When the words sank in, Alpha Ryan let out a despairing wail and erupted into a torrent of curses.
He cursed Cindy. He cursed the Elders. And finally, he cursed me, for refusing to save him.
I let him rave. I turned my back on the room and walked out.
Over the following three days, I deployed the advanced techniques I'd brought from the Royal Academy and the rare herbs in my satchel, and the plague began to retreat. The lightly infected wolves slowly recovered. The Shadowfang Pack incursions were swatted back across the border by the royal guard the Lycan King had brought with him.
Cindy never made it far.
Somewhere on the road to the border, the Shadow Blight finally tore through her in full. Her body putrefied where she stood. She died clutching the stolen jewels she'd pried from th
