Chapter 41

• "I don't trust him," Crown muttered under his breath, his eyes fixed on the horizon, where the sun was beginning to dip low, casting an amber glow over the forest. "Valen's playing a game, and we’re all just pawns in it."
• I felt the chill in his voice, the weight of his words settling deep into my chest. The battle had ended hours ago, but the tension hadn’t lifted. It was as if something else was festering beneath the surface. I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn’t just the rogue pack we had to worry about anymore.
• We had defeated the immediate threat, but I knew better than to think that would be the end of it. No, the true fight was just beginning, and I feared that it wasn’t only our enemies on the outside that we had to be wary of. There was something else—something darker—lurking in the shadows of our own pack.