Chapter 181

** Callen’s POV ** The night air feels wrong. Ryder leads us through the treeline with perfect calm. Remy moves at his flank in wolf form, massive and silent as a shadow. I bring up the rear, scanning every dark corner like the bogeyman himself is waiting to jump out and ruin our already disastrous week. We have patrolled a thousand nights, but none of them have felt like this. Not after what the hunters put us through. Not after Paige burnt herself out just to protect us. Another pulse of energy slides under my skin. Paige. A soft thrum of anxiety, threaded through with something warm, needy, and definitely distracting. I grit my teeth and try to push it aside. I fail spectacularly. “Anything” Ryder asks through the mind-link, voice calm enough that I instantly resent him for it. “Nothing alive,” Remy answers, his wolf-voice edged with annoyance. “Surely, nothing is stupid enough to come back after what Paige did.” “Check the ridge,” I say, mostly so I do not start pacing like a lunat