KAI
The mansion loomed in the distance, its dark silhouette cutting against the night sky like the jagged teeth of some slumbering beast. I crouched low behind a crumbling stone wall, my senses stretched to their limits. The air carried the scent of damp earth, pine, and something sharper—the unmistakable tang of blood, faint but present.
“We’re not alone,” I murmured, my voice barely above a whisper.
Randall, positioned to my right, huffed. “Of course we’re not. Garrett Shaw has been gunning for this moment for weeks. He wasn’t just going to sit back and let us waltz in unchallenged.”
Jason shifted beside me, his grip tightening around the hilt of his dagger. “Then let’s make this quick. The longer we wait, the more likely we lose the advantage.”
I exhaled slowly. My pack had been th
