Prologue - The Last Night of Eryx Vale
The storm hammered Black Hollow Manor, lightning splitting the sky.
Eryx growled low.
“Come out.”
The doors creaked open. A cloaked figure stepped inside, silent, masked.
Eryx’s jaw tightened.
“You dare set foot in my house?”
A flash-steel catching firelight.
With a roar, Eryx shifted. Bones cracked, fur erupted silver and black. His wolf form towered, eyes blazing blue.
“Then you’ll learn why they call me Alpha.”
The clash shook the hall. Steel met claw, sparks raining across stone.
The assassin struck fast-dagger flashing for tendon, flank, throat-but Eryx endured. Blades glanced off muscle, claws tore through cloak. He hurled the intruder across the banquet table, splinters flying.
“Too slow,” he snarled, lunging again.
The assassin rolled, rising with impossible speed. Their blade cut deep, but Eryx barely flinched, driving them back with sheer force. Portraits rattled, faces shifting in terror as the Alpha pressed his advantage.
He pinned the figure against the wall, jaws snapping inches from their throat.
“Who sent you?”
The dagger plunged into his ribs. Eryx roared, staggering-but still standing. His claws raked the mask, lightning revealing green eyes that burned with unnatural light.
“What are you...?” he rasped, blood soaking the stones.
The assassin whispered like the storm itself:
“The end of your line.”
They drove the blade again-this time into his heart with a force beyond human. Eryx convulsed, his wolf form resisting, refusing to fall. For a moment, it seemed he might rise again, fury blazing.
But the unnatural power in those green eyes held him down. His body shrank back into flesh and bone, pale eyes staring lifeless into the vaulted ceiling.
