The blizzard howled like a dying beast, but the real monster was inside me.
Silas’s steps had become staggering, each one sinking deeper into the knee-deep snow. His massive chest heaved, the rattling wet sound in his lungs growing louder with every breath. The silver from Kaelen’s brand was winning. Black veins crawled up his neck like living ink, choking the life from the most powerful Alpha I had ever known.
“Silas…” My voice cracked, barely audible over the wind.
He dropped to one knee, still clutching me against his burning chest. “Run,” he rasped, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. “Kael… take her.”
Kael collapsed beside us, his own silver-infected thigh leaving a red trail in the snow. “I can’t… Alpha, I can barely stand.”
Then the howls came — sharp, unnatural, too
