SCARLETT
The night air carried the scent of frost and burned pine, a sharp reminder of the battle we had only barely survived. I hadn’t slept. Each time I closed my eyes the memory of that distant crimson spark returned an ember against the black horizon, pulsing like a heartbeat.
I slipped from the furs without waking the three Alphas. Kael’s arm twitched as if he sensed my absence, but exhaustion held him. Darius’s breath crackled faintly, tiny threads of lightning sparking across his bare shoulders. Lucien lay half in shadow, his presence so still it was hard to tell where man ended and darkness began.
Outside, the world was silver. A fragile dawn brushed the mountains, but the spark I’d seen hours ago still glowed faintly in the west. It wasn’t a star. It was closer, moving slowly
