Chapter 16. The Wolf That Would Not Kneel

Alaric was gone by dawn.

Seraya stood on the edge of the camp, staring at the trail his boots had pressed into the dew-covered grass. They were deep. Determined. Not hurried.

He had walked away, not run.

No word.

No message.

No goodbye.

She felt the bond still tethered to her chest—but weaker, like it had been muffled or masked. She couldn’t feel his pulse. Couldn’t sense his presence. It wasn’t severed.

Just hidden.

“Track him?” Rael asked quietly beside her.

“No,” Seraya said. “He’ll come back.”

Rael didn’t push. But the question hung in the silence between them: