Page 37

37

KENDALL

I press my palm to the doorframe, close my eyes, and inhale slow.

Callum’s scent lingers—woodsmoke, musk, and a kind of storm-static that always makes my skin buzz. I track it out the back, through the brush, down a slope slick with old rain and fallen pine needles.

He’s headed east. But I’m not the only one moving.

My neck prickles before I hear it—a branch snap. Soft. Too soft for a normal footfall.

I whip around just in time to see a figure dart between trees—cloaked, fast, and wrong . The scent hits me second. Bitter. Acrid. Familiar in the worst way.

Someone’s been following me.

My blood ignites. I drop low, shifting all the way, knowing there’s no in-between for werewolves—claws out, eyes gold. A growl rips through my chest as I pivot and lunge .

The figure ducks, but I catch their cloak and slam them into a tree. They hiss—literally hiss—and their hood falls back, revealing pale skin stretched too thin over a face that’s barely human.

Shifter? No. Not quite. Not PEACE either. Something between .

“You’ve been watching me,” I shift back as I spit, claws at their throat before they retract.

They grin, blood in their teeth. “Since your first howl, Bolvi bitch.”

I snarl—and then a blur of silver crashes into them from the side.

Adora.

She slams the attacker to the ground with a snarl, knees pinning them down, claws already drenched. “He was tracking you. I caught the trail an hour ago.”

“You followed me?”

“I followed them ,” she growls. “Your scent was all over their path.”

The attacker thrashes under her, muttering something in a language I don’t recognize—words that feel like bile in the air. I move to help, but Adora finishes it herself, slamming her elbow into his temple with a sickening crack.

He goes still.

We’re both panting.

“You okay?” she asks, not quite meeting my eyes.

“Yeah,” I mutter. “You?”

She shrugs like her pulse isn’t racing. “Barely a warm-up.”

I look at the body. “He wasn’t human.”

“Nope.”

“PEACE?”

She shakes her head. “Not branded. Could be merc. Could be Brood.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re glowing like a goddamn beacon every time you shift. You think the world doesn’t notice?”

I rub my face, still buzzing. “Thanks. For the assist.”

She just nods. Doesn’t smile. Doesn’t soften. Just stands and wipes her hands off on the guy’s cloak.

There’s tension in the air. Still sharp from the fight. Still loaded from everything that’s gone unsaid between us.

I break the silence first. “You’ve changed.”

“So have you.”

“I mean it.”

“So do I.”

I sigh, backing off, giving her space. “You scared me yesterday. You were... something else out there.”

“I am something else,” she says, voice hard.

“You don’t have to prove it to me. You never did.”

She looks at me then. And for one flicker of a second, I see my sister.

A branch cracks.

We both whirl, claws up, power ready to rip.

But it’s him .

Callum bursts through the trees, half-shifted, eyes locked on me. He stumbles to a stop when he sees us, gaze darting from the body to our postures to our faces.

His shoulders drop.

“Shit,” he breathes. “I felt you shift. I came running.”

“We handled it,” Adora says flatly.

“Yeah, I see that,” he mutters, eyeing the body. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say, voice tighter than I mean it to be.

“Good,” he says. “Because we’ve got a bigger problem.”

My stomach knots. “What?”

He looks at both of us—serious, grim. “Your dad’s missing.”

Adora scoffs. “What, he forgot where he stashed his next bottle?”

Callum shakes his head. “This isn’t like that. He didn’t just vanish. He disappeared . No sign. No scent. No signal.”

Adora goes quiet.

I speak slowly. “You think he was taken?”

“Possibly. Or compromised.”

“No way,” I say. “He wouldn’t turn on us.”

Adora crosses her arms. “Wouldn’t he? He’s already been keeping secrets.”

Callum glances at me. “What secrets?”

I hesitate.

“ What secrets, Kendall? ”

I take a breath.

“He knows,” I say. “He knows about Mathis. About you. I thought he already did, and I went to see him and I may have confirmed his suspicions...”

The silence that follows is thick enough to drown in.

Adora’s jaw tightens. Her power flares again and its sharp, crackling.

“Of course,” she mutters. “And now he’s missing. What a fucking coincidence.”

“Adora—”

She steps back. “I need air.”

“You can’t just run?—”

“I’m not running. I’m thinking. ”

She turns and vanishes into the trees. Again.

Callum exhales slowly. “She’s slipping.”

I nod. “I know.”

“We have to hold her together, Kendall.”

I stare into the woods, where my sister vanished.

“I’m trying.”

But I’m not sure that’s enough anymore.