The storm knew him.
Lightning tore open the sky while the palace gates shuddered under another brutal impact. The noise echoed deep inside, pounding like a battle drum. Guards pulled tighter. Weapons sprang up. Magic barriers shimmered along the walls. Everyone snapped to attention.
Out beyond the gates, Ryker Blackstone sat motionless on his black stallion, rain pouring down on him, soaking everything. He didn’t move. Didn’t flinch. Didn’t even blink. He looked less like any man and more like trouble wrapped in bone and skin—a warning in the flesh waiting at the edge of the kingdom.
Thunder snarled overhead.
Another blow struck the gate. Not from a sword. Not from some spell. This was Ryker’s wolves, hundreds of them, hidden in the shadows past the light. Their howls rose together—a s
