ELOWEN
I woke to Fao's growl.
Not the soft rumble he made in his sleep, or the playful sound when I teased him. This was something else — something primal and terrifying, vibrating through his chest where I lay pressed against him.
"Fao?" I whispered.
His eyes snapped open. Gold. Fully gold, no trace of gray.
"They're here."
Before I could ask who, I heard it — howls in the distance. Not the loyalists' howls. These were different. Sharper. Hungrier. The sound of predators who'd found their prey.
And then I smelled the smoke.
"No." I scrambled out of bed, stumbling toward the window. "No, no, no—"
The tree line was on fire.
Not a wildfire — this was deliberate. Flames licked up the pines in a perfect arc, cutting off the road, boxing us in. Orange light painted the darkness, casti
