Snow hissed against stone.
We crossed the threshold.
The grand hall smelled of pine smoke, old blood, and fear.
Torches flickered. Shadows danced like dying wolves on the walls. The same place where Kaelen had rejected me now waited, heavy with silence.
Kaelen stood at the far end, on the raised dais. Golden. Untouchable. His new Beta flanked him, silver-burn spear gleaming.
Behind them — mothers clutching pups. Elders. The remnants of two packs.
Lyra moved first.
She slipped from my grip like smoke. Ash-flesh skin split wider with every step. She laughed — short, wet, cruel.
“Finn,” she whispered. “Look. They’re all here.”
She lunged.
Not at Kaelen.
At the nearest mother holding a child.
The woman screamed. Lyra’s claws sank into her shoulder. The draining started — slow, deli
