Arin's POV
As we came to the edge of the Moonwell clearing, Malik's spectral hand seized my ankle. I kicked and screamed, but his hold was as firm as steel. My skin went gray and numb where he touched me. Seeing my best friend's face contorted into something terrible and wrong was worse than the pain.
Malik said, "Hello, Arin," in a voice that sounded like the wind blowing through a cemetery. "You've been sorely missed."
"Let her go!" With a roar, Kael swung his claws at Malik. However, they moved through the ghost as if he were made of smoke.
More spirit wolves surrounded us as Rowan attempted to free me. Some of them looked familiar to me; they were pack members who had lost battles in the past, and their eyes were now glowing with the malevolent magic of Thanatos.
As he entered the clearing behind his army of ghosts, Thanatos chuckled and said, "You can't fight the dead." "They have no fear, no pain, and no mercy."
