Rhea stumbled over gnarled roots, her breath coming in gasps. Eli's final words pounded against the inside of her skull, unrelenting as thunder in a heavy storm.
Now you understand. Choose wisely.
The pack didn’t slow down until the cursed mist finally thinned, the suffocating trees widening to reveal an old hunter’s clearing long since reclaimed by moss and silence.
Lucci paced the perimeter like a predator, his head turning at every snap of a twig, while Ronan took up watch at the upper ridge.
Vira and Kael flanked the tree line, keeping low and invisible in the brush. Noma stepped up to Rhea, pressing a metal flask into her hands. It was liquid fire that burned all the way down her throat, but it steadied her trembling fingers.
"What did you see on that altar, Rhea?" Lucci asked,
