Evelyn did not sleep well.
The sound of the forest remained lodged in her mind long after she returned to the eastern wing. Even after Mina had quietly secured the room, even after the candles had burned down low enough to throw long trembling shadows across the walls, even after the manor had fallen into a strained and watchful silence, she still could not fully relax.
Every time she closed her eyes, she heard it again.
That low, unnatural howl rolling through the black woods beyond Blackthorne Manor.
Not a wolf call.
Not quite.
Something about it had sounded wrong in a way her instincts could not explain, as if the sound had passed through too many throats before reaching the night air. It had carried a roughness, a dragging note that made her skin prickle each time she remembered it.
By the time dawn finally filtered through the curtains, Evelyn looked as exhausted as she felt.
She had barely drifted into sleep before the sky outside the manor turned pale, and even then her dreams had been restless, full of snow, red footprints, and a forest that seemed to breathe whenever she turned her back on it.
A soft knock came at the door.
Evelyn opened her eyes slowly. "Come in."
Mina entered with a tray in her hands and the careful expression of someone determined not to disturb a fragile peace. She placed the tray on the side table and bowed.
"Madam, breakfast has been prepared."
Evelyn pushed herself up and sat against the headboard. "Thank you."
Mina hesitated before speaking again. "The Alpha has already left for the northern wall."
Of course he had.
Evelyn rubbed lightly at her temples. "Did he return last night?"
"Yes, Madam. He left again before midnight."
That did not surprise her nearly as much as it should have. Lucien Blackthorne seemed to operate on a different rhythm from everyone else in the manor. While others slept, he worked. While others worried, he acted. While others asked questions, he likely already had four answers and a plan for each.
She accepted the tea from Mina and took a slow sip. Warmth settled in her chest, though not enough to completely chase away the unease lingering there.
"Has anything changed this morning?" Evelyn asked.
Mina's expression tightened ever so slightly. "The patrols have not reported new casualties, Madam. But the outer scouts are still searching the northern ridge."
Evelyn nodded, though that hardly reassured her.
After Mina left, she dressed herself carefully and stepped out into the corridor.
The eastern wing looked different in the daylight.
Less ominous, perhaps. Yet the tension had not disappeared. The manor still moved cautiously, servants walking with measured steps, guards posted at every important junction, and the atmosphere itself seemed brittle enough to crack if anyone spoke too loudly.
Evelyn made her way down the long corridor toward the upper gallery windows, where she could look out over the grounds.
Snow glimmered in the morning light.
The courtyard below was almost empty except for two guards speaking quietly near the main steps and a pair of servants carrying folded blankets toward the west wing. Beyond the estate walls, the forest remained dark even under the pale winter sun. It stood there like a patient witness, silent and waiting.
She had just begun to wonder whether she should ask Mina for a map of the manor when she heard footsteps behind her.
Evelyn turned.
Cassian stood at the end of the corridor, dressed in black training clothes beneath a heavy coat, his hair slightly damp as though he had just come in from outside. There was a faint shadow beneath his eyes that suggested he had slept poorly, if at all.
He paused when he saw her. "You're awake."
Evelyn smiled faintly. "Apparently."
Cassian's gaze flicked toward her face. "You look tired."
"Thank you for that sharp observation."
The corner of his mouth shifted just enough to suggest amusement. It vanished quickly, but Evelyn noticed.
He walked toward her, then stopped at a comfortable distance. "You should have slept."
"I tried."
"That doesn't sound convincing."
"It was not."
For a moment, the two of them stood beside the tall window in a silence that felt less tense than the one from the night before. Morning sunlight spilled across the floor between them, pale and cool.
Cassian glanced outside. "The estate was quiet this morning."
Evelyn folded her hands lightly. "That sounds suspicious."
"It is."
She looked at him. "You're allowed to tell me what happened."
Cassian's expression tightened.
There it was again -- that careful hesitation, as though he knew more than he was saying and had already decided how much truth she was permitted to hear.
Finally he said, "Father found traces of something near the ridge."
Evelyn waited.
Cassian continued, "The scouts said it vanished into the dead pines."
"Vanished?"
"Not escaped. Vanished."
The distinction made her uneasy.
She frowned. "That is not reassuring."
"No."
He did not elaborate.
Instead, he looked toward her hands briefly, then back to her face. "Did you sleep at all?"
That question, unexpected as it was, made her blink. "A little."
