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Garrick.

Leaning against a tree like he owned the land, half-shadowed by the twisted limbs above. Taller than Rollo remembered,leaner too—but with the same jagged grin that had once meant trouble and loyalty in equal measure.

Only now, it just meant trouble.

“Still got that bear gait,” Garrick said lazily, kicking off the trunk. “Heavy-footed. Predictable.”

Rollo’s fists curled at his sides. “Didn’t expect to seeyouslinking around Pines again.”

“You say that like I ever really left.”

“You were exiled.”

Garrick shrugged, his coat hanging off him like molted skin. It was dark, stained in places Rollo didn’t want to look at too long.

“I wasabandoned,” Garrick said. “Left to rot while you and the others kept playing family without me.”

“You attacked a Council Elder during a transformation cycle, Garrick,” Rollo snapped. “You lost control. Someone almost died.”

“Sheprovokedme. You know how thin the edge gets in moon season.”

Rollo stared at him, jaw tight. “That was three years ago. You didn’t just lose your temper. You fed on corrupted magic. You let it in.”

Garrick’s eyes glinted—too bright, too wild. “Corruption’s just another flavor of truth, brother.”

Rollo bristled at the word.

They’d once been a clan. Practically raised shoulder to shoulder under the same mountain clan, swearing blood-oaths before they even knew what they meant. Garrick had always walked closer to the line than most—but Rollo had never believed he’d cross it.

Until he did. Until hefedoff it.

“Why are you here?” Rollo asked, voice low.

“Just checking on the old stomping grounds.” Garrick’s grin turned sharp. “Heard your little witch-mate took a tumble in the woods.”

Rollo’s body went rigid. “Leave Delilah out of this.”

Garrick chuckled. “Oh, she’s very muchinit, friend. The forest woke up the moment she came home. You feel it too, don’t you? The pull?”

“She’s none of your concern.”

“On the contrary.” Garrick stepped closer, his boots cracking dead leaves like bones. “She’s the key to the roots. You think the Pact will protect her? It won’t. That girl’s too close to the pulse, and when it snaps?—”

Rollo lunged.

Grabbed the front of Garrick’s coat and slammed him into the tree hard enough to make bark crack.

“I swear to every star in the Pact,” he growled, “if you come near her again?—”

“Or what?” Garrick hissed. “You’ll finish what you didn’t back then? You didn’t stop me before. You couldn’t.”

Their breaths tangled like frost in the cold air.

Then Garrick smiled—slow, deliberate.

“You can’t protect what’s already broken, Rollo.”

Rollo let go, shoving him back.