The hunger didn't retreat. It adapted.
Three days after Lumi reinforced the Ironcrest seal, the attacks changed. No more villages destroyed. No more ground splitting open. Instead, the wolves began to change.
It started with the outer packs. Wolves who had been loyal for generations turned on their Alphas without warning — eyes glowing red, mouths foaming, attacking their own families before anyone could stop them. One pack in the northern territories lost half its members in a single night to the madness. Another fractured completely, brothers turning on brothers, the bonds of pack loyalty dissolving like frost under a sudden sun. The madness spread like a sickness, jumping from pack to pack along the ley lines that connected them all.
"It's using the network," Sera said, staring at th
