The heavy iron grate leading to the sub-cellars of the Silver Ridge pack house groaned in protest, a long metallic screech that echoed down into the blackness below. The air that rushed up from the opening didn't carry the clean, crisp scent of the mountain snow; it was thick, wet, and ancient, heavily saturated with the choking odor of ozone, sulfur, and rotting blood. Marcus stood at the precipice of the dark opening, a towering shadow backlit by the flickering torches of the basement corridor. He adjusted his grip on his heavy broadsword, the dark steel blade humming with a low vibration. Beside him stood Devon, his newly acquired Beta dagger drawn, his jaw set in a hard, uncompromising line despite the tight bandages compressing his cracked ribs. Behind them, four of the pack’s most elite vanguard warriors stood in perfect, silent formation, their eyes flashing a feral yellow in the dark. "The scent is entirely masked down here," Devon murmured, his eye tracking the darkn
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