KENDRICK POV
It moved like liquid nightmare—more shadow than flesh—its body twisting mid-air with impossible speed, the stink of brimstone and rotting fur coating my lungs before its claws even reached me. The hallway seemed to bend around it, as if the darkness itself recoiled in fear or reverence.
I didn’t dodge.
Didn’t flinch.
Because Storm was already there, rising like a black tide beneath my skin.
A rumble tore from deep within my chest as his hunger swallowed mine. My jaw stretched and cracked, bones snapping like brittle branches, and black fur burst along my spine with the heat of wildfire. My vision sharpened, colors bleeding into instinct—blood-red, death-black, soul-silver. The world tilted, then realigned around one truth:
Kill.
I met the beast mid-air, only half-shifte
