Page 112 of The Pack

“It’s just superstition,” Tobias said, though his tone betrayed unease.

“Is it?” Thorne shot back, his pale eyes locking onto Tobias. “Because the scratches on those walls say otherwise.”

We all turned, following Thorne’s gaze to the side of a crumbling building. Deep gashes marred the stone, as though something massive had raked its claws across it.

My stomach tightened, and I stepped closer, my fingers following the jagged edges of the grooves. They were too large to be human, but too precise to be random.

“What could’ve done this?” I whispered, my breath catching in the back of my throat.

“Something big,” Magnus said grimly. “And angry.”

Callum crouched near the ground, his eyes narrowing as he studied the dirt. “There’s more,” he said, motioning us over.

Large paw prints were embedded in the soft earth, their shape unmistakably wolf-like, but far too large. The edges were sharp, as though whatever made them had claws that dug deep into the ground with each step.

“They’re fresh,” Callum said, his voice low.

“We don’t have to go further,” Magnus said finally, his silver eyes locking onto mine and then onto Zara’s. “We can turn back. We can work out another way to find your brother.”

“No,” she said firmly, her little hands clenching into fists. “My brother’s here. I can feel it.”

“Zara,” I said quietly, watching her closely. “We don’t want to abandon him. But you have to understand—if these things are as bad as I fear they are, we might not come out of this.”

“I know,” she said, her voice shaking. “I don’t expect all of you to risk yourselves. I love you and don’t want to see you get hurt, but I love my brother too and I’m not leaving without him.”

I exchanged a glance with Magnus and the rest of the men, their expressions tense, but resigned. We didn’t want to disappoint her, so we would stick with her through this.

“Then we keep moving,” Magnus said, his voice calm and collected, and we pressed on.

The scratches and footprints weren’t the only signs of danger. Half-eaten corpses lay scattered in the shadows—small animals mostly, their bodies twisted and gnawed almost beyond recognition. But then we found something else.

A body.

It was slumped against a collapsed wall, its clothing tattered and bloodstained. The unmistakable stench of decay filled the air, and I froze as my gaze locked onto the familiar sight of claws and elongated limbs.

A wolf shifter.

Its back was torn open, the gashes deep and ragged, as though it had been attacked by something far larger and far stronger.

“It’s not your brother, right?” I asked Zara and she thankfully shook her head.

My stomach churned, and I turned away, covering my mouth with my hand.

“We keep going,” Magnus said, his voice harder now. “But stay close. Whatever did this—it’s still out there.”

CHAPTER 24

Zara

The city’s eerie silence stretched around us as we stopped to rest in what was left of an old square. The remnants of a fountain stood at its center, the stone basin cracked and dry, its edges covered in moss that shimmered faintly under the light of the sun overhead.

We sat in the shadow of a crumbled building, the pack forming a protective circle around me as we ate. Magnus handed me a piece of dried meat, scanning the ruins as he chewed. The tension in his shoulders never eased.

Eerily, everything suddenly went deathly silent.

Magnus stiffened, his eyes narrowing. “Do you hear that?”

We all froze, the silence broken only by the faintest sound—a low, guttural growl, deep and resonant, echoing through the crumbled streets like a distant thunderstorm.

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