The mage's cloak whispered against the marble floors of the Forrester mansion as he moved through the dimly lit corridors, his elongated shadow stretching unnaturally across the walls. The few servants still awake at this hour averted their eyes and quickened their steps when he passed, their instincts screaming at them to flee from something that looked like a man but moved like a predator. His hood remained drawn low over his face, revealing only a grotesque s***h of a mouth lined with needle-thin fangs that clicked together softly with each hissing breath. The heavy oak door to Rayla's chamber groaned open before him as if recoiling from his presence.
Inside, Joseph Forrester sat like a statue in a high-backed chair beside the canopied bed, his gnarled hands resting on the wolf-head c
