Chapter 144

** Remy’s POV ** The forest feels alive again tonight. We’ve been walking the border in our human forms for about an hour now, Parker and I, boots crunching softly against damp earth. Normally, patrols are quiet, routine. But after everything that’s happened, the hunters, the poison, the near-misses, there’s a heaviness that sits under the calm. We’re alert, but not tense. Watchful, not afraid. Callen’s words from earlier keep looping through my head. The honesty in his voice. The relief in mine. Parker clears his throat beside me, breaking through my thoughts. “You’re quieter than usual,” he says. “I know you don’t speak much, but you’re not even doing your usual grunts tonight.” I snort. “Just thinking.” He glances at me with that familiar half-smile, the one that always feels like a challenge. “That’s dangerous.” “Shut up.” He laughs, but there’s affection in it. We move easily together; we always have. We are twins, yes, but different in all the ways that make us work. Like two sid