Chapter 55. The Duel

Above the ruined ritual chamber, in the heavily fortified primary command center of the Severed Flame, the alarms were no longer screaming. They had been silenced by the sheer magical overload radiating from below.

Kade stood in the center of the command floor, his form shimmering with raw, uncontrolled Silver Moon Wolf energy. The air around him was thin and cold, crackling with barely contained power. He had just finished dispatching the remaining perimeter guards—highly trained wolves and mages—who now lay scattered like broken dolls, having underestimated the speed and ferocity of a Wolf Guardian operating at its breaking point.

He was waiting. He knew the true leader wouldn't hide.

The doors at the far end of the command center—heavy steel reinforced with Obsidian runes—slid open with a hiss of hydraulics, revealing the man Kade had suspected all along.

Theron.

Theron was physically unremarkable: a middle-aged wolf, slender, with thinning grey