The first scream tore through the camp at dawn.
Not a warning. Not a howl.
A scream.
High-pitched. Female. Full of pain.
I bolted upright from Kael’s furs, my heart already racing, my hand instinctively flying to my lower belly. Still safe. Still warm. The life inside me hadn't stirred, but I felt the weight of it, the truth of it.
Kael wasn’t beside me.
He hadn’t returned last night.
I stood and wrapped a thin fur around my shoulders just as the second scream came—closer now. The sound of growling followed, low and guttural. Then steel scraping stone. Chaos.
I pushed open the door.
The den outside was burning.
Not fully—just pieces. A storage hut. A guard post. But fire licked the wooden beams like hungry tongues. Smoke stung my nose.
And blood…
Blood was already soaking the d
