AYLA'S POV
The circle of wolves around the corrupted warrior was silent, save for the sound of his ragged breathing and the low click of his claws on stone.
His fur bristled, black veins crawling under his skin like living things. His eyes—black threaded with flickers of silver—locked on me, and the cold rolled off him in a wave that cut through the night.
"Little Luna…"
Veylor's voice slid through his throat, deep and wrong. "Come closer. Let me show you how easy it is to love the dark."
The bond pulsed hot and protective, Kael's presence wrapping around me like molten steel. He stood at my shoulder in black wolf form, lips peeled back in a silent, lethal snarl.
"I should end him now," His voice rumbled through the tether, low and feral. "Before he spreads this rot to another wolf."
I knelt slowly, my silver fire flickering to life along my arms, the glow reflecting in the corrupted wolf's eyes.
