The woman's name was Mira. Not the same Mira who had helped them break into Chen's office, a different Mira, a hunter who had been working the D-rank zones for years, who knew the territory better than most, who had been tracking the gorehound nest for weeks. She sat on a fallen log with Lucas's jacket around her shoulders and Erica's water in her hands and her face still pale with whatever she'd seen in the forest.
David crouched beside her, his fire down, his voice low. "What happened out there? Where's your group?"
Mira's hands were shaking, the water sloshing against the sides of the canteen. "Gone. They're gone. The alpha, it's not like the others. It's smarter. It waited until we were in the nest, until we were committed, and then it came from behind. We didn't have a chance."
Becca was scanning the trees, her shadows spreading out, her body tense. "How many? How many gorehounds?"
"Six. Maybe seven. The alpha is twice the size of the others, maybe more. Its eyes..." Mira stopped, took a drink, tried to steady her breathing. "Its eyes were wrong. Like it was looking at something we couldn't see. Like it knew what we were going to do before we did it."
Lucas had moved to the edge of the clearing, his body shifted, his hands ready. He was watching the forest the same way Becca was, waiting for something to come out of the trees. "We need to get her back to First Landing. She needs a healer."
Mira shook her head, her voice firmer now, the fear giving way to something else. "No. No, you don't understand. The nest, there's something in it. Something the gorehounds are protecting. That's why they've been attacking hunters, why they've been so aggressive. They're not hunting. They're guarding."
Elena had been quiet since Mira appeared, standing close to David, her borrowed daggers in her hands. Now she moved forward, her face pale but her voice steady. "Guarding what? What's in the nest?"
Mira looked at her, something flickering in her eyes. "I don't know. I didn't get close enough to see. But the alpha, when it looked at me, I felt something. Something old. Something that didn't belong there."
David stood, his hand on the crystal in his pocket, the warmth of it spreading through his fingers. "You felt it too."
Mira looked at him, really looked, something shifting in her expression. "You're the one. The Ashborn boy. I heard about your awakening. About what you did at the portal. About the people who came for you."
David didn't answer. He was looking at the forest, at the trees that seemed darker now, the shadows deeper, the silence heavier. Something was out there. Something that had been waiting for them to come.
"You need to leave," Mira said, her voice urgent. "The alpha, it's not like the others. It's not just an animal. It's something else. Something that's been changed."
"Changed how?" Erica's voice was sharp.
Mira shook her head. "I don't know. But the way it moved, the way it looked at us, it was like it was waiting. Like it knew we were coming. Like someone sent it."
Becca moved to David's side, her shadows rising, her voice low. "She's not making sense. Gorehounds aren't that smart. They're pack hunters, yes, but they don't set traps. They don't ambush. They don't hunt hunters."
"These do." Mira's voice was hollow. "These have been hunting us for weeks. And now they know you're here."
---
They moved deeper into the forest, Mira leading them, her steps steadier now, her voice calm. She knew the territory, knew the paths, knew where the gorehounds had made their nest. David followed behind her, Lucas beside him, Becca and Erica on the flanks, Elena close enough to touch.
The forest was changing, the trees older, the undergrowth thicker, the light dimmer. David could feel something ahead, something that made the fire in his chest flicker, something that made the crystal in his pocket pulse. The same feeling he'd had in the Expanse, the same feeling he'd had in the vault, the same feeling he'd had when he found his mother's journal.
"There," Mira whispered, stopping at the edge of a ridge. "The nest is in the clearing below. The alpha was there when we came, but I don't know if it's still there now."
David moved up beside her, looked down at the clearing. It was large, larger than he expected, the trees cleared back, the ground torn up by claws. In the center, something that looked like a mound of earth and bone, a den that had been built over months, maybe years.
And in front of it, something that made his breath catch.
The alpha was bigger than Mira had said, twice the size of the gorehounds they'd seen before, maybe more. Its hide was darker, its claws longer, its eyes brighter. But it was the eyes that made David stop. They were wrong, the way Mira had said. Too bright, too aware, too something. Like something was looking out from behind them.
