Near enough to feel it.
The sun is sliding toward late afternoon when the knock comes.Soft and measured.Not one of the pack warriors, they know not to come here.
“Silas?”Peyton’s voice.“I need a moment.It’s important.”
I sigh quietly and stand, rolling my neck until it cracks.Aria shifts at the sound, murmuring something under her breath.I press my hand lightly to the mattress, so she feels a familiar presence.
“I’ll be right outside,” I whisper.
She settles and my chest tightens.It’s the little moments between us, moments others would take for granted, that mean the most to me right now.
I step out, closing the door softly.Peyton stands there, arms folded in a way that tells me she’s not here just to chat.Marc’s leaning against the hallway wall behind her, expression grim.
“What is it?”I ask, already bracing.
Peyton exchanges a look with Marc before saying carefully, “The Hunters are moving.”
My stomach drops.
Marc straightens.“We intercepted new comms.They know she’s here.”
A cold snarl rips from my chest before I can stop it.Peyton reaches out, touching my arm lightly, not to calm me, but to anchor.
“There’s more,” she says.
“Say it,” I grit out.
“They fed us false intel.”Peyton grimaces.“Deliberately.”
I blink.“What kind of intel?”
Marc folds his arms.“They reported one of their transport camps was abandoned and exposed.Practically begged us to attack it.”
I narrow my eyes.“Why would they want us there?”
“To ambush you,” Peyton says simply.
White-hot fury ignites in my veins.Aria’s fear last night.Her panic.Her nightmares.They planned to use her rescue as bait.
I grind my teeth, trying not to punch a hole through the wall.“Did anyone get hurt?”
“No,” Marc says.“Caine caught the lie before sending anyone out.But the point stands, they’re not retreating.They’re rearranging.”
“Preparing,” Peyton adds.
Preparing for what?To take her back?To takeotherslike her?To hurt, destroy, and dismantle the Katu pack I now call home?My dire wolf claws at my insides, snarling.
“Aria can’t know,” I say immediately.
Peyton nods.“We weren’t planning to tell her yet.”
Marc pushes off the wall.“But you need to be ready, Silas.They’re bold now.More organized.This wasn’t some rogue team.This was coordinated.”
Coordinated.Meaning this goes higher than any of us thought.
“Were they looking for her specifically,” I ask quietly, “or for any leopard?”
Marc’s face darkens.“We think they’re looking forallof them.”
