Chapter 42. The Council's Ultimatum

The howls had not yet faded from the Hollow when the first arrows struck the trees.

Selene barely had time to register the sound before instinct took over. She dropped into a crouch as Alaric’s grip tightened around her hand, steady and unyielding, anchoring her as the shaft buried itself in bark a breath away.

Another arrow followed, biting into the earth inches from where a young wolf still knelt. It wasn’t wild or panicked. It was deliberate. Measured.

A warning.

The emissaries had not left the forest alone.

From the thickening mist beyond the boundary stones, dark shapes emerged—enforcers, dozens of them, fanning out in practiced formation. Their armor drank in the light, shades of midnight and iron layered with runes of suppr