It happened at dawn.
Sera woke to screaming.
Not Lumi's voice — Garrett's. Coming from the training yard. Raw and desperate.
She was out of bed before she was fully awake. Running. Bare feet on cold stone. The morning air bit at her skin like teeth.
The training yard was chaos.
Guards on the ground. Some unconscious. Some bleeding. And in the center of it all — a black-cloaked figure holding Lumi over one shoulder like a sack of grain.
Lumi was struggling. Her small hands clawing at the figure's arm. But the figure was too strong.
"Let her go." Sera's voice cut through the noise. Cold. Quiet. Deadly.
The figure turned.
Smiled.
"Alpha Magnus sends his regards, Lady Vale."
Then they were gone — wolf form, shadow, vanished into the trees with Lumi's scream echoing behind them.
Ser
