The air didn't just turn cold; it turned ancient. The smell of copper and wet earth rose from the liquefying ground, a scent so thick it felt like drowning. Elara clutched the shivering, toddler-sized Aurelius to her chest, her other hand reaching out to grab Kaelen’s limp arm.
The man on the ridge—the Third Alpha—descended into the crater with a grace that made Kaelen’s movements look like a clumsy imitation. He didn't walk on the glass; the amber seemed to melt into a path of dark, pulsing veins beneath his feet.
"Who are you?" Elara’s voice was a jagged blade of sound. The "Void-Debt" inside her was silent, suppressed by a presence that felt like the weight of the entire mountain.
"I am the part of the wolf that never learned to love," the man said, stopping a mere five feet away. He
