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Silence settled over the group and none of us said anything for a while.

We were making good time, the group moving in sync, each of us instinctively spreading out just enough to cover every angle. I adjusted the knife at my belt, ensuring it sat comfortably within reach. I preferred my claws, but when you were walking into a fight you didn’t understand, it was best to have a few backup plans.

Varek still walked just ahead of us, Rowan at my side, both scanning the terrain with the same wary, assessing gaze. We’d been traveling south for a few hours, the tension obvious, but no one had spoken in a while.

“So,” Varek finally drawled, glancing over his shoulder. “How’d your mates take the news of being left behind?”

Rowan grunted, keeping his eyes forward.

I huffed out a short breath, my mouth twitching slightly. “Let’s just say conversations were had.”

Varek snorted. “That sounds like a polite way of putting it…”

I exhaled, keeping my gaze forward. “Jax is handling her.”

Varek smirked. “Handling her? Sounds like a full-time job.”

I shot him a look, unimpressed. “Jax can handle her.”

Rowan glanced over. “You trust him to keep her there?”

I nodded once. “Jax knows what’s at stake. She’snotfollowing us, not with him on the job.”

Varek let out a low chuckle, shaking his head. “Youhopeshe’s not following us.”

Rowan gave him a bland look. “I don’t see your mate trailing behind us, either.”

Varek just grinned. “That’s because I don’t have one.”

“Yet,” I said as I flicked my eyes toward him.

Varek didn’t answer, just curled his lip and kept walking.

I went back to ignoring him.

Lia was stubborn, but she wasn’t stupid. Jax was one of my best. He knew how important it was to keep her safe. He wouldn’t let her just slip away.

Right?

CHAPTER18

Lia

I crouched low behind the cover of a fallen tree, my breath coming out in steamy puffs in the cool morning air. The forest around me was quiet, save for the distant crack of a branch somewhere ahead—too far ahead for me to see, but close enough that I knew I was still on the right track.

It had been three days since I’d slipped away from Jax.

Three days of tracking, hunting, and camping alone in the wilderness, keeping just far enough behind Silas and the others to avoid detection. It wasn’t easy, but I had spent much of my childhood learning how to move unseen and survive alone.

And right now?

I was hunting them.

I had waited the first night after escaping Jax, careful not to move too soon, giving them a head start so I wouldn’t be discovered. The first day, I found their trail easily. Silas was being careful, that much was obvious, but they weren’t hiding yet. They were moving fast and covering as much ground as possible to get to the caves quickly.

I had followed, keeping low, moving only when I was sure no one was doubling back to check their rear.

The second day had been harder. The ground had turned rocky, making it damn near impossible to track them by footprints alone. I had to rely on everything else—the subtle signs of disturbed foliage, snapped twigs, the faint scent of their presence in the air, the ash of a dead campfire.