Lomi’s POV
The ruins were not the same place where Maryelle had been remade. That had been a rotting house, its walls soaked in screams and smoke. These ruins were older, heavier, steeped in secrets that felt alive. They weren’t haunted by transformation—they were waiting for something else. Something darker.
Canum was already there, waiting. His silhouette leaned against a fractured column, eyes glinting with a predatory sheen—more serpent than coyote, catching the faint spill of moonlight. He didn’t greet me with warmth. He never did. His presence was a storm contained in human form, and even the stones seemed to bend around him, as if they remembered to fear.
“You finally came,” he said, his voice smooth but edged with venom. “I wondered how long it would take before you admitted y