"It knows we're here," Erica whispered. "Look at it. It's waiting."
The alpha was facing their ridge, its head raised, its eyes fixed on the spot where they were hiding. It wasn't moving, wasn't growling, wasn't doing anything except watching. Waiting.
Lucas shifted beside David, his body growing, his density changing. "So what do we do? We can't just leave it. If it's hunting hunters, if it's been attacking people, we need to stop it."
Becca's shadows were moving, spreading down the ridge, toward the clearing. "We don't know what we're dealing with. The alpha, the den, whatever it's protecting. We need more information before we engage."
Mira shook her head. "You don't have time. The others, the rest of the pack, they're out there. Hunting. They'll be back soon. And when they come back, you won't have a choice."
David looked at the alpha, at the thing that had been waiting for them, at the den behind it that held something that didn't belong there. He could feel it, the same way he'd felt the vault, the same way he'd felt the egg. Something was in that den. Something that had been calling to him since he entered the forest.
"I need to get closer," he said.
Lucas grabbed his arm. "David. No."
"Something's in that den. Something that's been waiting for me. I can feel it."
Becca moved to his other side, her face hard, her voice tight. "You don't know that. You don't know what's in there. You don't know what the alpha is. You can't just walk in there because you think something is calling you."
David looked at her, at the fear in her eyes, at the shadows that were rising around her like they were trying to protect her. "I have to. If there's something in that den, something that's connected to all of this, I need to know what it is. Before the Vane family finds it. Before Chen finds it. Before anyone else does."
Elena stepped forward, her face pale but her voice steady. "Then I'm coming with you."
David shook his head. "No. You stay here. You stay with Mira. If something happens, if we don't come back, you need to get out. You need to tell the grandmother what happened."
"David—"
"Elena." He put his hands on her shoulders, looked into her eyes, saw the fear there, the fear of losing someone else, the fear of being alone again. "I'm coming back. I promise. But if something goes wrong, someone needs to know what we found. Someone needs to tell them."
She stared at him for a long moment, her face working, her hands clenching at her sides. Then she nodded, stepped back, let him go.
Lucas was still holding his arm, his grip tight, his face set. "You're not going in there alone."
"I'm not. You're coming with me."
Lucas's expression shifted, the fear giving way to something else, something that looked like pride. "Damn right I am."
Becca moved to block them, her shadows rising, her voice cold. "This is insane. You're walking into a trap and you know it. The alpha, the pack, whatever's in that den, it's all been waiting for you. And you're just going to walk right in."
David looked at her, at the girl who had been with him since the beginning, who had trained him, fought beside him, trusted him. "Sometimes the only way to find out what's waiting for you is to walk into it."
He turned, started down the ridge, Lucas beside him, his fire in his hands, his heart pounding. Behind him, he heard Becca's footsteps, heard her following, heard her cursing under her breath.
"You're both insane," she said, falling into step beside him. "Absolutely insane."
Erica was ahead of them, somehow, her bow in her hand, her arrow nocked. "She's not wrong. But someone needs to cover you."
They moved down the ridge, toward the clearing, toward the alpha that was still watching them, still waiting. David could feel the thing in the den now, pulsing, calling, waiting for him to come.
The alpha moved when they reached the clearing, not charging, not attacking, just stepping between them and the den, its head lowered, its eyes bright.
"Stay behind me," Lucas said, his body shifting, growing, his hands becoming fists that could break stone.
David moved around him, fire in his hands, fire in his chest, fire in his blood. "No. Stay with Becca. Cover the flanks. This one's mine."
He walked toward the alpha, toward the thing that had been waiting for him, toward whatever was in the den behind it. The alpha watched him come, its head tilted, its eyes following his every move.
And then it did something David didn't expect. It stepped aside.
The path to the den was open. The alpha was standing beside it, watching him, waiting for him to pass.
Lucas was behind him, his voice sharp. "David. Don't."
But David was already moving, walking toward the den, toward the thing that had been calling him since he entered the forest.
He stepped into the den and the world went dark.