el

lance blind spots. The forest was denser than I'd expected - old oaks and twisted undergrowth that created natural corrid

obbing, barely audible o

its. Behind a weathered storage shed, half-consumed by ivy, a young Omega girl was huddled on the ground. Her thin shoulders shook

sneered. "Can't even carry

at off the floor li

hands. A piece of stale bread tumbled out and rol

out of the

than I'd anticipated, which was useful. The Betas turned to me with wide, fearful

. My focus narrowed to

kitchen corridors, a frequent and easy target for anyone looking to offload their frustrations. In the h

ing to disappear into the wood itself. Her eyes, red-rimmed and swollen, held no hope - only the dull, animal terror of someone who had learne

as a thin, frayed threa

s trembling so badly I could feel it through her sleeve, a fine vibration like a

ot I'd prepared for myself that morning, and pressed it into her cold, di

ervants. I didn't raise my v

ame voice I'd once used to deliver mission parameters.

on water. Their eyes were saucers. One of them muttered somethin

eps. Behind me, I heard no whispered thanks, no patter of following feet - only the stun

atitude. I needed eyes, ears, a

onso

d - a memory shared by Silas through the

s move

. It wasn't the wild, desperate flailing of a cornered animal, nor the ritualized posturing of pack combat. It was a dissection -

ice tight with the particular unease of a man delivering news he didn't understand. "Human martial art

something chilled and absolute. The confidence in her violence, a bone-deep certainty that she would win because she alw

aid the words that had been clawing at the edge of my own thoughts for

tory, a power reserved for the Moon Goddess herself in the oldest of the sacred

a splinter I couldn't dig out, because as impossible as it wa

erent, holding knowled

ned warriors like a master clea

n who'd lived in that cottage for years had been hollowed

Dire Wolves on her rotation. Silas is good, but I want my best. I want to know when s

y reaching for the b

ina Kow

o whoever will listen. Don't let anyone near that cottage a

re. I was dealing with a question I couldn't stop

ther report cam

ached like a servant seeking her mistress. She hadn't knocked. She had knelt in the cold

nd and Silas's keen ears, trembled with an emotion deeper th

not responded. Not

didn't

arkened territory toward the distant cottage.

An Omega no one had bothere

gh titles or threats, but through action - swift, decisive,

ctly, was