Calder’s POV
Evelynn was weightless in my arms.
Not because she was small. She wasn’t. She was strength wrapped in skin, fire wearing flesh. But right now… now she felt like a dying ember I was terrified to breathe on.
Her head lolled against my shoulder, silver streaks of magic still flickering faintly beneath her skin.
“Upstairs,” I growled to the others. “First room that’s intact.”
Maddox nodded, jaw clenched hard enough to crack teeth. Jaxon kept scanning the halls, adrenaline shaking through him. Rafe hovered beside me like a shadow ready to rip open the world if I dropped her.
The packhouse was a skeleton around us. Walls charred, floors cracked, air thick with smoke and dust. But I kept moving, boots crunching over debris.
“Calder,” Rafe said low, voice tight. “Her pulse?”
“
