Small. Dark. Too graceful to be human.
A flicker at the edge of vision, then gone.
My throat goes tight. Dragon senses catching the edge of another predator’s focus. The skin along my forearms warms beneath my jacket sleeves, heat pushing against fabric in waves I can’t control.
I’m being tracked.
Not by Syndicate soldiers; they move in patterns I helped design, mechanical and predictable. This is something else. Something that follows on instinct rather than protocol.
Wolf.
It has to be a wolf.
But wolves don’t trigger this kind of response. I’ve encountered dozens over the years—during operations, during training exercises in terrain like this. They register as background fauna. Potential complications to account for, nothing more.
This is different.
This feels personal.
“Eyes up, perimeter,” I murmur under my breath. Old command cadence slipping out unbidden. “Don’t get complacent.”
The young guard hears but assumes I’m talking to myself. Doesn’t ask. Probably thinks defectors talk to ghosts.
Maybe we do.
For the first time since leaving custody, exhaustion edges through the numbness. Not the physical kind. The bone-deep variety that comes from carrying too much for too long.
If they kill me mid-journey, it will still be cleaner than the work I’ve done.
The thought doesn’t frighten me. It’s just accounting. The ledger balanced in blood.
I tilt my head, listening past normal range.
The wind carries a rhythm—heartbeat, maybe. Too erratic to be mine. Too distant to belong to anyone in the convoy. Too fast to be Matthew or the young guard or the driver.
Wild. Predatory.
Close.
I tell myself it’s engine harmonics. Frequency bouncing off valley walls.
Rational explanation.
But my dragonfire ignites again.
This time, I can’t suppress it fast enough. Heat flares white-hot beneath my ribs, spreading outward in a wave that makes the air around me shimmer. The young guard jerks back, rifle coming up.
“Commander—”
“Stand down.” My voice comes out harder than intended. Command tone I haven’t used in weeks. “I’m fine,” I lie again.
I’m not fine.
I’m burning from the inside out, and I don’t know why.
The sensation locks around my spine. My vision sharpens—too sharp, dragon sight bleeding through human perception. Colors intensify. Movement in the trees becomes crystal clear.
And there—
