Dawn came to the palace like a thief, quiet, grey, reluctant to show its face. The sky beyond the eastern tower windows hung low and bruised, clouds thick enough to swallow the first pale light.
Inside the royal bedchamber, the air still carried the warmth of shared bodies and the faint musk of wolf and mate, but the peace was shattered in an instant.
A scream tore through the corridors, not a battle cry, not rage, but a raw, wordless sound of discovery that ended as abruptly as it began. It left only echoes crawling along stone, settling cold and heavy in the bones.
Seren woke first.
She had fallen asleep curled between Kael and Theron, Aeron's arm heavy across her waist like an anchor, the bond humming low and steady; a four-way heartbeat that had finally begun to feel safe. The scream sliced through that rhythm like a knife through silk. Her eyes snapped open; her pulse surged so hard she tasted metal at the back of her tongue.
