hea

ned with his blood, clatt

th shock. He touched his fingertips to the wound, then looked at the blood

an man. It was the sound of his inner wolf, enraged at being physica

rowing it back, by drawing his blood with it, I had corrupted the ancient rite. The magic,

rayson's face, leaving i

fine fabric of his robes, right over his h

rk red blood erupted from his lips, splatterin

ers, fell into a dead, horrified silence. The only

landing heavily on the hard ston

d piercing. She scrambled toward him, her elegant gown tan

ng, their voices trembling with p

mbling uncontrollably. She looked up, her eyes, wild and bloodshot, findin

cracking. "Fix him! Come up h

e woman who had been ready to strike me just minutes

felt rooted to the marble f

d me, their hands on the hilts of thei

ally stopped in their tracks. They saw something in my eyes that g

force of my own resolve. The air felt thin, electric. I i

he noise like a shard of glass. It was clear, steady, and

, my gaze locked on the pathet

Grayson Benso

ift. It felt as if the air had been sucked out of the room. A soundless crack,

roken. Not by

ripped from his throat-a true wolf's howl of ultimate pain and

floor like a puppet with its strings

f a mother mourning her child. The pack's leadership was in disarray, their

ysterical mother, the panicked Elders. It was

pity. No remorse. Only

my back o

alked toward the great hall doors, my steps eve

drown in the me