Elara POV
The horn kept echoing long after the sound should have died.
A deep, low call that slid under the door and crawled up my spine like cold fingers. It didn't belong to wolves. Didn't belong to vampires. It didn't even belong to something living.
It felt like it came from the stone itself — the old, buried parts of the world waking up.
Mira froze first.
Kaelen's head snapped toward the window.
Theron's entire body went still.
And Dorian whispered, "Gods… it's closer than I thought."
My pulse jumped.
"What is that?" I asked, voice barely there.
Dorian didn't look at me. His eyes were fixed on the window like something stood just beyond the glass.
"It's a summoning call," he said. "Not for armies."
"Then for what?" Kaelen snapped.
Dorian swallowed once. "For whatever touched those guards before they died."
The air felt wrong.
Too tight.
Too thin.
