The ground didn’t just c***k.
It gave way.
A jagged line tore through the courtyard, splitting stone like it was nothing. The force beneath it wasn’t explosive it was emergent.
Rising.
Slow. Certain. Inevitable.
Aria staggered back a step, her connection to the wolves flickering violently.
“No…” she whispered.
For the first time since her awakening she couldn’t hold everything.
The bond trembled in her grip, threads snapping in uneven bursts as something darker pushed upward through it, distorting what had once been clean… pure… hers.
Lucian was at her side instantly.
“Aria focus.”
“I’m trying,” she said, her voice strained. “Something’s interfering something inside the bond”
Another fracture split the ground open.
And then a sound.
Not a howl.
Not a growl.
Something deeper
