Alden’s POV Behind us the fight between Fudge and Cody still raged with snarls, thuds but the pack had already noticed the fleeing wagon. Shadows peeled away from the well and the burning houses, yellow eyes locking onto us like arrows nocked and released.I stood braced on the front bench, reins wrapped so tight around my fists the leather bit into my palms. The horses were terrified, ears flat and necks lathered with foam. Every bounce sent pain shooting through my shoulder where I’d slammed into something sharp during the escape from the house. Blood trickled warm down my back, but I didn’t dare look.In the wagon bed, Elara was screaming.Not words at first just a raw, endless wail that cut through the thunder of hooves and the howl of pursuing wolves. Finn’s small body had gone limp in the jaws of the beast that had leapt aboard. The wolf shook him hard like it was breaking a doll to see what was inside. Blood sprayed across the canvas tarp we’d thrown over Hoseman, dark blooms

Alden’s POV I crawled out from under the wreckage first, hammer clutched in my good hand and shoulder screaming every time I moved it. The pain was distant, muffled by shock and adrenaline that hadn’t quite burned out. Rowan followed, sword drawn and scanning the treeline. Thomas dragged himself free next, thigh wound freshly opened and bleeding again. Hoseman groaned under the tarp but Elara didn’t move. She stayed curled in the tipped wagon bed, staring at the dark stain where Finn had died, lips moving without sound.The howls from the square had faded to distant echoes. Whatever had called them back had bought us a fragile pocket of quiet.Rowan crouched beside me, voice low. “We can’t stay here. The road’s exposed. If any stragglers spot us…”I nodded. My mouth tasted like copper and dirt. “The fields are too open and we need to take cover.”Thomas pointed with his chin toward an overturned food cart a dozen paces away that was probably abandoned when the first howls started