AYLA'S POV
The tunnel shook around us, stone groaning like it remembered every death it had swallowed. The fire's roar from the shaft thundered in my ears, but louder still was the swarm's screech—unbroken, endless, a choir of rot and hunger.
Kael stood in front of me, shoulders squared, every muscle in his back wound tight as if he could hold back fire and monsters with sheer will. His voice still echoed in my skull:
"Choose — cave them in, or shield us."
My hands trembled, pressed to the wall, runes bleeding silver across the stone. Neither answer was survival.
If I caved it in, the mountain would bury us with the swarm. If I shielded us, we'd be trapped when my strength ran dry. And it would run dry—power this heavy always had a cost.
The swarm moved in firelight—blackened claws dragging their twisted bodies forward, lips splitting wider as if smiling at me. My stomach lurched. My wolf snapped inside me, a savage, terrified growl.
