Silas.
I do not look back.
There is no reason to. There is no way she could have lived through that. Even a full alpha wolf would need days to heal. Someone like her, with no wolf at all, would not last long. Seconds. Minutes at most.
So I keep walking. My shoulders tense, waiting for a sound that never comes.
The trees grow thinner as I move forward. Moonlight spills across the ground in pale streaks. My boot slips on damp earth, and for a moment I remember her stumbling. I force my step steady and keep going.
My wolf moves under my skin, tense but quiet. He follows. He always does. I trained him that way. I shaped him with rules and purpose.
Leaders do not survive on softness. Packs do not last if you hesitate.
She would not have lived through the night after the first hit anyway. Even if she got up. Even if she tried to crawl. The forest would never have let her go.
That is what I tell myself. I repeat it in my head until the words lose their shape.
Loretta is waiting where I told her to be, past the old stone markers. She is pacing when I reach her, arms wrapped tight around herself. The moment she sees me, she stops. Her eyes scan my face, searching.
"Is it done?" she asks.
I nod once. "She will not come back."
Relief pours out of her, sharp and clear. It almost makes me step back. She presses a hand to her stomach without thinking. A claiming touch.
"Good," she says, and smiles.
Then her eyes drop to my hands. "Why are you covered in blood?" she asks, like she only just noticed.
"I had to keep hitting her," I say. "I needed to be sure she was never coming back."
"She trusted you," Loretta says, her voice light.
"She trusted everyone," I say. "That was her flaw."
Loretta hums softly. "Not everyone. Just you."
I turn my head and look at her. As if accessing if she was suddenly growing a conscious. She meets my eyes without fear.
There is victory in her expression. And something tight beneath it. Guilt, maybe.
"We need to be careful now," I say. "We stick to the plan."
"I know the plan," she replies. "I made it."
I do not argue. I take the water bottle and pour the content over my hands. The water runs dark, then slowly clears. I feel nothing as I watch it. Still, I scrub longer than necessary, until my skin stings.
When I was done, we stand there and listen. The forest breathes around us. No screams. No wings beating. No panicked heart in the air. Nothing at all.
"You did not need to be so rough," Loretta says. "The first hit would have been enough."
"No," I say. "It had to look right. What if she survived,"
She smiles again. "I understand you. And you are right becisee I would hate to see her walk back into the pack tomorrow."
"That will not happen," I say. "I made sure of it."
We return to the pack just before dawn. The gates open when I command them to. The guards straighten as we pass. Loretta has already changed her face.
Her eyes are red. Her shoulders shake. She leans against me like she cannot stand alone.
I let her.
I lift my chin and slow my steps as we pass through the gates.
The story moves fast. Selena wandered off. She heard something. I followed her scent but lost it near the ravine. There were signs of a struggle. Claw marks. Blood. More than expected.
The elders gather in the long hall. Their faces are calm and heavy. Some look at me with pity. Others with sharp interest. They ask their questions. I answer all of them. I leave no gaps.
"We searched until dark," I say. "We will search again at first light."
They accept it. They always do.
Loretta cries when she should. She grips my arm and speaks of her sister with a broken voice. She plays the part perfectly.
Later, when I am alone in my quarters, I finally sit down.
The quiet feels heavy. My wolf moves inside me, restless. That is not normal. I breathe slowly and push him down.
"She is gone," I tell him. "It is finished."
He does not respond. He only turns in slow circles. He has always obeyed. The thought unsettles me more than it should.
Sleep comes late.
When it does, it is thin and sharp. I dream of the forest, but not as it was. I dream of the ground opening. Of roots pulling away. Of something old beneath the mountain waking up, annoyed.
I wake before dawn with my heart racing.
The bond should be gone. It should have snapped the moment her blood hit the earth. I have felt bonds break before.
This is different.
I dress quickly and head out. By sunrise, the search parties are already moving. I lead the first one. They need to see me searching. They need to see the grief on my face.
We find nothing. No body. No bones. No clear scent. My certainty wavers for the first time, thin as ice underfoot.
Near midday, a guard approaches me. His voice is careful. "Alpha. There were wolves near the eastern boundary last night. Large ones. Not ours."
My wolf lifts his head inside me, not in rage, but in warning.
My back stiffens. "Rogues?"
"I do not know," he says. "They did not cross. They only watched."
I nod and dismiss him.
Loretta finds me soon after. "We should declare her dead," she says. "The pack needs it. And so do you."
"Not yet," I say.
She frowns. "Why not?"
Because the mountain still feels alive with her presence.
Instead, I say, "Uncertainty keeps people careful."
She studies me, then smiles slowly. "You always did understand the game."
She leaves, content.
I stay where I am, staring at the forest edge. My wolf stands still now, listening.
"She should be dead," I whisper.
There should have been something. Cloth. Bone. A trace of her scent. The forest does not erase everything.
And for the first time in years, unease settles deep under my skin.
Because if the forest didn't take her…
then someone did.
Now the question is—who dared?