He will come.
He has to.
Because if he doesn’t, I’m not sure how much longer I can survive this.
Chapter 18 - Heinrich
By the time the last demon falls, the forest is quiet again.
Its twisted body collapses into the snow-covered earth with a sickening thud, dissolving slowly into dark ash as the corrupted magic inside it finally burns out. My chest heaves as I drag a hand across my face, the cold night air biting against sweat-damp skin. Around me, the warriors of Silver Stone stand scattered among the trees, their breathing heavy from the battle.
The demon sighting had been urgent enough to pull me from the cabin without hesitation. A group had slipped through the eastern ridge, smaller than the ones we had faced before, but dangerous enough to demand immediate action.
We handled them quickly, mostly because Silver Stone’s magic is slowly but steadily returning to its former glory, albeit not as glorious or magnificent as it once was, proving that there is still much to improve between Annika and me.
But tearing through this group of demons felt too easy.
A strange unease coils low in my gut as I look across the clearing. Conan wipes blood from his blade while Damian shifts back into human form nearby, his eyes scanning the tree line one last time.
“That’s the last of them,” he mutters to Sophie, who’d joined the fight.
But something about the finality of that claim doesn’t sit right with me.
There were fewer demons than expected. Their movements had been erratic, almost disorganized, as if they weren’t truly trying to breach the valley. We’ve faced demonscountless times over the years, and this group was too easy, as if they weren’t trained fighters, disposable demons.
As if they were meant to draw us away.
The thought settles heavily in my chest, and without another word, I turn toward the valley. “I’m heading back,” I throw curtly over my shoulder. No one questions it. The others know exactly where my mind is.
Annika.
The moment the fighting ended, the pull of the mate bond began tugging at my chest again, that quiet awareness of her presence lingering at the edge of my senses. It’s what prompts me to shift and run.
The forest rushes past me in a blur of dark trunks and silver moonlight as my wolf tears through the valley with relentless speed. My only thought is returning to the cabin, to the woman I left standing in the hallway with unanswered questions in her eyes.
The unease in my chest grows stronger the closer I get, and by the time the cabin comes into view through the trees, something deep inside me already knows.
Something is wrong.
I can feel the unease settle in my spine as I shift back before reaching the porch, my boots crunching against the frost-covered ground as I climb the steps.
The door is slightly open, and my stomach drops, because I distinctly told her not to leave the cabin, and I just know that she wouldn’t have done that. Not after meeting me in the hallway tonight.
“Annika?”
The silence inside the cabin answers me. I step through the doorway slowly, my senses sharpening immediately. The fire in the hearth has burned low, leaving only faint embers glowing between the stones. The air inside should smell warm, alive with Annika’s scent lingering in every corner of the room.
Instead, something metallic cuts through it. Chemical. Foreign. My jaw tightens as I move deeper into the house.
“Annika?” I call out again, but still, nothing. I check the kitchen first, then the hallway, then the bedroom.
Each room is empty.
The realization settles slowly at first, like a creeping shadow spreading through my chest. Then it slams into me all at once.
She’s gone.
My wolf roars inside me.
