Kestria glances over her shoulder. Sees me. Her eyebrows go up and she looks at Axan—Axan bites the inside of his cheek.
"The markers are deeper near the overlap zones." He hasn't acknowledged me. Just keeps walking, explaining, gesturing toward the next blaze on a birch trunk. "Where our territory meets Graw's, Keer marks higher. Closer to eye level. So they see it in human form, not just wolf."
"That's smart." Melori is looking at the tree, tracing the claw marks with her finger. She hasn't turned around.
"Keer's thorough." Axan shifts a branch out of her path. "Every detail. Every gap. Same with borders as you are with healing."
"Is that a compliment or a warning?"
"Both."
I fall into step behind them, and Kestria slows until she's walking beside me. Doesn't look at me, doesn't speak, just matches my pace.
"Morning patrol?" she asks. Innocent. Looking straight ahead.
"Southern border."
"The southern border you sent Axan to walk."
"Different section."
"Mm." She watches a bird cross overhead. "Different section."
We walk.
Axan is good at this.
Melori asks questions, and not just where and what. Why. Why scent over claw in certain stretches, why the eastern border uses different spacing.
Axan answers all of it. Thorough, clear, none of the information wrong. He knows the borders as well as I do—we've walked them together for years.
Melori matches his pace without effort, hands swinging at her sides as she walks.
"What happens if someone crosses?"
"Depends on who." Axan ducks under a low branch, holds it for her, and she passes underneath. "Another pack's scout—we drive them back. Challenge if they press. A loner—evaluate. Could be someone looking for a pack. Could be trouble."
"And a human?"
He glances back at me.
"Hasn't come up much."
"It came up once."
"Yeah." He faces forward again. "It did."
She's quiet for a few steps. "Keer didn't drive me back."
"No."
"Why not?"
Axan doesn't answer, just looks at the trail ahead and adjusts their path around a fallen log. Melori turns to check if he heard her.
"Ask him." A beat. "He's right behind you."
She turns and jumps, a small sharp inhale, her handflying up to her chest before she catches herself and drops it.
