away. I heard the faint rumble in his chest — a warning growl he was trying to hold back. “Yeah.” He said finally, his tone sharp. “Stay behind me.”
But I didn’t move behind him. I couldn’t. Something about those eyes pulled me forward — not in fear, but curiosity. There was no aggression in them. No killing intent. Only focus. Purpose.
“They’re not attacking.”
