SCARLETT
The new howl cut through the night like a blade.
It wasn’t the guttural, ancient cry of the First Howl; it was sharper, younger, alive with a purpose that sent a tremor through my bones. The triune mark beneath my skin pulsed once hard enough that I gasped.
Kael was already at the door before the echo faded, firelight racing along his arms.
“Not from the valley,” he muttered. “Closer.”
Darius closed his eyes, lightning whispering over his fingertips. “East. No more than a league.”
Lucien melted from shadow to solid beside me, eyes like midnight. “And more than one. Three voices. Four. Maybe more.”
The howl came again, a layered harmony of voices that raised the hair on my neck. Not beasts. Wolves.
My wolves.
The Council’s chambers were still lit when we arrived. Guards r
