Then run the other way,I urge, dread curling in my gut. The last thing I need is another enemy. Another captor. Another problem.
Or,Wolf muses, far too casually,we could see if they’re an ally. If they’re not, we kill them.
Fantastic,I deadpan.We’re thirty seconds out of captivity, and you’re already planning homicide.
Please,she snorts.It’s not like you haven’t done it before.
Why did I miss her again?
I don’t get the chance to retort because the presence steps closer.
A low, warning rumble thrums through our chest. I feel it too—an unfamiliar presence brushing the edges of our awareness. Not Malrik. Not Cade or anyone else we know. Something older. Warmer. Closer.
Wolf inhales deeply, then stills.I know this scent, at least pieces of it, but I can’t identify it.
Well, that doesn’t make me feel any better.
The woods fall silent. Even the wind stops.
Then, from the darkness ahead, a voice cracks the air.
“Joce? … Jocelyn, baby. Is that really you?”
Wolf freezes mid-step.
A stranger moves between the trees—tall, broad-shouldered, wrapped in the scent of snow, pine sap, and worn leather with a large bag on his back. His hair is dark except for streaks of silver at the temples, his beard short, his posture tense like a man who’s been walking through hell and doesn’t trust the path out.
But it’s his eyes that snare me.
A honey brown that shouldn’t be familiar yet tugs at my soul on a level I can’t explain.
And he called out my mother’s name.
Is he… What the hell is happening here?
He stares at us—at Wolf—with an intensity so raw it feels like it’s slicing through my ribs.
Wolf lowers her head, ears forward, inquisitive—dangerously so—but I don’t urge her to attack or run again. I can’t. Curiosity has me in a chokehold.
“Joce,” the man whispers once more, stepping closer. “I—I knew you were here. They said you were… But I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t accept that I’d lost you for good.” His voice breaks like something old and bleeding. “But you’re here, and you’re…” His expression hardens in an instant when it seems my wolf finally registers with him. “How is this possible? How are you in this form?”
Every muscle in my wolf form locks.
This man thinks I’m my mother, and suddenly, based on the growl echoing from deep within his chest, he’s not happy about her being a wolf.
We need to go,I urge, panic flaring.Now.
Wolftakes another step forward, ignoring me like she’s so fond of doing.
But before I can argue further, the man inhales sharply, shaking his head as his voice drops to a whisper.
“No, it’s the spell out here,” he mutters. “I know I’ve been confused for days, but…Rowan? My sweet girl, is that really you? Is it you I’ve been tracking?”
Wolf stops dead.
My heart expands and teeters on the brink of shattering.
He takes another slow step forward, hands raised as if approaching something sacred, fragile, and impossible.
