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Her stepchildren were not there.

And Blaidd...

She did not search the horizon.

Sulien waited respectfully by the four-wheel drive. He opened the door without comment.

Fae picked up her satchel while he loaded her bags into the back.

Her wolf stirred, not with grief or fear, but with something like excitement.

She climbed into the passenger seat. The engine roared and gravel shifted beneath the tyres. And as they drove away, she did not look back.

The protection seal burned faintly at her fingertip.The ruby was warm against the skin between her breasts.

Ahead lay roads unclaimed by memory, and a village that did not grant permission lightly.

And the path forward belonged entirely to her.

Chapter 10

The walk home felt wrong from the first step. He had traversed the frozen terrain in his wolf form with his pack tied around his neck as the uneasiness in his chest burned through his tiredness. Closer to the settlement, he shifted back smoothly to his human skin, and his feet carried him home through the familiar cobbled paths. Snow crunched beneath his boots, his shoulders heavy with exhaustion while his axes rode familiar and solid in their holsters. The blizzard had left him drained to the bone, his muscles aching while his mind was numb with cold and distance.

But it was not the weather that unsettled him. He rarely used the packlink but as this strange anxiety grew, that changed.

'Fae, is everything alright?'

'Fae, are you not well?'

'Maxen, is everything alright?'

There were no answers. The wolves he passed did not greet him. Some looked away, unwilling to meet his eyes, while others stared outright with shuttered faces and angry expressions. A few dipped their heads, but did not offer any news.

Unease crawled up his spine.

His house should have been a beacon in the distance by now—warm light spilling through the windows, gold against the encroaching dark. Fae always left lamps burning when she knew he was due home. It was a small thing, a thoughtfulness he had come to expect without ever truly acknowledging.

Tonight, the house stood dark.

A disquiet seized his chest as his feet moved faster.

He reached out across the packlink again, the now-familiar pulse of dread sharpening like ice.

'Maxen.'

Nothing.

He tried again. And again.

Then Sion. Sulien.

Silence.

His pace quickened despite the fatigue dragging at his limbs. Snow gusted against him as he reached the porch, the absence of light feeding his panic.

Finally—Maxen.

'Are you back?'