The Abyss did not wait for our judgment. As the pack’s collective growl solidified into a promise of violence, the shadows at the edge of the square began to move. They were things of nightmare, all sharp angles and slick carapaces, their many-jointed limbs clicking on the frozen flagstones. But they did not swarm. They advanced with a terrifying deliberation, their glowing, malevolent eyes fixed not on the pack, but on a single point of light and rot in our center.
On Lyra.
She saw it, too. Her bravado, built on a foundation of stolen light and our willing blindness, crumbled into pure, animal panic. Her last, desperate instinct was to find her shield.
“Kaelen!” Her voice was a ragged shriek as she scrambled on all fours toward him, clawing at the icy ground. “My Alpha, they will not l
