POV: Daniel

The forest never slept after blood was spilled.

Even now, hours after the wolves were ash and bone, the trees trembled faintly, drinking the last of the iron from the soil. The rain had cleaned the street, but it couldn’t cleanse the air. It still smelled of death and promise.

I walked until the noise of the city fell away behind me. The tether stretched between us, faint but constant—her heartbeat a low, steady echo against my ribs. She was inside now, ...