The clearing is quiet now. Too quiet.
I step over the bodies of three fallen wolves, my stomach twisting as their fur, now dark with blood, brushes against my boots. Their stillness makes the world feel hollow, as though the air itself is holding its breath. I try not to look, but I can’t stop. Their faces haunt me, frozen mid-snarl or mid-leap, forever caught in the moment the light left them.
I want to curl into myself, hide, pretend it wasn’t my fault. But I can’t. I can feel it deep in my chest…the gnawing, inescapable truth. Every pulse of silver energy through my veins, every instinct I followed to fight, drew the rogues here. My power, my Moonbond, my existence…it made this happen.
Talon is beside me, silent and steady. His hand brushes my shoulder, a grounding force I desperatel
