SCARLETT
The first howl split the night like a blade through flesh.
It wasn’t a wolf’s howl. Not really. Too guttural, too hollow. It rattled bone and pulled the blood cold in every warrior who heard it.
Kael was first to the wall, his fire blazing so hot the stones glowed red beneath his grip. His golden eyes narrowed at the forest beyond. “They’re here.”
Darius appeared beside him, storm crackling across his shoulders, gray eyes sharp. “Shadow-wolves. Dozens of them.”
My mark throbbed, the crescent searing under my skin. I could feel Lucien out there, his darkness stretching across the land like a plague. The wolves weren’t just beasts, they were his puppets, extensions of his will.
The first one emerged from the black wolf with eyes like empty pits. Its fur writhed as though ali
