The grumble rolled through the trees a second time, deeper now that Arion was listening for it.
Not sound exactly.
It moved through the ground, through the old roots beneath his boots, and through the muted structure of the link until he could no longer tell where physical vibration ended and pheromonal communication began.
Marius lowered his enormous body closer to the earth.
Matthias did not move at all.
Arion stood at the edge of the ravine with one hand raised to keep the special-troops officers behind him, his attention fixed on the dark forest ahead.
The presence was there.
Close enough that the pressure of it made the hair rise along his forearms.
Hendrik spoke through the earpiece.
"Arion."
"Stay on the line."
"I was planning to."
Victor cut in immediately afterward.
"Do not approach anything you cannot see."
Arion ignored that for the moment.
He reached carefully through the link.
Can you understand me?
For several seconds, nothing changed.
