Chapter 33 Blood On The Roadside

• The forest road Amelia had taken looked peaceful, but tension hung in the air. The birds were silent. The leaves didn’t rustle. Everything seemed to be holding its breath after a storm. Even the sky, covered in ashen clouds, felt unfamiliar.
• Damien marched forward, barely holding back his rage. The beast inside him was on the verge of breaking loose. Every step pounded in his temples. He could feel the bond with Amelia stretched thin like a wire—then it snapped. Not completely. Deep under his skin, something trembled—a faint echo of her presence, blurred, nearly gone. But she was alive. He knew it with every fiber of his being.
• On either side of the road, his team was sweeping the area, tracking every trace. The scouts were the best in the kingdom—but even they didn’t hide their concern.