The ruins of Aria's birth pack lay draped in silence, half-buried beneath snow and time.
What had once been a thriving village carved into the mountain's southern shoulder was now reduced to blackened stone and skeletal trees. The wind here was different — not cold, but still, as if the land itself held its breath. A sacred pause. Or a warning.
Aria dismounted, boots crunching through the frost. Her heart beat heavy in her chest, echoing with every step.
"I haven't been here since I was six," she whispered. "When they—when my father made me watch it burn."
Tobias stepped beside her. "You don't have to do this alone."
She gave a small nod, swallowing down the lump rising in her throat.
They moved together into the heart of the ruins. The others fanned out — Kael, Elara, Rowan, and a trio of elite Hollow Fang wolves. The triplets stayed close, the bond now guarded like a sacred pulse.
