Snow fell thick enough to erase the path behind you.
You led Micah and Mara through the firebreak, where dark pines stood close and the air smelled of wet bark. The cold found the seam between your glove and your sleeve. Somewhere to the north, an engine strained uphill in low gear.
At the granite marker, you stopped.
The fresh V had been filled with ice. Beside it, the moved boundary stake leaned toward Vale's road, a cheap piece of wood attempting to overrule a mountain of stone.
Mara wrapped a rope around the stake and pulled it free.
"For later," she said, securing it to her pack.
You reached the turning ground first. The old stone barrier lay across half the road. Micah and Mara levered the largest rocks aside while you checked the slope. Beneath the snow, cracks ran parallel to the drop. Not wide yet. Wide enough.
"Nobody past this point," you said into the radio. "Not even on foot."
Rowan answered from the north. "We have visual. Vale's truck is coming down the grade. Ash is in the cab."
Your stomach clenched.
"Is he hurt?"
"Moving. I can't tell more."
Iona's voice followed. "The timber buyer has confirmed this is not their authorized driver. Vale took one of their vehicles before the contract was suspended. Witnesses heard him threaten to use the road anyway."
Good. Evidence mattered. But Ash mattered more.
The truck appeared between the trees, its headlights pale circles in the snow. It slowed when the driver saw you standing across the road. Rowan and Iona emerged on the far side in wolf form, both immense, Rowan black as the wet pines, Iona silver-gray. They stood where the road remained solid, leaving the truck room to stop.
Vale climbed down from the driver's side. Ash remained in the cab with the narrow-faced escort beside him.
"Move," Vale called.
You held up the survey map.
"The road ends here. The shelf ahead is cracked. Turn around."
"Convenient timing."
"It cracked because the creek took its lower support. I told you yesterday."
Vale glanced at the wolves, then at the people behind you. "I have an adult volunteer in the cab. Ask him whether he wants to come home with you."
Ash pressed a hand against the window. You could not hear him through the glass, but his mouth formed a clear word.
No.
"Let him out," you said.
"He came to speak with one of my people. We're speaking."
Rowan took one step forward. His lips lifted from his teeth.
Vale smiled at the wolf. "I thought you did things differently."
The truck door on the passenger side opened.
Nessa stepped out from behind the cab, hands raised. Snow gathered in her dark hair.
"He didn't come voluntarily," she said. "I sent the first note. Vale caught me before Ash arrived and made me send another message telling him to get into the truck. He threatened Caleb and Lila if Ash refused."
The narrow-faced escort leaned across Ash and grabbed for the door handle.
Micah moved. Not toward the truck, where a fight could send it sliding, but toward the rear wheel. He set a heavy chock beneath it. Mara circled wide, taking the only clear route down from the passenger side.
"Open the door," Iona ordered after shifting back to human form behind the cover of a tree. She pulled on the coat she had left there and stepped onto the road. "I witnessed the threat. Nessa is witnessing it now. This ends here."
Vale's expression changed. The civilized mask slipped just enough to reveal impatience underneath.
"You have no authority over my pack," he told her.
"Ash is not in your pack by consent. He told you so yesterday."
The engine revved.
The rear wheel spun against the chock. The truck lurched sideways. A sharp crack sounded from beneath the road.
"Turn it off!" you shouted.
For a moment nobody moved. Then Ash reached across the cab, seized the key, and killed the engine.
The silence was enormous.
Snow slid from a branch and shattered on the hood.
"Now," you said, forcing your voice steady, "everyone gets out one at a time. Passenger side. Onto the stone."
Ash climbed out first. Mara caught his arm and guided him toward you. The escort followed with both hands visible. Vale came last. Rowan stayed between him and the firebreak, not touching him, not giving him a fight he could use as a new story.
Ash stumbled the last few steps. You caught him by the shoulders.
"You came," he said.
"Of course we did."
"I thought if she testified, he'd leave us alone."
"You don't have to bargain with your freedom to protect us."
His face folded. Micah stepped in and wrapped a blanket around him.
Behind the abandoned truck, the outer edge of the road dropped away in a slow, grinding collapse. Gravel and dirty snow spilled down toward the creek. The vehicle tilted, held for a breath by the chock, and slid no farther.
No one said I told you so.
No one had to.