It wasn’t a strike or a probe.
My birthmark warmed, sudden and sharp.
Keegan's eyes moved to my hip. "Maeve."
"I know," I breathed.
Above us, something moved again, quick and purposeful.
But then the sound that stopped my blood scratched through the boards, carefully and long.
It wasn’t random or frantic.
Keegan slid out of bed without a sound. I followed, with my heart pounding and my legs forcing themselves to work.
From downstairs, I heard the faintest creak, like a floorboard shifting.
My breath caught. “Did you hear—”
Keegan lifted a hand, stopping me as his eyes were fixed on the ceiling, listening, then flicking toward the door.
Above us was the scraping, and below us was the creaking.
And we heard nothing from Karvey, which was odd.
In my head, Gideon’s voice echoed, urgently,Wake up.
And then Keegan’s telling me the same.
Keegan’s gaze met mine, and in it I saw the same realization settling.
Whatever was on the roof wasn’t alone, and the cottage, our safe, cozy, warded little refuge, had just become the center of someone else’s attention.
As if whoever was up there knew we were awake.
Keegan’s lips parted, a soundless breath, and his hand found mine in the dark—steady, warm, anchoring.
From directly above our heads, something shifted, and the roof gave a low groan from the weight, as if something new had just landed.
Keegan’s grip tightened.
And then, from the roof, a single slow knock sounded.
It was deliberate, like a greeting or maybe a warning.
Keegan drew me a fraction behind him, body a shield, and in the dark, I felt his voice more than heard it.
“Stay close,” he murmured.
The knock came again, but this time from the door.
Everything went still as though whatever had come… was waiting for us to make the next move.
Chapter Fifteen
A towering wolf stood where Keegan had been seconds earlier.
Even now, the sight stopped me. Moonlight caught in his fur, and something about the power in him, ancient and steady, made my chest tighten.
