KIERAN’S POV
The phone only rang once before Daniel answered.
“Dad?”
His voice came through tight and thin, stripped of its usual brightness. Too alert for the hour. Too controlled in the way children get when they’re trying not to show their fear.
“I’m here, bud,” I said, turning my body slightly away from the tree line, lowering my voice.
There was a pause. I could hear his breathing on the other end, shallow, careful, like he was measuring each breath to keep himself steady.
“Did you—” He stopped. Swallowed. “Did you find her?”
“Yes. I’m with her right now.”
The sound he made wasn’t quite a sob, not quite a sigh, just a rush of air escaping him, like he’d been holding his breath since the moment I left Nightfang.
“Is she hurt?”
“No,” I said firmly. “She’s shaken. Exhausted. But she’s safe.”
“Where is she? I want to talk to her.”
“She’s…changing.”
Another pause. Longer this time.
“What happened?” he asked quietly.
