The walk back from the ridge took longer than usual.
Not because the distance had changed, but because none of them rushed. Kael had disappeared back into the forest as calmly as he had appeared, leaving behind a silence that felt heavier than before. The ridge still carried the faint scent of the stranger long after he was gone, though the wind slowly scattered it across the slopes.
Sable walked beside Cassian without speaking for several minutes.
Behind them the warriors kept their usual formation, though their posture had shifted subtly. Everyone had heard Kael's warning. Everyone understood what it implied.
A threat outside the pack was dangerous. A threat inside the pack was worse.
Cassian finally spoke once the forest closed around them again.
"What do you think?"
Sable didn't look at him immediately. She watched the path ahead instead, the way the sunlight filtered through the tall pines and scattered across the ground in shifting patterns.
