The pit reeked of wolfsbane and blood.
Elysia crouched low, her claws dug deep into the mud, golden eyes burning through the haze. Dimitri stood at her side, blade slick with crimson, his chest rising in harsh bursts. Above, hunters ringed the rim with torches, and at their center Kieran raised his hand like a king addressing subjects that weren't his.
"Shadowclaw has no Alpha," he said again, voice cutting through the night. "Only prey."
The words landed like a hammer. The loyalists below stiffened. Dimitri's jaw clenched, disbelief and fury tightening his face.
"You dare," Dimitri rasped, each word carved from stone.
"I *claim*," Kieran replied. "And when the sun rises, the pack will see what you've become—a leader too weak to protect his own blood."
Elysia's hackles bristled. She had suspected betrayal, but hearing it, seeing Cathal's wide eyes staring up at the Beta he once trusted, made her blood boil hotter than the wolfsbane in her veins.
Before she could leap, the ground itself shook. A deep, unnatural howl split the air, followed by the thunder of paws that did not belong to Darkclaw or Shadowclaw.
Shadows poured from the northern ridge. Wolves—larger, leaner, their pelts gray as frost and eyes glowing pale white. They moved with an eerie precision, their silence more terrifying than snarls.
"Outsiders," Dimitri whispered, his face pale.
The collector's laugh slithered through the clearing. "Ah, my honored allies arrive."
The wolves descended the slope, filling the forest with their presence. Shadowclaw warriors hesitated on the rim, confusion freezing them between Kieran's command and their instincts. The air pressed heavy, as though the Highlands themselves recoiled.
Elysia's lungs burned from the wolfsbane, but she forced her body higher. "Get Cathal out," she snarled at Dimitri. "Now."
Dimitri gripped his son's shoulder, pulling him close, but Cathal's terrified gaze locked on Elysia. "Don't leave me!"
"I won't," she growled, fangs flashing. "But you *run* when I tell you."
The Outsider wolves reached the pit. The first leapt down, jaws snapping, fur rippling like smoke. Elysia met it mid-air, her claws raking across its throat, hot blood spraying the mud. Another lunged, heavier, slamming her back against a stake. Pain flared, but she drove her teeth into its shoulder until bone cracked.
Dimitri fought back-to-back with her, his blade singing through flesh, but he staggered when a wolfsbane-tipped arrow sliced across his side. He gasped, legs buckling.
"Father!" Cathal screamed.
Elysia tore free, spinning to cover them. She saw the green sheen spreading across Dimitri's wound—the poison crafted for her kind, not his. If it reached his heart, he wouldn't last the hour.
"Kieran!" Dimitri roared toward the rim, voice ragged. "Help your Alpha!"
But Kieran only stood there, torchlight painting his sneer. "You are no Alpha of mine." He lifted his hand. "Stand down!"
Half the Shadowclaw warriors obeyed, lowering weapons. The other half faltered, torn between loyalty and fear.
The pack was splitting before Elysia's eyes.
Cathal pressed against her leg, clutching the broken moonstone in his fist. "Elysia, what do we do?"
Her chest heaved, every breath heavy with wolfsbane smoke. She looked at Dimitri, pale and swaying, his blade trembling in his grip. She looked at Cathal, a child trembling but refusing to cry. She looked at the rim, where Kieran's torchlight signaled betrayal, and at the clearing beyond, where Outsider wolves gathered in growing numbers.
The war had come to Shadowclaw. And she was standing in its heart.
Her claws dug into the earth as she rose to her full height, the Ashen Wolf blazing inside her. "We survive," she said, voice low and lethal.
Then she lunged, tearing through the enemy with a fury that made even the Outsiders recoil.
Above, Kieran's voice rang out one last time. "By dawn, she dies—or we all do."