The fire had died to embers. The clearing was quiet, filled with the soft sounds of exhausted sleep—Leo's steady breathing, Derek's occasional shift, the distant hoot of some nocturnal creature.
Lily sat up slowly.
No one moved. No one stirred. She looked around the clearing, counting shadows. Eva, curled on her side, her face slack with exhaustion. Maya and Jordan, close but not touching. Lena, her back against a tree, her eyes closed but her posture still alert even in sleep. Leo and Derek, sprawled like dead men.
But two were missing.
Wolfen's spot beneath the tree was empty. Zoey's place beside the fire was cold.
Lily didn't question it. Didn't call out. She just stood and walked into the darkness.
The forest swallowed her.
She walked for a long time—minutes, hours, she couldn't tell. The moonlight filtered through the canopy in silver slivers, just enough to see by. Her feet carried her forward without direction, without purpose, without anything except the need to move.
Then she heard it.
A sound. Low. Mournful. The kind of sound that came from somewhere deep, somewhere broken.
She followed it.
The undergrowth gave way to a small clearing, and Lily stopped.
It stood in the center, silhouetted against the moon.
A creature out of nightmare and myth. It was cat-like—a tiger, maybe, or something older—but wrong. Too big, for one thing. Its body stretched ten feet from nose to tail, maybe more, and at the shoulder it stood taller than a man. Muscles coiled beneath its pelt like steel cables wrapped in silk.
Its fur was striped—deep orange and black, but the patterns seemed to move, shifting in the moonlight. A mane of sorts framed its head, but it wasn't fur—it was fire, orange flames that licked and danced without burning. Its fangs curved down past its jaw, too long, too sharp, weapons designed for things larger than deer.
Its eyes glowed green—bright, luminous, intelligent.
And at its feet lay another.
Smaller. Still. Dead. A tiger—a real one, normal-sized, its fur matted with blood. The creature stood over it, and the sound Lily had heard—that mournful, broken sound—came from its throat again.
It was grieving.
Lily stepped into the clearing.
The creature's head snapped toward her. Those glowing green eyes fixed on her small form, and for a moment, she saw it calculate—predator assessing prey. But she didn't run. Didn't flinch. Didn't do anything except walk closer.
She stopped a few feet away. Close enough to touch.
"I know that sound," she said softly. "I've made that sound."
The creature watched her. Its fire-mane flickered, uncertain.
Lily reached out her hand.
The creature tensed. A growl rumbled in its chest—low, warning. But it didn't attack. Didn't move away.
Her fingers touched its muzzle.
The fur was warm—hot, even, from whatever inner fire gave it life. But it didn't burn her. Didn't hurt. It just... was.
Lily looked into those glowing green eyes, and she saw it. The same thing she saw every time she looked in a mirror. The same hollow ache. The same why.
"That woman," Lily said quietly. "The one with the smile. The one who eats people." Her voice hardened. "She took your light, didn't she?"
The creature's ears flattened. Another mournful sound escaped its throat.
"She took mine too." Lily's hand moved, stroking the warm fur between its eyes. "My light. His name was Theo."
The creature blinked. Something in those glowing eyes shifted—recognition, maybe. Or just the understanding of shared pain.
Lily stepped closer. Pressed her forehead against the creature's.
It was warm. So warm. Like standing next to a fire on a cold night. Like being held.
"Let's kill her," Lily whispered.
The creature's eyes flared brighter. A rumble started in its chest—not a growl this time, but something else. Agreement. Understanding. Purpose.
It straightened, looking down at her, and for the first time since Theo died, Lily felt something other than emptiness.
She felt hunger.
Not for food. For revenge.
The creature turned its head toward the forest, toward the direction they'd come from. Toward where Jenny Damber was probably still wandering, still smiling, still eating.
Lily climbed onto its back.
The fur was thick, warm, easy to hold. The creature's muscles bunched beneath her, ready to move, ready to hunt.
"Find her," Lily said.
The creature leaped into the darkness, and they were gone.