********** The darkness in the bush is absolute, a heavy,a suffocating blanket that swallows the moonlight before it can reach the forest floor. Far from the borders of the Blood Moon Pack, the silence is not peaceful; it is the silence of a holding breath. Kael moves through the undergrowth, his boots sinking soundlessly into the damp, rotting mulch of the forest floor. Every muscle in his body is pulled tight, a wire ready to snap. He stops, his chest heaving slightly, and glances over his shoulder. His eyes dart between the tree trunks, scanning for the flicker of movement, the glint of eyes, or the sound of a twig snapping under a pursuer’s weight. Nothing. The shadows remain still, clinging to the trees like leeches. Satisfied he is alone, Kael turns back to the path ahead. Through a break in the dense foliage, a small hut looms. It sits in a clearing of crushed weeds, looking like a scab on the earth. The wood is gray and weathered, sagging in the middle as if the weight o
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