The ashes of the seer's sanctuary drifted down like snow.
Mira crouched by the blackened rocks, fingers brushing the smear of blood carved into the stone: You were born to burn.
She hated how true it felt.
Behind her, Grey and Liam surveyed the wreckage. There was nothing left to save, no scrolls, no relics, no trace of the war seer's guidance. Only smoke and silence.
"He was our last lead," Liam said grimly. "Now what?"
Mira stood slowly, jaw clenched. "Now we find someone who knows Valda."
Grey arched a brow. "Alive or dead?"
"Both, if we have to."
She paced a few steps, trying to stay calm. But her hands wouldn't stop shaking, not from fear. From the burn in her blood. Since her shift, the world looked sharper. Louder. She could hear the birds a mile away. Smell the lies before someone even spoke.
She hated it.
She craved more.
"We'll need shelter," Grey said. "Somewhere remote. Secure. Where you can train without being seen."
"I don't want to train," she snapped.
"You don't have a choice."
"I didn't have a choice the moment I was born!"
Grey didn't flinch.
Liam stepped between them. "Stop. We're all on the same side."
Mira looked away, biting back words that tasted like smoke.
Grey's voice softened. "I know you're angry."
"You think?"
"I know what it feels like to wake up and not recognize your own power."
She met his gaze. "Did you ever want to tear it out of yourself?"
"Every day. Until I learned how to make it mine."
That landed.
Mira took a breath. "There's a place."
Grey nodded for her to go on.
"When I ran away after the pack fell, I stayed in the foothills for a while. There's an old cabin, human-made, abandoned. No tech. No tracking. It's buried in the woods and protected by natural barriers."
"You think it's still there?" Liam asked.
"It's either there… or she's already found it."
They moved quickly.
By midday, they reached the base of the hills, overgrown and wild. Mira felt the place before she saw it. Like a ghost brushing past her thoughts.
Then she stopped short.
The cabin stood in the clearing.
Still whole.
Still waiting.
Mira exhaled, tension sliding from her shoulders in layers.
They entered cautiously. Dust coated the counters. A broken lantern hung from the ceiling. But the walls were strong, and the scent inside was familiar.
Safe.
Liam dropped their packs near the hearth and checked the windows. "We'll have to reinforce the south wall. There's rot."
"I'll do it," Grey said, already unrolling tools from his pack.
Mira walked slowly through the room, touching surfaces she hadn't seen in years. Her old hiding place. Her last sanctuary before she buried her wolf for good.
Now she was back, fully shifted, fully exposed.
And more hunted than ever.
That night, they didn't speak much. Mira sat alone by the fire, staring into the flames like they held answers.
Grey came and sat beside her. Quiet. Solid.
She didn't push him away.
"They burned everything," she said eventually.
"They're trying to break your mind before your body."
She turned to him. "You think I'm going to break?"
"I think you're going to become something they can't control. And that terrifies them."
A beat passed.
Mira leaned her head back. "When this is over… if I lose myself…"
Grey's voice was low. "I'll bring you back."
"What if you can't?"
"Then I'll burn with you."
She turned toward him sharply.
But he didn't smile. He meant it.
The bond between them pulsed, hot, alive. Not just instinct. Something deeper. Chosen.
She almost leaned into it.
Almost.
Until….
A rustle outside.
Then,
A knock.
Three slow taps.
Mira rose instantly, motioning Liam to cover the back door.
Grey stepped beside her.
They opened it fast.
But there was no one there.
Only a note nailed to the wood with a dagger.
Mira pulled it down.
Four words burned across the page:
YOU ARE NOT READY.
End of Chapter Twelve
...….
Someone is watching them. Someone close enough to knock and disappear. As Mira wrestles with her power and her past, enemies are already two steps ahead. But how much longer can she afford to hesitate?