Selene stumbled through the mist, muscles aching, heart hammering, but she did not stop.The forest stretched on and on, wet leaves squelching under her boots, branches clawing at her face, rain gluing her hair to her head.

Behind her, the same amber eyes she had seen at the Moon Summit still followed.

She didn’t dare look back.

Every instinct screamed it was waiting, patient and sure.

Minutes blurred into hours.

The cold crept into her bones until her hands were numb and her breath came in clouds.

She finally sank against the roots of a huge oak, chest heaving, clothes soaked through.

Her wolf stirred, low and tense.

I can’t go back. Not yet. Not ever.

A flicker of orange glowed through the trees.

Not moonlight—a fire.

Selene froze, crouched low, heart thudding.

Her wolf sniffed the air, ears flat.

The amber eyes blinked at the edge of the glow, then vanished.

In their place a woman stepped from the shadows, a bundle of kindling in her arms.

“You’re alone,” the stranger said. Her voice was calm but carried through the mist. “Not the safest night to wander.”

Selene stayed crouched.

She didn’t answer, didn’t move.

Her wolf held a taut, watchful silence.

The woman set her kindling down and raised empty hands.

“Name’s Eira. Healer. Wanderer. I’ve a cabin nearby—warmer than this, with food that isn’t rainwater. Come.”

Selene’s breath stayed shallow.

She kept her gaze on the woman, weighing every detail.

Grey streaks in dark hair.

Leather boots worn from travel.

A faint smell of herbs and iron.

Could be a trap.

Could be safety.

“You’ll catch death out here,” Eira said softly. “I won’t harm you. The forest’s cold enough without my help. Let me give you shelter.”

Still Selene said nothing.

The wolf inside her gave a small huff—not warning, not approval.

She rose slowly, dripping and pale, and followed when Eira turned.

They walked through wet ferns and tall pines.

Mist closed behind them like a curtain.

Selene kept half a step back, eyes on Eira’s shoulders, ears on the forest.

No sign of the amber eyes, but she felt them—watching, patient, unyielding.

Eira talked as they went: about the storms that bent the trees, the old paths under the moss, the way the forest “tests” newcomers.

Selene listened but gave nothing back.

The cabin appeared at last, tucked beneath ancient cedars, smoke curling from its chimney.

Inside it was dim, lit by a single lantern and the soft glow of a hearth.

Herbs hung from the rafters.

A rough table stood near the fire.

Eira moved easily, shedding her cloak, setting out a loaf of bread and a pot of stew.

“Sit,” she said. “Eat. Warm up.”

Selene slipped into the farthest corner of the room, still damp, still wary.

She accepted the bowl Eira handed her but ate slowly, eyes never leaving the other woman.

Her wolf tasted the food and gave no protest, only a strange, deep quiet.

The warmth of the cabin pressed around her like a lullaby she didn’t want to trust.

Eira spoke lightly of the forest, of its storms and secrets, of packs she had healed in years past.

Selene only listened.

At last she murmured her name—“Selene”—as if it were a secret.

Exhaustion dragged at her eyelids.

She meant to stay awake, to keep watching, but the fire blurred and her body sagged.

Heat bloomed beneath her skin, strange and sharp.

Fever took her under before she could fight it.

She drifted for days—or what felt like days—caught between sleep and memory.

Silverfen, the Moon Summit, Rowan’s eyes, the amber gaze in the trees: they replayed over and over.

Sometimes she thought she felt cool hands on her brow, heard a low voice murmuring, but she couldn’t be sure it wasn’t the fever’s dream.

When at last she surfaced fully, light filtered through the cabin’s small window.

Eira sat beside her, cloth in hand, tending a cut along her palm.

Selene blinked.

Every ache from her flight crashed back into her muscles.

“You’re awake,” Eira said quietly. “Good. You’ve been burning with fever for three days.”

Selene tried to sit but swayed.

“Three days…”

Eira’s gaze softened but turned intent.

“While you slept, I felt it. The change. The life inside you.”

She hesitated, searching Selene’s face.

“You’re carrying more than yourself now—the last spark of a bloodline the forest has been waiting for.”

The words struck like a bell.

Selene stared at her, disbelieving.

“No… you must be wrong.”

“I’m not.” Eira’s voice was steady but not unkind. “Whatever follows you, it’s watching not just you but what you carry. You’re more important than you think.”

Selene’s hand drifted to her abdomen.

Warmth pulsed there, deeper than hunger, deeper than fear.

Doubt warred with a flicker of certainty she couldn’t explain.

“I… I don’t—”

Outside, the mist thickened until the window turned white.

A branch snapped somewhere beyond the cabin—sharp, deliberate, far too close.

Eira stiffened, her eyes flicking to the door.

“Stay here,” she murmured, rising.

Selene’s wolf bristled, claws pricking her palms.

The warmth in her belly pulsed again, harder now, as if answering a call.

She pushed herself upright, heart hammering.

Through the haze of the glass she caught them: amber eyes, no longer distant, but right at the tree line, unblinking.

A low rumble built in her chest.

The air in the room seemed to hold its breath.

Eira’s hand hovered near the latch but she did not open it.

“It’s found you,” she whispered. “And it’s not alone.”

Something moved behind those eyes—taller, darker, a second shape slipping between the trees.

The lantern flickered; the cabin’s shadow stretched like claws across the floor.

Selene’s pulse thundered, wolf rising to the surface.

She didn’t know if she could stand, didn’t know if she could fight—but she knew she couldn’t hide.

Outside, a howl rose—low, guttural, not wolf, not human.

The sound rattled the windowpanes.

Then silence.

Selene’s gaze met Eira’s.

“What is it?” she rasped.

Eira’s expression was unreadable.

“Not what,” she said softly. “Who.”

Another snap of wood.

The latch trembled.

Selene’s breath caught.

And in the space between heartbeats, the door began to open.