The truck bounced over ruts in the logging road. Headlights cut narrow tunnels through the dark. Liora drove fast—too fast—hands locked on the wheel, jaw set. Kael kept one palm flat on the dashboard, the other clenched in his lap. Claws kept trying to slip out. He forced them back.
They didn't speak for the first ten minutes. Just the engine growl and tires chewing gravel.
Kael broke the silence first. Voice low. Rough.
"How far back?"
"Five minutes if we push it. Less if we don't hit a tree."
He nodded. Stared out the windshield.
"We get Finn. Then we vanish. No pack. No hunters. Nothing."
Liora glanced sideways. "You really think we can?"
"I have to."
She didn't argue.
They reached the ravine turn-off. Liora killed the headlights half a mile out. Coasted in on momentum. Parked behind thick brush. Engine ticked as it cooled.
They slipped out. Moved quiet.
The blind was gone—reduced to blackened splinters and scorched earth. Small fires still smoldered in the undergrowth. Smoke hung low.
Kael's stomach twisted.
No Finn.
He crossed the clearing fast. Dropped to a crouch where Finn had been lying. Blood—darker now, sticky—smeared the dirt. Drag marks leading away. Boot prints overlapping them.
Liora knelt beside him. Touched the blood. Rubbed it between fingers.
"Fresh. Maybe twenty minutes."
Kael's voice came out tight. "They took him."
She didn't answer. Just kept scanning.
Then she froze.
"Kael."
He followed her gaze.
On a jagged piece of the collapsed roof beam—something red. Wet. Written in shaky strokes.
Blood.
Finn's blood.
The words were uneven. Desperate.
*They took me. Don't come after. Get out.*
Kael stared. Couldn't breathe right.
Finn had written it. Left it. For him.
Liora reached out—slow—touched the beam like it might burn her.
"He's buying you time," she whispered.
Kael's hands shook. Claws punched out fully. He didn't bother hiding them.
"I'm not leaving him."
"You have to."
"No."
She stood. Stepped in front of him. Blocked his view of the message.
"Look at me."
He did. Eyes burning.
"He's human," she said. Soft but hard. "No healing. No shift. They'll keep him alive as long as he's useful. The second you walk into their trap, he's dead. And you're chained again. Or worse."
Kael bared teeth. "Then we take the fight to them."
"And die together?" Her voice cracked—just a little. "That's not saving him. That's giving Darius exactly what he wants."
Kael stepped back. Paced. Three steps. Turned. Paced back.
The wolf howled inside—loud, furious, grieving.
He stopped. Faced her.
"What do we do?"
Liora exhaled. Looked away.
Then she spoke—quiet, like the words hurt coming out.
"We can't disappear. Not really."
Kael frowned. "What?"
She lifted her left sleeve. Slow. Deliberate.
On the inside of her forearm—faint silver scar. Not a cut. A rune. Curved lines that almost looked like a crescent moon crossed with thorns. It shimmered faintly. Not moonlight reflection.
A glow. Internal.
Kael stared.
"What the hell is that?"
"Tracking mark," she said. Flat. "Darius put it on me when I was sixteen. After my first hunt. Said it was insurance. Loyalty insurance."
Kael's breath caught.
"You've been leading them straight to us."
"I didn't know it was active until tonight." She met his eyes. No excuses. "When Elysia shifted—when everything broke—I felt it burn. Like someone lit a match under my skin. It's been dormant for years. Now it's awake."
Kael stepped closer. Grabbed her wrist. Turned it to the moonlight.
The rune pulsed—slow, steady. Like a heartbeat.
He let go. Fast. Like it burned him.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was going to. In the blind. Before the grenade." She swallowed. "Then everything went to hell."
Kael laughed—bitter, short. "So we're not running. We're being herded."
Liora nodded once.
"Darius isn't chasing us," she said. "He's guiding us. Back to the pack. Or to wherever he wants the endgame."
Kael looked at the blood message again.
*Don't come after.*
Finn had known. Somehow. Or guessed.
Kael's voice dropped. "He wrote that to save me."
"Yeah."
Kael rubbed his face. Hard. "I can't leave him."
"You won't have to," Liora said. "But we can't charge in blind. Not now."
She stepped closer. Close enough he could smell pine and blood and her.
"We find a way to break the mark first. Or jam it. Or use it against him. Then we go for Finn. Then we end this."
Kael looked down at her.
"You think we can?"
"I think we have to try." Her voice softened. "Because if we don't… he wins. And Finn dies for nothing. Your mom died for nothing."
Kael felt something crack inside—small, painful.
He reached out. Hesitated. Then touched her cheek—gentle. Thumb brushed the cut there.
She didn't pull away.
"I'm sorry," he said. Quiet. "For not trusting you."
"You shouldn't," she whispered. "Not fully. Not yet."
"But I do."
She closed her eyes for a second. Then opened them.
"Okay."
They stood there. In the wreckage. Smoke curling around them.
Then a new sound—distant but closing.
Engines.
Multiple.
Coming back.
Liora's rune pulsed brighter—once. Twice.
She looked at Kael.
"They know we're here."
Kael bared teeth. Half-smile. Half-snarl.
"Then let's give them something to chase."
He grabbed her hand.
They ran.
Not away.
Sideways—deeper into the ravine. Toward rougher ground. Toward places trucks couldn't follow.
Behind them—headlights swept the trees.
Engines roared closer.
Kael felt the wolf rise—not fighting him this time.
Joining him.
He glanced at Liora.
She squeezed his hand once.
Hard.
They disappeared into the dark.
And the rune on her arm kept glowing.
Like a beacon.
Like a noose.
Like the last thread tying everything together.