The Vanguards
The new howl was unlike anything Lyra had ever heard. It wasn't the measured, disciplined cry of Elias's hybrids, nor the familiar, defiant roar of a pureblood wolf. This was a ragged, agonized sound, vibrating with raw, untethered power, laced with a terrifying edge of madness. It tore through the forest, ripping at the night, and Lyra felt a primal chill snake down her spine. Vanguards, Elias had called them in the stolen files—his "unpredictable" contingency.
She shifted back to her human form, the sudden chill of the night air a sharp contrast to the heat of her wolf, helping her focus. Her pureblood senses, refined over years of tracking and fighting, strained to identify the threat. She crept closer to the ma
