The howl faded into silence, but its echo remained in my bones.
Astro's hand tightened on mine, our merged memories still settling. I could feel his thoughts bleeding into mine, his centuries of experience mixing with my brief mortal life.
It was disorienting. Beautiful. Terrifying.
"We need to move," he said quietly. "That sound. It knows we're here."
"What was it?"
"Later. Right now we need to understand what we've done."
He pulled me forward, away from the transformed tree with its merged cluster of hearts. The orchard had changed around us, petals shifting from red to white, but the deeper we walked, the more I realized the transformation was only surface level.
Beneath the beauty, the orchard was still hungry.
We rounded a bend in the path and stopped.
Other wolves.
Dozens of them, scattered through the trees. Some standing. Some sitting. Some kneeling like they were praying.
All of them tethered.
