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"My father said a lot of things," I cut him off, perhaps more sharply than intended. "None of them worth remembering."

Shiloh glanced back at us, her keen ears catching our conversation despite the distance she'd put between us. She raised an eyebrow but said nothing, returning her attention to tracking.

We continued in tense silence for a while, alert for any sign of the revenant. The night was unusually quiet—no small animals scurrying in the underbrush, no owls calling. Even the insects seemed subdued. So much for the silver-skins accompanying us. There had been no sign of Axel. He hadn’t been at the meeting point or joined us when we crossed into neutral territory.

"Something's wrong," Shiloh murmured, stopping abruptly. "It's too quiet."

I nodded, my bear stirring beneath my skin, sensing the wrongness too. "Spread out. Stay within sight of each other." And where the fuck was Axel?

Eric moved to the right while Shiloh drifted left, all of us scanning the darkness. I reached up to touch the vial Danny had given me, drawing comfort from the small gesture of his concern.

The attack came without warning—a blur of motion from above, dropping from the trees at supernatural speed. It slammed into Eric first, a pale, twisted figure that only vaguely resembled a man. The stench hit me a moment later—decay and corruption and something else, something that made my bear recoil in primal fear.

"Eric!" I shouted, already running toward them as they crashed to the ground.

The revenant moved with horrifying speed, its limbs bending at unnatural angles as it pinned Eric. Its face—what remained of it—was a grotesque mask, features half-rotted but recognizable enough.

Eric roared, starting to shift in his desperation, claws extending as he fought to throw the creature off. But the revenant was strong, impossibly strong, its hands wrapping around Eric's throat.

I barreled into them both, using my full weight to knock the revenant away from Eric. We tumbled through the underbrush, and I caught a glimpse of its eyes—milky white but somehow aware, glowing with malevolence.

"Bear," it hissed, its voice a rasp like dead leaves scraping stone. "Olsen's cub."

I snarled, "I'm no one's cub."

The revenant grinned, revealing blackened teeth and a tongue that writhed like a wounded snake. "You smell like him," it taunted. "Weak. Just like your father."

I lunged, driving my claws toward its throat, but it twisted away with that unnatural speed, its movements jerky yet fluid, like a marionette with too many joints. I heard Shiloh's growl as she circled, fully shifted now, darting in to snap at the revenant's legs.

"You brought pets," it rasped, kicking out with such force that Shiloh yelped as she was thrown against a tree trunk. "More to play with."

Eric had recovered, blood streaming from gashes on his neck, but his eyes blazed with fury as he charged from the other side. Tobias stuck to me like glue. For a moment, we had it surrounded—bears and wolves—closing in from three sides.

The revenant laughed, a sound like breaking glass.

"Too slow," it mocked, and leapt straight up, higher than any natural creature could jump, catching a branch twenty feet above us and swinging away.

"Don't let it escape!" I roared, already giving chase. The forest blurred around me as I pursued, my bear lending me speed and strength. Above, the revenant swung from branch to branch, its movements spider-like and wrong.

I heard Shiloh howling behind me—calling for backup—while Eric crashed through the underbrush to my right, and Tobias tried—uselessly—to head it off. The revenant was leading us somewhere, I realized with sudden clarity. Away from the road, deeper into the forest.

Away from the packhouse.

My blood ran cold. "It's a diversion!" I shouted to Eric. "We need to get back!"

The revenant paused on a branch, looking down at me with those milky eyes. "Smart bear," it hissed. "But too late."

It produced something from within the tatters of its clothing—a scrap of fabric that it dangled mockingly. Even from this distance, I could smell Danny's scent on it.

"Your mate smells sweet," it said, its voice somehow inside my head now. "I wonder if he tastes as good as he smells."

Rage exploded through me, my shift completing in an instant. My roar shook the forest as I charged the tree, slamming into it with enough force to make it sway. The revenant laughed again.

"Come find me, bear cub," it taunted, and then it was gone, vanishing into the darkness with unnatural speed.

I shifted back partially, enough to speak. "Eric! Back to the packhouse, now! Shiloh, alert the others!"

We ran, desperation lending us speed. I fumbled for my phone, cursing when I found it crushed, likely from my shift. Eric tossed me his, and I dialed Phoenix as we raced through the forest.