The eyes came first.
Two huge golden eyes, burning out of the darkness right behind her.
For a split second, Nyra forgot how to breathe.
Another growl rolled through the storm. Deep. Ancient. So powerful it made the ground quiver under her feet.
Every instinct in her body started screaming.
Predator.
Death.
Run.
But her muscles wouldn’t work. She just stood there, rain hammering her, terror winding around her spine tight as a fist.
Something shifted among the trees. The shadows moved. Something massive stepped closer—bigger than any wolf she’d ever seen, and impossibly quiet.
Lightning split the sky.
In that flash, she saw it clearly—and her blood went ice-cold.
It wasn’t a wolf, not really. Not human, either. This thing existed somewhere in between.
It looked like something t
