"If they find you before I do," Kael had said, "they won't leave anyone alive."
The words were still hanging in the air when the wall behind us shuddered from another blow, dust sifting down from the ceiling, the alarm horns rising into something more frantic than before.
A guard staggered through the door, blood streaked down one arm, barely able to keep his footing.
"Alpha!"
"Report," Kael said, already moving.
"They've breached the eastern gate! They came out of nowhere, Alpha. Our men on the wall never sounded a warning."
The Beta arrived seconds after, breathing hard, his sword already drawn. "There are too many of them. They came through the forest. No sentries survived."
I watched something settle behind Kael's eyes, understanding dropping into place the way ice forms across
