I knew something was wrong the moment Bella slammed the door behind her.
She was not a quiet person. Even her silence usually made noise. But this silence—the one that followed her exit—felt unnatural, like the forest itself had stopped breathing. The air outside was too still, the trees too watchful. My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin, a low warning rolling through my chest.
Danger.
I stepped out and listened.
At first there was nothing. Just wind brushing leaves. Then I heard it—faint, sharp, wrong.
Sliding dirt.
My head snapped toward the sound.
The cliff.
My pulse lurched. I ran.
Branches struck my arms as I pushed through the undergrowth, boots tearing across roots and stone. Instinct drove me faster than thought. My wolf was fully awake now, snarling inside me, every sense locked on one thing.
Her.
I broke into the clearing just as a streak of color dropped past the edge.
Bella.
