"There are predators you can fight, and predators you can outwit. But the most dangerous of all are those who only need to look at you and already, you've lost."
The dungeon's stench still clung to me as we stormed out, ironing and rot lingering in my nostrils, an omen that the night was not done with me. My boots pounded against the stone corridors of the Northern Shifter Kingdom, the Silver Fang Assassins at my back like shadows forged of malice and iron. Every step echoed like a drumbeat of fury.
That cursed Omega's words replayed in my skull, her smirk gnawing at my temper. The one who will change the world is already here. Bluster or prophecy did not matter. I would not be made a fool.
We broke into the open air, our pace quickening across the castle's courtyards until the spires of the Eastern Chambers loomed before us. Torches burned along the battlements, their light revealing an unexpected sight: far too many guards, far too much steel glinting in the moonlight.
