ARIA’S POV

“It’s time to return to the pack,” Ragner said to me. My knee was bent upward, with my arms around them. I remained curled up like a bear in hibernation.

“Aria,” he called again, “It’s getting dark out here. We need to go,”

“All day,” I began to drown in soliloquy. “All day…we skimmed through every bit of these woods. Not a single trace of them. No scent. Nothing!”

“We’d return tomorrow to continue the search,”

“Tomorrow?” When you are under pressure, even the simplest words become the dumbest thing anyone ever said. “For every second we don’t know where they are or how safe they are with...