The drive took eleven minutes.
It should've taken closer to twenty, but the second I read the message, I was already reaching for my keys.
Everything else—the elders, the name Maren had dropped earlier, the thirty-one-year-old thread I'd been tugging at all night—got shoved to the back. The only thing left was the road and the fact that it was taking too damn long to get there.
I pulled up at the boundary and killed the engine. Gravel crunched under my boots as I got out.
Elise stood at the edge of the property with Elder Maren next to her. Both of them were staring toward the tree line.
I followed their gaze.
Oh, fuck me.
Thirty meters out, maybe less. The black wolf stood completely still between the trunks, watching. Not growling, not posturing. Just there. Solid. Like it had been measuring the distance for weeks and had finally decided today was fine.
