Chapter 4 Forgotten Ties

They had been tracking ghosts.

Sira crouched beneath a rotted tree, her nose twitching. The scent was old-decades, maybe-but unmistakable. Mister and Misses Austin had once passed through this region.

The ground beneath her paw was scorched lightly in a pattern that shimmered when the moonlight hit it-ancient glyphs only few in the Parc still recognized.

Another scout emerged from the trees, silent and swift. He held out a charred book, wrapped in worn leather. "We found this in the remains of a cabin half-buried near the river's edge."

Sira took it gently. "Anyone see us?"

"No. It was warded, but the protections have faded."

She opened the book, flipping through pages filled with strange symbols, alchemical notes, half-finished entries, and several crossed-out names.

"Bring this to Fenrik," she ordered. "And alert the rest. We widen the search zone. They weren't just hiding-they were preparing."

At the camp miles away, the fire burned low. Fenrik stood watching the smoke curl into the canopy. There was a heaviness in his stare.

Sira returned and placed the journal at his feet.

"We followed their last trail to the coastal towns," she reported. "They used different names-switched identities often. But every time they moved, they erased themselves completely."

Fenrik's eyes narrowed as he turned a page, lingering on an underlined passage written in a language older than the Pack's own. "Did you translate this?"

"We tried. It's a cipher. And this"-she tapped another passage-"looks like coordinates."

Fenrik turned to the younger wolves nearby. "We split the team. Half follow this trail inland. The rest head west, to where these numbers lead."

"What are we expecting to find?" one of them asked.

"Something buried. Maybe something dangerous."

There was a pause.

"And what if they're gone?" the scout asked again. "Dead, long before now?"

"Then we find their bones," Fenrik growled. "And we search them too."

Sira nodded. "If they were trying to stay hidden this badly, whatever they knew must have mattered."

"And we'll find out what," Fenrik said. "No matter how deep they buried it."

The wind howled through the forest as orders were given and paths assigned. As the scouts dispersed into the wild again, one truth lingered among them all: the Austins were once trusted, respected. But now? Now, they were a mystery waiting to unravel.

And the Pack would tear through stone and time to find the answers.