The first wolf slammed into me, its weight a blur of claws and teeth. I met it head-on, claws flashing, the sound of tearing fur and bone filling the clearing. But there were too many. Draven's pack swarmed like a storm — ten, maybe more, each one driven by their Alpha's command.
And through it all, I felt her.
Aria.
She wasn't fighting like a wolf anymore.
Silver light bled from her hands, snaking across the dirt in lines that formed glowing symbols. Each pulse of light made the air ripple, heavy and charged, like the moments before lightning splits the sky. Her movements were fluid, inhumanly so, as if something older and more dangerous had taken hold of her.
Three wolves lunged for her at once.
She didn't dodge. She grabbed the first by its throat, her fingers searing into its fur like molten metal. The wolf screamed — not from pain, but as its strength poured out of it, threads of pale energy ripping free and sinking into her skin. The second wolf tried to retreat, but the runes beneath Aria's feet flared, chaining it in place with tendrils of shimmering light.
By the time the third reached her, she'd already turned, eyes glowing so brightly they lit the trees. Her voice was a whisper, yet it carried like thunder.
"Fall."
The wolf collapsed without a sound.
My wolf growled in my head, unsettled. This is not our magic. This is not the Moon's blessing. This is something else.
I cut down another attacker and moved toward her. "Aria, stop! You can't keep—"
She spun on me, her glow flickering wildly, her chest rising and falling as if she'd run for miles. But her expression… it wasn't hers anymore. There was a hunger in her eyes, something dark and bottomless.
"I can't stop," she said, her voice trembling and yet… wrong. "It wants more."
The ground beneath us cracked, glowing veins of light crawling across the earth. Draven's wolves froze, uncertain. Even Draven himself hesitated, his crimson gaze flicking to the spreading symbols with unease.
That's when I saw it.
Her shadow.
It didn't match her. While she stood perfectly still, her shadow shifted, twisting, its head tilting unnaturally, a grin stretching where no mouth should be.
My wolf bared its teeth. She's not alone in there.
"Aria!" I shouted, gripping her shoulders. The glow burned against my skin, but I didn't let go. "You need to fight it. If you let this thing loose, it won't just kill them. It will destroy you."
Her silver eyes flicked to mine. For a heartbeat, I saw her — the real her — flickering beneath the storm. And then Draven roared, breaking the moment, his massive wolf form charging straight for us.
Aria turned toward the sound, her glow surging again. "Then let it destroy everything," she whispered.
The symbols beneath her feet erupted in light, swallowing the clearing whole.