Chapter 70. You Didn’t Make Me

Selena’s POV

The air tastes like lightning. Not magic, not yet. Just a warning of what’s to come.

I stand at the edge of the ridge, overlooking Winter Mountain’s front line, where snow meets ash and silence hangs like the breath before a scream. Every pack we’ve called stands ready. Wolves in human skin, cloaked witches, shield bearers, archers, mages with runes carved into their arms. At my side is Caleb. Behind us are my siblings, my pack, my people. Every bond. Every blade. We’re not waiting anymore.

From the forest below, a sound rises, like breath dragged through thorns.

And then we see him.

Julian steps into the clearing like a shadow walking upright. He’s no longer pretending to be anything human. His skin is mottled and grey-veined, like it’s stretched over something hungrier. His eyes glow wrong. He smiles, and the world recoils. Behind him, they pour in. An army of corrupted wolves; mouths too wide, claws too long, half-rotted magic lea