"The kill is fresh," Zubair announced, crouching down beside the dead carcass.
Elias nodded. "Hours. Not days."
"Scavenger?" Lachlan asked.
"Initial tear is predator," Elias said. "Teeth marks at the ribs. No tool cuts." He touched a gouge where the sternum had been broken and left it at that.
Zubair straightened and took the map in again—the crosshatch of presses, the arcs in and out, the way nothing bothered to hurry. It wasn't just that big things had been here. It was that they had no reason to be careful.
"Nothing moved when we came out," he said.
"Doesn't mean nothing's close," Alexei said, cheerful like always.
"No," Zubair said.
They pushed on, slow, following the lines outward. The bear prints widened as the path bent to skirt their tower.
The wolf set stayed just inside that arc like it liked the idea of someone bigger making choices first.