Cassian gave a quiet, unimpressed look.
Evelyn sighed. "Fine. Not enough."
"Better."
"Your standards for human well-being are appalling."
"I'm not human."
The words came out immediately, flat and matter-of-fact, and for one strange second they both went silent.
Evelyn realized too late that she had nearly laughed.
Cassian, to his credit, seemed only mildly irritated by his own answer.
She decided not to push the subject.
Instead she turned toward the windows and let her gaze rest on the forest. "Do you think the thing in the woods is connected to the dead wolves?"
Cassian followed her line of sight. "Probably."
"Confident answer."
"I would rather be wrong than cautious."
"That sounds like a terrible policy."
"It gets results."
She studied him for a moment before speaking more softly. "You look like you haven't slept."
Cassian's jaw tightened just slightly. "I don't need much."
Evelyn tilted her head. "You sound like your father."
That drew a brief, almost reluctant glance from him.
She wondered if that comparison annoyed him or comforted him more.
Perhaps both.
Before either could continue, footsteps approached from the stairwell below. Both of them turned at once.
A servant appeared at the end of the hall, bowing quickly.
"Madam, Young Master," he said breathlessly, "the Alpha has returned."
Evelyn's pulse shifted immediately.
Cassian's posture changed too, straightening at once.
The servant continued, "He has requested that the Young Master and Madam both attend the small briefing in the east sitting room."
Cassian looked at her briefly before answering. "Understood."
The servant bowed again and hurried away.
Evelyn inhaled slowly. "Another briefing?"
Cassian had already started walking toward the staircase. "Father found something."
She followed beside him. "Why do I feel as if you are always one sentence away from something terrible?"
"Because you are learning."
The east sitting room was smaller than the command hall and far more intimate, though the tension inside it was no less severe. Lucien stood near the fireplace with one hand behind his back, speaking quietly with the Beta and an older warrior whose face Evelyn had not seen before. A map was spread across the table in front of them, marked with several dark lines and circles.
The moment Evelyn entered, Lucien looked up.
His gaze swept over her once, quick and assessing, and then moved to Cassian. "Sit."
They obeyed.
Lucien remained standing.
Evelyn could already tell he had not slept either. There was a faint harshness in the set of his jaw, a slightly deeper shadow beneath his eyes, though it did nothing to reduce the force of his presence. If anything, it made him seem more dangerous.
He placed a small object on the table.
Evelyn looked at it and immediately felt her stomach tighten.
Another claw.
This one was larger than the last, darker in color, and marked by grooves that seemed to pulse faintly in the firelight.
Cassian leaned forward slightly. "Where did that come from?"
Lucien's voice remained calm. "The ridge."
Evelyn looked from the claw to his face. "You found another one?"
"Yes."
The Beta stepped forward and pointed to the map. "There were three separate traces. All of them led to the same area."
He tapped a point along the northern forest line, beyond the dead pines.
Evelyn frowned. "What is there?"
The older warrior answered quietly, "Nothing we know of."
That answer was, somehow, more alarming than any specific explanation could have been.
Lucien's expression remained unreadable as he studied the map. "The scouts say the ground there is disturbed."
Cassian's eyes narrowed. "Disturbed how?"
"Too deep," Lucien said. "As if something had been buried there for years."
A chill slid over Evelyn's skin.
Buried.
That word sat uneasily in her mind.
The Beta glanced between them before continuing, "The scent markers around the area are mixed with ash."
"Burned?" Cassian asked.
"No. Not exactly." The man shook his head. "More like something old was exposed to air after being sealed away."
Evelyn's pulse quickened.
The room grew very quiet.
Lucien's gaze lifted briefly toward her, and for an instant she had the strange sensation that he was watching her reaction more than the map.
She held his gaze cautiously.
Something in his expression shifted.
Not much.
Enough.
"You feel it too," he said quietly.
Evelyn stiffened. "Feel what?"
Lucien did not answer right away.
Then he turned back to the map and placed a finger on the northern ridge. "The forest is not merely hiding a predator."
The fire in the room crackled softly.
Lucien's voice was calm, but the words themselves were enough to make the air feel colder.
"It is protecting something."
Evelyn went still.
Across from her, Cassian's face had gone pale with concentration.
And somewhere deep beyond the manor walls, hidden beneath the snow and the dead pines, the forest seemed to wait in silence for whatever would happen next.