ECHOES OF THE CORE
The forest still steamed where molten shadows had burned through bark and stone. Ash drifted through the air like falling snow, and the scent of scorched earth clung stubbornly to every breath. Kael stood in the center of the clearing, half-shifted, shoulders heaving as his Alpha senses stretched outward — listening, searching, unwilling to believe what silence suggested.
Silence was never safety. Not anymore.
Nara knelt beside one of the blackened fissures veining the ground. Silver fire pulsed at her fingertips, delicate threads spiraling deeper into the c***k. Her brow furrowed, jaw tight.
“It didn’t retreat,” she murmured. “It slipped beneath the surface. Buried itself in the ley lines.”
Lyra stepped closer, her golden aura soft but steady, grounding the fractur
