I didn't move.
For a second, I couldn't.
My legs felt locked, my breath frozen inside my chest. Something in the air had changed—the forest felt alive, watching, waiting. Every instinct I had screamed danger.
But Darius's voice came again, deeper, forceful, carrying a command that rippled through the darkness.
"Aria. Behind me. Now."
This time, my body obeyed before my mind even caught up. I shifted back, clutching Elian so tightly his tiny fingers curled into my dress. Darius stepped ahead, positioning himself between us and whatever was stirring the woods.
The wind whipped harder, bending branches like they were bowing to something approaching.
A low growl rolled through the forest floor.
Not a wolf.
Not anything I had ever heard.
The sound made every hair rise on my arms.
Even Elian whimpered, trembling against me.
"Mom," he whispered, "something is coming."
"I know," I whispered back, my voice shaking.
Darius's shoulders tightened.
