The fire crackled low in the center of camp. The faces around it were tired, but their eyes burned with something sharp. Focus. Rage. Fear. The kind that didn’t speak but listened.

Selene stood before them.

“We can’t wait any longer,” she said. “Every second we waste, they get stronger. They’re already here, inside this camp. And now they’ve taken Mira.”

Caius crossed his arms. “You want to send out a search party?”

“No,” Alaric said, his voice rough. “That’s what they want. Spread us thin.”

“Then what?” Jarek asked.

Selene looked at Alaric. “We set a trap.”

Alaric nodded once. “We tell the camp we’re moving east in two...