The forest answered her roar.
One by one—
wolves stepped from the shadows.
Gray wolves.
Black wolves.
Massive scarred Alphas from rival packs that should have hated each other.
All stopping beside one another instead of fighting.
The Veil screamed overhead as its influence weakened.
Nancy could feel the shift instantly through the bond.
The fear was still there.
But now something stronger pushed against it.
Trust.
Kai looked up at her from where Leo was holding him steady, exhaustion written across every inch of his face.
And despite everything—
he smiled slightly.
"That," he rasped, "was very Alpha of you."
Nancy almost rolled her eyes.
Almost.
Then the fracture above them pulsed violently.
The Veil had stopped trying to control the packs.
Now it was angry.
The silver crack across the sky widened further with a deafening sound.
And something started coming through behind the Veil.
Nancy's stomach dropped.
Another one.
Smaller than the Veil itself—but still massive.
A creature made entirely of twisting limbs and hollow faces clawed halfway into the world.
Evan stared upward.
"There are MULTIPLE?! Why would there be multiple?!"
Nyra's voice echoed sharply inside Nancy's head.
The fracture is destabilizing. If it fully tears open, this world becomes connected permanently.
Leo's expression darkened instantly.
"So how do we close it?"
Nyra hesitated.
That silence alone terrified Nancy.
Then:
The Alpha bond that opened the fracture must willingly sever itself.
Nancy looked at Kai immediately.
Kai already understood.
"Absolutely not," Leo said before either of them could speak.
But Kai slowly pulled himself upright anyway.
His legs nearly gave out instantly.
Nancy caught him before he hit the ground.
The silver cracks had reached his chest now.
Too close to his heart.
"Kai…"
"If the bond stays intact," he said quietly, "the fracture stays open."
"No," Nancy said instantly.
The second creature shrieked as more of its body forced through the sky.
The packs backed away uneasily.
Even the Alphas looked afraid now.
Kai touched Nancy's face carefully.
"If we do nothing, everyone dies."
Nancy hated how often he was right.
"You said we'd carry this together."
"We are."
"That's not together and you know it."
Another violent tremor shook the forest.
The Veil was forcing the fracture wider out of desperation now.
It was losing control.
Which made it dangerous.
Kai looked at her for a long moment.
Then finally said the thing she feared most.
"Nancy… if severing the bond kills me—"
"No."
"You need to let me finish."
"No."
His jaw tightened slightly.
"Nancy."
Her eyes burned.
Because she already knew what he was going to say.
And she couldn't hear it.
Couldn't survive hearing it.
Then suddenly—
a deep growl rolled through the forest.
Every wolf froze.
The ground beneath them trembled heavily.
Nancy turned sharply toward the trees.
Something enormous was approaching.
Not Veil.
Wolf.
Ancient.
A gigantic white wolf emerged slowly from the darkness between the trees, larger than any Alpha Nancy had ever seen.
The other wolves immediately lowered their heads.
Even Kai went still.
Nancy felt raw power radiating from the creature like pressure against her lungs.
Its golden eyes locked onto her.
Then Kai.
And finally the fracture in the sky.
Nyra sounded shocked for the first time ever.
…The First Alpha.