"You can cage the body, bleed the veins, and shackle the flesh, but you will never silence what was born in the bone."
COMMANDER TROVIKS POV
The descent into the underbelly of the Northern Shifter Kingdom was never pleasant, but tonight the stench clung to the back of my throat like rot steeped in iron. The Silver Fangs followed at my back, shadows in motion, silent but restless. The lights flickered along the stone walls as we wound deeper, each step carrying us farther from the world above and closer to the forgotten pits where even the gods refused to look.
"Smells worse than usual," Varek muttered, his voice low, but the smirk that curved his mouth betrayed how little he cared for discomfort. "Almost makes me nostalgic."
"You'd be nostalgic for a charnel pit," Kaelen replied flatly, adjusting the dagger at his belt. His eyes darted to the walls, as though half expecting them to bleed.
