The sky shouldn’t look like that.
It’s mid-morning, clear skies, bright sun—and yet above the Alpha King’s compound a black disc is swallowing the light, slow and deliberate.
An eclipse.
But not the natural kind.
The air hums.
Magic vibrates through the stone walls, deep and wrong, like something ancient pressing against a barrier.
“Mama?” Asher’s small voice trembles. “Is the sun broken?”
I drop to my knees in front of him, forcing calm into my expression even though my heart is slamming against my ribs.
“No, baby. It’s not broken. It’s… someone playing tricks with the sky.”
“Bad tricks?”
“Yes.”
Thorne steps closer, his face grim. “We need to move. Safe room protocol, now.”
“No.” I stand. “Safe rooms are containment, not protection. If this is Covenant-level magic, they’re not
