Chapter 19

KNOX'S POV I couldn't look away from it. The white wolf lay on a bed of fallen leaves, its fur impossibly pristine against the dark forest floor. In death, it looked almost peaceful—like it might be sleeping, except for those eyes. Those vacant, glassy eyes that seemed to stare right through me. "When did you find it?" I asked, fighting to keep my voice steady. Something about this scene felt wrong on a primal level, like looking at a painting where all the shadows fell in the wrong direction. "Fifteen days ago," Noah said quietly. He stood to my left, his usual easy demeanor nowhere to be seen. The late afternoon sun filtering through the canopy cast strange shadows across his face. "Fifteen days?" I moved closer, though every instinct screamed against it. "That's impossible." But I could see it with my own eyes. The wolf's fur was pristine—no decay, no scavenger marks, not even the natural deterioration that should have come with two weeks in the open air. It looked like it could hav