{"What you think you become."}
ROU'S POV
The forest doesn't sleep, not really. Even in the stillness, it breathes. The wind brushes through the trees like fingers over old wounds. I could feel it tonight, every heartbeat of the land humming beneath my boots, every whisper carried on the wind pressing against my skin like a warning.
I was alone, standing at the edge of the Bay Shifter woods. Their trees weren't like ours, lighter, taller, with pale bark that caught the moonlight like bone. The air here carried the sharp tang of saltwater and wildflowers, different from the ironwood and dark moss of Rogourau lands.
I ran a hand through my hair, jaw clenched tight. "I shouldn't be here," I muttered, though no one was listening but the wind.
Truth was, I'd been pacing this stretch of forest for hours. Sleep wouldn't come. Not with everything clawing at me from the inside.
Tor was waiting. Tomorrow, we'd leave for Hanka Island and then the godforsaken Blood Stone Mountain.
