“Then we'll find proof. Evidence of who did this.” Daniel's jaw tightened. “And we'll make them answer for it.”
Something shifted in Rafe's expression. Gratitude, maybe. Or hope. Or something darker that wore hope's face.
“Thank you,” he said again. “I don't... I don't have the words for what that means. Having someone willing to fight for justice when I couldn't.”
We left. Closed the door behind us.
“Poor kid,” I said quietly.
Daniel nodded, scrubbing a hand over his face.
“You believe him?”
“About his pack getting slaughtered? Yeah.” Daniel leaned against the wall, suddenly looking as tired as I felt. “That kind of grief isn't something you can fake. Not the way his voice broke when he talked about Alpha Warren.”
Gideon made a sound of agreement. “His healing's coming along well. Another day or two and he should be strong enough to move around. Maybe join the pack for meals, start getting his bearings.”
“Good. Being stuck in that room can't be helping.” Daniel pushed off the wall. “Once he's cleared, we will go to Ash Hollow. See if we can find out who did this.”
“And if you can't?”
“Then at least he'll know someone tried.” Daniel's jaw tightened. “Nobody should have to carry that alone. Losing everyone, not knowing why.”
We walked out of the pack house together, into afternoon light that was starting to go golden at the edges. The forest stoodquiet around us, doing that thing forests do where they feel like they're listening even when nothing's moving.
“He seems like a good kid,” I said. “Underneath all the trauma.”
“Yeah.” Daniel was quiet for a moment. “Reminds me a little of Evan, actually. That same stubborn survival instinct. The way he keeps trying to hold himself together even when he's falling apart.”
“Maybe that's why you saved him.”
Daniel's mouth quirked. Not quite a smile, but close. “Maybe.”
We parted ways at my truck, Daniel heading back inside to deal with whatever Alpha business was waiting for him, me driving home with the afternoon sun warm through the windshield and my thoughts full of a wolf named Rafe who'd lost everything and somehow kept running until he found somewhere safe to fall.
I hoped we could help him.
I hoped safety was something we could actually give.
6
ASH HOLLOWS
DANIEL
Gideon had cleared Rafe a couple of days ago. Pronounced his wounds sealed and his body functional. So we were going to Ash Hollow. All of us. To see for ourselves what Rafe had survived.
The truck bed was cramped with six people who had no business being comfortable together. I drove, Michael in the passenger seat with a silver blade at his hip that he'd started carrying everywhere. Evan sat behind me, Nate pressed against his side, and Gideon had claimed the middle seat with the quiet authority of someone who'd stopped caring about personal space decades ago.
Rafe rode in the back, alone, watching the forest scroll past with an expression I couldn't read.
“How much further?” Michael asked.
“Another hour. Maybe less.” I kept my eyes on the road, on the way the trees pressed closer the deeper we drove into territory that hadn't been properly claimed in weeks. “AshHollow's territory starts at the river crossing. We'll know when we hit it.”
“How?”
“You'll feel it.” Gideon's voice was flat. “Pack territory has a presence. When that presence dies, the absence is... noticeable.”
