Dust still swirled over the valley.
The battle had not stopped, but its rhythm had changed. Before, it was chaos wolves against wolves, claws against steel, howls filling the air.
Now there was a pattern.
Something unseen began to guide the flow of the battle.
And its center was Aurelia.
Golden light spread across the ground, pulsing steadily like a giant heart that had just woken from a long sleep.
Every pulse was felt.
Darius felt it in his bones.
Lucien felt it in his breath.
Cassian felt it even in the shadows where he moved.
Alaric felt it at the tip of his sword.
And the other wolves.
They felt it as courage.
Kael Draven felt it too.
He stood in the middle of the battlefield, his body covered in wounds from clashing with the four Alphas. Blood flowed from his shoulder, his ribs, from the long gash left by Lucien's sword.
Yet his eyes still burned red.
He stared at Aurelia like a hunter who had finally found his legendary prey.
"Interesting," he said softly.
