The mist clung to the river like it didn't want to let go. Derek kept the pace steady, his boots finding the surest ground without hesitation. I stayed close enough to match his stride, though my legs ached from the earlier fight. We'd left the bodies cooling in the mud, and every step carried us deeper into the unknown.
The air felt different here. Still, but not peaceful. It was the kind of stillness that makes your skin itch, like the world is holding its breath.
"You're quiet." I kept my voice low.
"I'm thinking."
"That's worrying."
"Not as worrying as what we're tracking."
He didn't elaborate. He just adjusted his grip on the hilt of his blade and kept moving.
We hugged the riverbank, the dark water to our left moving slowly under the moonlight. The forest pressed close on our right, the branches thick and low. Every few steps, a root caught at my boot or a branch scraped my sleeve. The path here wasn't meant for travel. That alone told me the Strays hadn't taken it by accident.
The ground sloped upward, forcing us into the trees. Derek slowed, crouching to study the earth. The disturbed patches stood out even in the dark. Deep impressions where something heavy had passed, claws carving furrows into the mud.
"They're not even trying to hide it." I studied the tracks.
"They don't care who follows." Derek replied. "That's the sickness talking."
I looked at him sharply. "Sickness?"
He nodded once. "Moon-madness. That's what we call it. Once it takes hold, a shifter can't shift back. They stay in their animal skin until their mind burns out. No sense of pack, no reason, no restraint. They form loose groups out of instinct, but it's not family. Just convenience. More teeth means more kills."
I stared at the claw marks. "Is it contagious?"
"If you're bitten deep enough, yes. But it burns fast. Most either die of it in days or lose themselves completely."
The idea of it twisted my gut. A sickness that stole your mind, left you trapped in the wrong skin until nothing human was left. No wonder Tomas called them vermin.
We pushed deeper into the trees, following the gouges and broken undergrowth. The smell hit next. Sharp and sour, threaded with the faint copper bite of old blood. It pulled me forward and made me want to turn back at the same time.
The trail ended in a clearing littered with bones. Some were fresh enough that scraps of fur still clung to them. Others had been here longer, sun-bleached and brittle. They weren't arranged like a predator's stash. They'd been dropped, picked over, and left to rot.
Derek scanned the mess. "They've been here for weeks."
"Living this close to the estate?" I asked.
"Closer to the border." He pointed behind us. "We're downriver from most of the main settlements. Fewer people means fewer chances of being spotted."
I stepped carefully through the clearing, boots crunching over something that had once been a ribcage. The smell was stronger here, clinging to the back of my throat. "And you're sure these came from another territory?"
"Not ours. They have a different scent. Could be one of the smaller packs upriver let them slip through."
"And Tomas will want to know why."
"That's what we're here for."
We picked up the trail again, the ground rising underfoot. The air thickened with mist, curling low around our ankles. Every sound seemed sharper. The drip of water from the leaves, the slow creak of the trees swaying above.
When Derek stopped suddenly, I froze beside him.
He was staring ahead, toward a shadowed break in the trees. A wet tearing sound drifted to us, only broken by small grunts and chuffs. I knew that sound. I'd heard it earlier tonight, when we'd found the Strays by the river.
We moved closer. Just enough to see.
It crouched over a kill, its body hunched and trembling. The shape was wrong for a pure animal. Too broad across the shoulders, too long in the arms. Fur matted with dirt and blood stuck out in clumps. My stomach turned. This had been someone. Someone with a life, a family, a pack. Now it was just another mouth tearing into meat.
"Why wait?" I asked, keeping my voice low.
"Because we don't know if it's alone."
The thing's head lifted, nostrils flaring. The eyes found us instantly. They glowed faint in the dark, unblinking. Then it moved.
One moment it was crouched over the kill, the next it was coming straight for us. Derek stepped to meet it, blade flashing. The swing caught it high across the shoulder, spinning it sideways. I stepped in, my own sword rising. My cut glanced off its ribs, but it faltered long enough for Derek to finish the job. One clean strike across the neck. It dropped without a sound.
I lowered my blade, my breath coming fast. The body still twitched in the dirt.
"That's moon-madness for you." Derek shook his head. "No tactics. No hesitation. Just hunger."
"Then why are they so dangerous in groups?"
"Because you can't stop them all at once."
We moved on, leaving the body behind. The trail dipped toward the river again, the ground softening underfoot. My boots sank into the mud at the edge of the bank. Derek's gaze tracked downstream.
"There." I followed the direction he was looking.
The bank curved into a narrow spit of land. Rocks slick with moss jutted into the water, the far shore closer than anywhere we'd seen yet. The mud was chewed up with tracks, deep gouges where claws had gripped for purchase. Sliding in and out of the river.
"They're crossing here."
The water shifted under the mist. For a second, I thought I saw something moving beneath the surface. A dark shape sliding just out of sight. Then it was gone.
"Why here?" I asked.
"Slow current. Easy crossing. They can hunt both sides of the river from this point."
"And no one's stopped them before now."
"No one who lived to tell about it."
He straightened, eyes on the far bank. "We'll take this to Tomas. He'll decide how to deal with it."
"And me?"
"You've seen them up close now. That makes you part of the problem. And the solution."
It didn't sound like a compliment.
We turned back, keeping close to the river as we retraced our path. The mist followed us, curling between the trees like smoke. Every now and then, the forest would creak or a branch would snap somewhere behind us. Too far to see. Too close to ignore.
I kept my blade in hand until the estate's walls came into view.