The doors of the manor blew open before either of them reached the handles.
Xhanes was inside in three strides with Zayan a half-step behind him, faster than Phaeryl had ever seen him move, both of them already shifted back from wolves to men with blood that wasn't theirs still drying on their hands.
Outside, the last of the abnormal wolves were being driven back through the gates — she could hear the guards finishing what Xhanes and Zayan had started somewhere out past the walls. The howling had already thinned to almost nothing.
"Phaeryl—" Xhanes’ voice filled with a lot more concern than she had ever heard him.
He found her first, kneeling on the corridor floor with Mira's head in her lap and her own arm pressed hard against the wound across Mira's stomach, blood soaked through bot
