I wanted to believe him, but I could feel the tension in the air, the unspoken words hanging between us. Kaelen had never been one for small talk, and though we had always shared a close bond, I could sense that he was holding something back. He knew something I didn’t.
“Things have been… complicated since you left,” he said after a long pause.
“What do you mean?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.
Kaelen hesitated, his gaze flicking toward the village ahead. “You’ll see.”
That was all he said, and the rest of the walk was filled with heavy silence.
As we entered the village, the familiar sights and sounds of Stormveil Hollow greeted me—the crackling of fires, the murmured conversations of the pack members, the distant howl of wolves in the night. But beneath the surface, I could sense the shift.
I made my way through the village, exchanging nods and polite greetings with those I passed, but my focus was on Draven. I needed to see him. I needed to know that everything was as it should be.