Chapter 174

** Callen’s POV ** The woods look different today, quieter, too still. The air is heavy with the memory of last night’s chaos. We move in a staggered formation, Phoenix wolves up front, Midnight marksmen on the ridgeline to our right, keeping pace from a distance. Ryder leads, Remy just behind him, and Ronnie flanking the left. I walk a step behind them, watching for any sign of threat. No one speaks. The only sounds are our footsteps and the soft, metallic shifting of Midnight’s rifles being repositioned every few seconds. Their job is simple: cover every blind spot. It should make me feel safer. It doesn’t. There are too many places for an ambush, too many places for the ghosts of last night. Ryder raises a fist, and everyone freezes instantly. I inhale through my nose, slow and steady, letting my senses stretch outward. My wolf prowls just beneath my skin, restless and waiting. No scent of hunters, no rotten bitterness of their poison, but the forest feels… wrong. Ryder tilts his he