32. Gray
Gray
We’re the second vehicle to arrive.
I step out of the truck, boots hitting gravel, and the first thing I notice is how quiet it is. No birds. No rustling. Just the low hum of idling engines and the sound of doors opening behind me.
The others are getting out too—voices low, cautious. Nobody crosses the road yet.
I scan the treeline, and something tugs at the back of my mind. Familiar, but I can’t place it yet.
Stone pillars rise out of the undergrowth ahead, half-buried in moss and vines. The boundary markers Thane mentioned. I walk closer, and the moment my hand touches the rough surface, recognition hits.
“We’ve been here before,” I say quietly.
Rhett stops beside me. “What?”
“This exact spot.” I look back toward the road, then at the forest. “This is where we parked the first time. When Bree found the well.”
Understanding ripples through the group. Jace’s eyes widen. “Oh shit. You’re right.”
Seth moves closer to the markers. “Same place?”
“Yeah.” I nod toward the trees. “The well’s about fifty yards in that direction.”
Jace laughs—sudden and bright. “Remember when we all ran back to the cars like idiots?”
Rhett grins despite himself. “You nearly took me out.”
“Because Gray cut in front of me without warning—”
“Because Theo was spiraling about foxes— ”
“There was a fox,” Theo mutters.
Wes shakes his head, almost smiling. “And Bree just… walked into the forest like it was the most natural thing in the world.”
“While we panicked over leaving the engines running,” Jace finishes, still grinning.
The laughter spreads—quiet, warm, human. For a second, the tension breaks. We’re just a bunch of guys remembering the first time everything changed.
Then the moment fades.
Because this isn’t the same.
I turn back toward the markers, and the warmth drains out of me.
The Ether around them is brighter than it should be. Thicker. Vibrating against something I can’t see.
“You feel that?” Rhett asks, his grin gone.
“Yeah.” I step closer to the treeline. “Something’s off.”
“Different from last time?” Seth asks quietly.
“Way different.” I crouch, press my palm to the earth. The ground hums with old magic. “The Ether wasn’t this active before. It’s like something woke it up.”
And then I see it.
Silver threads run the forest floor like veins—faint, frayed, pulsing weakly. They aren’t creeping in; they’re pulling out, all of them drawn in the same direction. They stop hard at the boundary markers, like they’ve hit glass.
“Those are hers,” I say. “Bree’s.”
Stellan studies the line where the threads hit the ward. “The border’s holding. For now.”
Rhett’s jaw works. “How much did he take? ”
Bree doesn’t answer. She’s staring at the pale threads with that steady, dangerous calm. “Enough.”
I stand. “Then we cut the line at the source.”
The hair at the base of my neck bristles. My wolf stirs, uneasy.
Bree appears at my shoulder, voice low. “What is it?”
“Not sure yet.” I stand, brushing dirt off my hand. “But something’s been here. Recently.”
She doesn’t flinch at the charge in the air; she never does anymore.
Her jaw tightens. “Riley?”
“Maybe.” I scan the treeline. “Or someone else.”
Thane’s voice cuts in from behind us. “Nyx was watching us the first time we were here. At the well.”
The memory hits me—that damn crow perched in the trees, eyes too intelligent, tracking Bree’s every move.
“She knows we’re here,” I say quietly.
The last few vehicles trickle in over the next half hour. By the time everyone’s accounted for, there are maybe one hundred and forty people scattered along the roadside—Feeders, mostly, with a handful of others who followed because they believed in something they didn’t have words for yet.
Bree stands near the center, flanked by Thane and Stellan. She’s giving quiet instructions, coordinating the approach. Stellan says something low, and she laughs—soft, unexpected.
I catch the moment Stellan’s hand lingers at her waist before he steps back.
Something shifts in my chest. Not jealousy. Just… awareness.
She’s not just ours anymore. She’s becoming herself in ways none of us can fully claim .
And that’s how it should be.
Her eyes find mine across the space between us. She smiles—warm, certain—and nods slightly. An invitation.
I move closer without thinking, drawn by that quiet pull that’s always been there.
When I reach her, she doesn’t say anything. Just lets her shoulder rest against mine for a breath, solid and real.
It’s enough for both of us.
Bree looks past the markers, toward the sanctuary hidden somewhere in the darkness. “Nyx said to look for the glowing daisies. That’s our way in.”
I nod. “Then we move careful. Stay tight.”
She glances back at the group, then at me. “You think it’s a trap?”
“I think we’re about to find out.”
We cross the boundary together—Bree first, the rest of us close behind.
The moment we pass the pillars, the air shifts. Warmer. Heavier. The Ether coils tighter around us like mist, silver threads weaving through the trees.
Bree looks toward the forest, eyes unfocused for a moment. Then she turns, voice quiet but certain. “This way.”
I glance at the others. No one questions it.
She starts walking, and we follow—deeper into the trees, away from where we entered last time.
The Ether shifts around us as we move, silver weaving through the darkness. I stay close, watching the way the light flickers against the undergrowth.
Wrong. Like something disturbed it before we arrived .
Like something’s been using this path.
“Gray?” Bree’s voice pulls me back.
I meet her eyes. “Stay close. Whatever’s waiting for us in there already knows we’re coming.”