He turned sharply toward the heavy oak doors of the pack house, his mind locking entirely onto the perilous climb ahead.
"Keep that shield up, Elara!" Kael yelled over his broad shoulder, his deep, commanding voice easily cutting through the deafening shrieks of the shadow-hounds battering against the outer ice wall.
"I will hold it!" she promised, dropping heavily to her knees on the hard cobblestones. She pressed her bare hands flat against the freezing earth, pouring the absolute last, agonizing reserves of her silver magic into the cracking barrier.
Kael burst through the main doors, taking the grand mahogany staircase three steps at a time. The massive interior of the pack house was a complete ghost town. Everyone capable of holding a weapon was outside fighting; the rest—the vulne
