The thing in the mist did not rush them.
That was the first mistake Lena realized the Order had made—assuming fear always needed speed.
It stepped into view slowly, deliberately, as though it wanted to be seen. Tall, human in outline, wrong in every other way. Its movements were too smooth, its stillness too precise. Where eyes should have been, there was only a reflective darkness that caught the lantern light and bent it back.
Eli’s breath hitched once. He didn’t let go of Lena’s hand.
Rowan shifted, placing himself slightly ahead, his posture rigid with recognition. “It’s a Binder,” he said quietly. “Not here to kill. Here to claim.”
Lena felt the truth of it immediately. The creature’s presence tugged at something inside her—not pain, not rage, but memory. The night she’d lost con
