Dawn's pale fingers pried at the palace walls as Elias, Marin, and a small escort threaded through the city's backstreets. Rowan led them, hooded and silent, until they reached a ruined clocktower rising like a broken tooth amid collapsed buildings. Vines strangled its stonework; shards of stained glass glinted in the early light.
“This is Crescent Pack's hideout," Rowan whispered, unbolting a rusted iron door at the tower's base. “Rebels who oppose Selene's experiments."
Marin's grey eyes narrowed. “Danger," she signed, then to Elias—stay close.
Inside, the circular chamber was ringed by soot-blackened walls. A battered wooden table bore a half-burning brazier, around which sat a dozen roughclad figures—men and women hollow-eyed and wary. Their leader, a tall wolfishly handsome woman n
