"They’re already here…”
As his knees buckled, the scout's voice broke. With a painful thud, his body struck the snow, and beneath him, blood spread in a dark halo. Seren didn’t move at first. She couldn’t. The weight of his words anchored her to the earth like roots laced in dread.
Kael reacted first, rising to his full height, eyes blazing with fury and focus. “Where? Where did you see them?”
The scout’s lips parted, but only a gurgle came out.
Seren moved then—fast. She dropped beside the dying wolf, pressing her palm to his chest, calling her power forward like she had in the Hollow. Spirit magic, Kael called it. A legacy of her mother’s bloodline. She still didn’t fully understand it, but it answered her now.
His chest rattled. His eyes rolled back. Then—
“They were shadows,” he
