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"Shifted. Easier to sleep. But... hard. Too big. For hiding."

Seren's heart twisted. "You've been out there this whole time? I left a whole year ago."

He looked down, cheeks flushing under the dirt. "Clothes. Stolen. Sorry. You. Not .Easy .Find"

"Oh, Threk..."

"I... wanted..." His voice hitched. His brow furrowed like the next word hurt. "Safe. You... were like home."

He looked at her then.

Not just at her—into her.

His gaze made her stomach twist with guilt. She had left him behind.

She cleared her throat and rose. "You need food. And a bath. And sleep. Not in that order."

As she turned to the kitchen, she heard him whisper behind her—barely audible over the creak of the floorboards.

"Smell... like forest."

She paused, breath catching before getting to work.

She made him wait while she prepared food—warm, comforting, heavy. A quick pot of creamy vegetable stew, the kind her mother used to make. She served it with a thick crusty bread and watched him devour it like he hadn't eaten in weeks.

He spoke in broken bursts, halting and shy. He'd followed the car that day, a year ago. Slept in alleys. Stole clothes. Ate scraps. Shifted when he could, but hiding a bear in a human city?

"Hard," he murmured.

"You found me," Seren whispered, half in awe.

He nodded.

By the time Ana and Ryn came home, Threk was curled up on the couch with crumbs on his chest.

Ana paused in the doorway, eyebrows sky-high. "Well, hello, hubba hubba."

Threk immediately shut down, shrinking into the cushions. He didn't make eye contact.

Ryn stared for a beat. Surprise flitted behind her pale eyes before the mask came down.

Seren quickly explained, halting and soft, about the caves. The bear. The transformation.

"I found him in the forest... when things were bad. In the borderlands of Vargrheim. He was a bear then. Wild. One of the Forgotten." She glanced toward Threk, who watched her now with soft, solemn eyes. "He never attacked. He was... curious. And lonely."

"And silent as the grave," Ana muttered, then blinked. "Wait—you're saying this is him? That bear?"

Seren nodded. "He shifted back a few days before I left. It was for the first time since he was a child. We both don't know how"

There was a long pause.

Ryn's brows drew together. "That's not... supposed to be possible."

"No," Seren agreed. "It's never happened before. Once they forget the path back to their human skin—they stay Forgotten."

Ana whistled low, pacing. "Okay. So you're telling me you dragged an impossible off the myth shelf, dusted it off, and did something no one has done before."

Seren flushed. "I didn't do anything. He... just found me. Followed me. Maybe I reminded him of something."