Sera's POV
The first scream split the air like glass breaking.
I felt it in my bones before I understood what it meant—a wolf's cry, cut short, silenced forever. The sound didn't fade like a normal howl; it simply stopped, as though someone had closed a door on it mid-note. Then another. And another. The sounds echoed off the mountains, a chorus of death that made my blood run cold and my heart stutter in my chest. I could feel each cry reverberating through my ribs, each abrupt silence landing like a physical blow.
"They're engaging," Lyra breathed beside me, her voice barely audible over the distant chaos. Her hand was tight on the hilt of her massive blade, knuckles bone-white. "Sorin's forces. They're buying us time."
We crouched in the eastern tree line, our force of fifty wolves
