Ella’s POV
The air was thick with smoke and ash.
Every breath burned. Every heartbeat thundered like war drums beneath my ribs.
We’d been fighting for hours — maybe days — I’d lost count of time. The forest that once guarded the edges of the pack’s land was unrecognizable now, scorched and twisted, its roots bleeding molten gold from the witches’ spellfire.
I stood between two worlds — the mortal and the damned — my hands trembling, not from fear but from restraint.
The Light wanted out.
It begged, clawed, screamed inside me, whispering that one strike, one burst of purity, could end them all. But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.
Not yet.
Remo’s voice sliced through the chaos, cold and commanding.
“Left flank! Maddox—cut them off!”
He moved like death itself — faster than shadow, his cla
