Silence pressed against Alex’s ears, heavy as the jungle mist.

  The girl didn’t move.

  Neither did the guards.

  The taller one—spear cracked, armor dented—finally found his voice. “Who are you?”

  Alex’s lips parted, but no sound came. What was he supposed to say? I followed a dream? I saw a wolf in the stars?

  The other guard stepped forward, his sword still drawn. “That glow in your eyes… demon-touched?”

  Alex flinched. “I’m not like them.”

  “Prove it.”

  Before he could answer, the girl stirred. She pushed herself up, shaky but whole. Her eyes locked onto his—wide, startled… and strangely knowing.

  “Wait,” she said softly. “He saved me.”

  “Demon beasts don’t save people,” the second guard snapped.

  Alex stepped back, blade lowered but ready. “If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve let that thing do it.”

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  The taller guard frowned, considering that.

  The girl moved closer, her gaze searching his face. “What’s your name?”

  “…Alex.”

  She blinked. “You’re not from here.”

  “No.”

  The two guards exchanged a glance. Then the taller one said, “You’re coming with us.”

  Alex bristled. “I don’t take orders from you.”

  “You will,” the other growled, “if you want to live.”

  The girl raised a hand. “Enough. Both of you.”

  Surprisingly, they obeyed.

  She turned back to Alex. “We need to move. This road isn’t safe, and more beasts could come. You can walk with us—if you want.”

  Alex hesitated. His instincts screamed to run. But then his eyes flicked again to the cart… to the wolf sigil. The same symbol from his dream.

  “I’ll come,” he said quietly. “But I want answers.”

  The girl gave a tired smile. “So do I.”

  They moved quickly, deeper into the jungle trail, away from the wreckage. The guards kept glancing back at him. Not with trust—never that—but with a kind of uneasy calculation. As if trying to decide whether he was a threat they should’ve killed.

  The girl walked beside him, silent at first.

  Then: “You saw the core, didn’t you?”

  Alex looked over sharply.

  She nodded. “That’s how you knew where to strike. You saw it.”

  “…Yes.”

  She didn’t ask how. She just said, “So did I.”

  Alex stopped walking.

  She kept going. “Come on,” she said over her shoulder. “I’ll explain when we’re safe.”

  Later, they stopped at an abandoned stone outpost, half-eaten by vines. One of the guards stood watch while the other checked wounds. Alex sat near the crumbling wall, sword still within reach.

  The girl crouched beside him.

  “My name is Kael,” she said. “Kael of House Viren.”

  Alex frowned. “You’re a noble?”

  Her jaw clenched. “Not like the others. Not anymore.”

  He didn’t press. The jungle had a way of changing people. Maybe she wasn’t lying.

  “I’ve seen the wolves too,” she added. “In dreams. Always before something happens. Always when the forest shifts.”

  Alex’s breath caught.

  “They led me here,” Kael said. “To this road. To you.”

  Something moved in Alex’s chest—hope, fear, wonder.

  “I think we’re part of something,” she whispered. “A story older than we know.”

  Alex stared at her. “Then we need to find the wolves.”

  Kael nodded. “And we need to stay ahead of the nobles. If they find out what we can do…”

  She didn’t finish the sentence.

  She didn’t have to.

  The wind stirred the jungle leaves, and somewhere far off, a howl echoed. Not a threat.

  A call.