The world broke all at once.
The wolves lunged first. Yellow eyes became streaks of muscle and teeth, tearing into the clearing with snarls that rattled the trees. The survivors shrieked, blades raised too late, panic scattering them like startled prey.
The man who had raised his knife at Aria barely had time to turn before jaws closed around his shoulder, dragging him down in a spray of blood. His scream curdled the night.
Aria's heart stopped. She clutched Kael tighter, her arms trembling, her silence a thunder that split her skull.
The fire did not wait for her.
It leapt.
Flames tore from her body in jagged whips, lashing the wolves mid-lunge. One ignited with a shriek, thrashing and rolling, its fur sloughing away in cinders. Another's flank caught and burned, the stench of charred flesh thick and choking.
The survivors froze at the sight, some in awe, most in terror. Their gazes were wild, torn between the monsters outside the ring and the monster burning at its center.
