The forest edge trembled with movement, shadows bleeding into the clearing until the night itself seemed alive with eyes. The enemy’s presence pressed against the pack like a suffocating fog, thick with violence and something older, darker.
Killian’s wolf surged beneath his skin, the Alpha’s dominance lashing out in waves that sent even his own pack bowing lower in instinctive submission. But the figure at the treeline did not flinch. He only smiled, cruel and knowing.
“Attack!” Killian’s voice roared like thunder, and the courtyard exploded.
Wolves leapt forward, claws raking earth, fangs flashing white as the first wave of rogues tore from the forest. The crash was instant, brutal—the sound of snarls and screams blending into chaos.
Aria’s bones snapped, fire racing through her veins
