Claimed by the Alpha's Curse
They reached the high ridge just in time to see the first of the monsters step from the tree line.
It was massive. Twice the size of any wolf, its fur blackened and mottled like burned earth. From its eyes poured trails of black fire, weeping as if mourning its own existence. Its claws dragged sparks from the stone, and its mouth twisted into something too wide, too wrong.
Lyra inhaled sharply.
“Stay behind me,” Kaelen ordered, drawing his blade—obsidian etched with ward-sigils, glowing faintly.
But Lyra didn’t stay back.