The hall did not settle after Nythera’s arrival.
If anything—
The tension deepened.
What had begun as a gathering for answers had shifted into something sharper, something more unstable. The darkness outside the walls had already unsettled every Alpha in the room.
Now—
Something else had entered.
Something they did not understand.
And that unsettled them more.
Magnus stood at the center, his presence steady, holding the fractured attention of the room.
“The reports are consistent,” he said. “The southern lands continue to deteriorate. Crops are failing, water sources are turning, and whatever is spreading through the ground is accelerating.”
Low murmurs followed.
Controlled.
Uneasy.
“We have never seen anything like this,” one of the older Alphas said.
“Because this is not so
