Chapter 216 Chapter 216
Chapter 216 Chapter 216
Sebastian
Most people assumed silence meant there was nothing to hear.
They were wrong.
Silence was where you noticed everything.
The wind moving through pine branches.
The distant rhythm of paws striking the training field.
The uneven chirp of birds that suddenly stopped when something unfamiliar entered their territory.
The sharp inhale Theo tried to disguise when he caught movement near the eastern tree line.
The tiny shift in Ellie’s breathing when she realized both of us had gone completely still.
Most people heard noise.
I listened for what disappeared.
And right now…
The woods had gone too quiet.
“I lost them.”
Theo didn’t take his eyes off the trees.
“So did I.”
Ellie looked between us, frustration creeping into her expression.
“I still don’t understand what you saw.”
I kept scanning the forest.
“I don’t think we saw a person.”
That earned both of their attention.
“What do you mean?” Ellie asked.
I crouched beside the porch steps, brushing my fingertips over the damp earth beneath the flower bed. The overnight rain had softened the ground just enough that it held impressions longer than usual.
Most people would’ve walked right past them.
I didn’t.
“There.”
Theo immediately came down beside me.
Two shallow depressions.
Barely visible.
Too narrow for a wolf’s paws.
Too long to belong to a child.
Boot prints.
Not fresh enough to still hold water.
Fresh enough that the edges hadn’t collapsed.
Theo let out a slow breath.
“They were standing here.”
I nodded once.
“Watching the house.”
Ellie stepped carefully off the porch, stopping beside us.
Her eyes followed the direction of the tracks before widening slightly.
“They had a clear view of every window.”
Exactly.
The kitchen.
The dining room.
The living room.
Anyone standing here would’ve seen us laughing over breakfast.
Planning around the map.
Walking from room to room.
A strange anger settled low in my chest.
Not the explosive kind Blake felt.
Not the calculating kind Theo carried.
Mine was quieter.
Colder.
Someone had stood close enough to watch Ellie smile.
Close enough to watch her feel safe.
And they’d done it without us realizing.
I didn’t like that feeling.
Not one bit.
Theo straightened slowly.
“They’re getting bolder.”
“No.”
I rose to my feet, brushing the dirt from my hands.
“They’re getting comfortable.”
There was a difference.
Bold people took risks.
Comfortable people believed they wouldn’t get caught.
Ellie wrapped her arms around herself against the breeze.
“Do you think they knew we saw them?”
“I hope so.”
She blinked.
“You hope so?”
I finally looked at her.
“If they’re confident…”
I glanced back toward the woods.
“…then overconfidence becomes useful.”
A slow smile tugged at Theo’s mouth.
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Of course he was.
That was the thing about being triplets.
People thought we finished one another’s sentences.
Sometimes.
Mostly…
We finished one another’s thoughts.
The back door creaked open behind us.
Blake stepped outside carrying what looked like another cinnamon roll.
He froze the second he saw all three of us staring into the trees.
“…Should I be worried?”
Theo answered without looking away.
“Probably.”
Blake sighed dramatically.
“I leave for two minutes.”
“You left for food.”
“I process stress through carbohydrates.”
Ellie laughed quietly.
“There he is.”
“What?”
“The comic relief.”
“I prefer emotionally supportive Alpha.”
“You’ve never been emotionally subtle.”
“Subtlety is overrated.”
He wandered over, taking one bite before noticing the tracks near my feet.
The humor vanished from his face.
“What are those?”
“Boot prints.”
He looked toward the forest.
“They got this close?”
I nodded.
His jaw tightened.
For once…
He didn’t have a joke.
That told me more than his words ever could.
Ellie reached over almost instinctively and slipped her hand into his.
The movement was automatic.
Natural.
She didn’t seem to realize she’d done it until Blake looked down, smiled softly, and laced his fingers through hers.
That tiny gesture settled something inside me.
Months ago, she would’ve apologized.
Now…
She simply stayed where she was.
Comfort had become instinct.
Good.
She deserved that.
Theo pulled his phone from his pocket.
“I’m calling Rowan.”
Blake frowned.
“To tell him someone was spying on the house?”
“No.”
Theo’s expression hardened.
“To ask him a different question.”
Ellie looked at him.
“What question?”
Theo looked back toward the trees.
“How many people knew Lyra’s journals were hidden before Rowan found them?”
Silence settled over the yard.
I felt it too.
Because suddenly…
The break-in.
The note.
The watcher in the woods.
They all pointed toward the same possibility.
Someone hadn’t started watching Ellie recently.
Someone had been waiting for her long before she ever knew who she really was.
A cold breeze stirred through the trees again.
This time, I noticed something I hadn’t before.
High on the trunk of an old pine tree, nearly hidden beneath peeling bark, was a shallow carving.
Small.
Deliberate.
A crescent moon.
Not the symbol of the Moon Goddess.
Not exactly.
This one had a thin slash cut straight through its center.
Someone had marked the tree.
Not to honor the Moon-Blessed.
To warn others where she could be found.
And judging by the age of the carving…
It had been there long before Ellie ever walked into our lives.