Blood and Dawn
The shadows shifted before the wind did.
Lucien felt it first — a ripple across the threads of his domain, faint but deliberate. It wasn’t Mona’s corruption this time. It was something older. Something desperate.
He turned sharply, his black eyes flashing. The ruins around him fell silent. Even the wolves sensed it.
Kimberly stepped closer. “What is it?”
Lucien raised his hand, the shadows coiling between his fingers like smoke. “A signal.”
“From Mona?”
“No,” he said slowly, his expression darkening. “From someone inside her ranks.”
He closed his eyes, listening. The air around him grew cold, the whispers of the realm bending toward him in faint recognition. When he spoke again, his voice was low. “It’s Derrick.”
Kimberly froze. “Derrick?”
Lucien nodded. “He’s aliv
