Chapter 149

The quiet did not hold for long, and although the forest had begun to move again, there was something beneath it that felt unsettled, like the air itself had not fully recovered from everything that had passed through it. Ariana noticed it in the way the wind shifted, uneven and inconsistent, brushing against the trees but never quite settling into a natural rhythm.

Kael felt it more clearly.

She didn’t need him to say anything to know. The arm he still had around her tightened slightly, not enough to alarm her, but enough to tell her that something had changed. His body had gone still in a way that didn’t feel calm, and the steady rhythm she had been grounding herself in only moments ago had begun to shift again.

Ariana lifted her head, her hand still resting against his chest as she followed his line of sight toward the edge of the clearing.

At first, there was nothing.

Then the wolves stepped out from the trees.

They moved slowly, deliberately, their bodies low and controlled as they spread across the edge of the clearing. There was no urgency in them, no visible aggression, but the way they held their ground made it clear that they were not simply passing through. Their eyes were fixed forward, and Ariana felt the weight of that attention settle over her in a way that made her chest tighten.