The creature smiled.
Not with warmth.
Not with triumph.
It was the slow, deliberate curl of a predator that had already decided how its hunt would end.
Every hair on my body stood on end.
No beast should have been capable of an expression like that.
Around it, dozens of wolf-like monsters paced in perfect silence, their crimson eyes fixed on the terrified students trapped within the circle. Their uniforms were torn, stained with dirt and blood. One boy leaned heavily against a broken spear, struggling to stay on his feet while another desperately tried to shield an unconscious girl lying at the center of their formation.
“They’re finished if we don’t intervene,” Kael whispered.
Brin clenched her fists.
“They won’t last another minute.”
Liora didn’t answer immediately.
Her silver
