SCARLETT
A shriek like tearing metal split the sky as the first shadow-beast crashed through the treeline. It wasn’t a wolf. It wasn’t anything. Its body was a smear of black smoke and bone, eyes burning red as dying stars.
Kael met it head-on. Fire roared from his fists, painting the fog in violent gold. The creature screamed as flame ate its skin, but it didn’t stop. More shapes poured from the trees, a tide of darkness.
“Rift-spawn,” Lucien said, voice flat as a blade. “The Devourer’s hunters.”
Lightning cracked beside me Darius, already moving. Bolts lanced through the air, searing a dozen beasts to ash. The smell of ozone and scorched pine filled the tower’s ruin.
I shifted before I had time to think. Bone stretched, fur erupted; the world sharpened into scents and sound. My wol
